Lincoln at 200

I was quite interested yesterday in marking Abe Lincoln's 200th birthday. I join the many people who admire all he accomplished, respect where he came from, and regret his early death. I was able to visit the places he spent his early years back in December, and it was an amazing feeling to be in those locations. Lincoln is commonly cited when people say that anyone can grow up to be president, and the log-cabin lore that surrounds him is oft-repeated but accurate.

Tributes to Abe can be found throughout the internet on this occasion, focusing on specifics like slavery, the Civil War, the Gettysburg Address, etc. I can't really add anything new to that, but I would like to highlight a couple of interesting personal items about Lincoln.

First is this story about the secure reburial of Lincoln in 1901, performed due to fears of grave robbers:

But before this happened, the officials hesitated. Robert [Lincoln] was not present. Partly haunted by the attempted grave-robbing and partly wanting a farewell look, the locals decided to see whether Lincoln was really in the coffin, Craughwell said.

Joseph P. Lindley, one of the tomb's unofficial guardians, sent for his 13-year-old son, who hurried from school on his bicycle.

Shortly before noon, according to an old account, two plumbers cut an oblong opening in the coffin, and Fleetwood Lindley and 22 others gazed on Abraham Lincoln's face.

All said it was unmistakably him. The shock of hair, the blemish, the whiskers. He was real.

Three days before he died in 1963, Fleetwood Lindley, then 75, recalled the moment to a reporter from Life magazine.

"I was not scared at the time," he said. "But I slept with Lincoln for the next six months."

First, I'm surprised Lincoln was that recognizable 36 years after death. Second, that was kind of a disrespectful thing to do, open his coffin. Third, I really would have liked to have been there and seen that. I have interests in presidents, cemeteries, and graves, and this event fit all three bills.

Another item is that the last descendant of Lincoln died in 1985. He was a great-grandson. The Lincoln family was rather sickly, and not very fertile, with many descendants having only 1-2 children, hence the extinction of the line. I find it interesting to see what presidential offspring and descendants do with their lives*. Lincoln's son Robert, the only one to survive past the teen years, became Secretary of War and Ambassador to the UK. He also had his mom put in a psychiatric hospital.

There's a little bit of Lincoln for you on the day after his 200th birthday.

UPDATE: New pennies!

*Teddy Roosevelt had the best descendants. His 4 sons fought in one or both World Wars and distinguished themselves. One participated in D-Day and won a Medal of Honor. And of course, his grandson coordinated the 1953 Iranian coup for the CIA.