Gentlemen:
We desire to submit the following summary of the evidence heretofore filed, in order to bring together in a logical sequence the evidence and affidavits that have been filed at various times to show where Abraham Lincoln crossed the river when he came to Indiana.
1. The road from Hardinsburg, Ky., via Cloverport, Ky., to Lincoln City, Indiana.
The records of the county court of Breckinridge county, filed with you by the Breckinridge county committee, show by official court records that the road from Hardinsburg to the mouth of Clover Creek was ordered in January 1801, and the report of the viewers was recorded and accepted on August 24, 1801. And the subsequent orders of the court show that the road was duly established and used. The same records show that ferry was established across the Ohio river at Clover Creek in 1802. The Perry county committees show that the Perry county court appointed viewers to lay out a road, and these viewers reported that the road was viewed and marked prior to November 13, 1815, starting from the Beulah Lamb ferry to intercept the road leading from Troy to Terrance Conner’s ferry. The Beulah Lamb ferry was a ferry across the river between Cloverport, Ky., and what is now Tobinsport, Ind. The records of the Perry county court also show that prior to October 2, 1815, a road was laid out from the Warrick county line, to the town of Troy. These court records show there was a road from Hardinsburg, Ky., to Cloverport; a ferry at Cloverport crossing the Ohio river to Tobinsport; a road from the ferry at Tobinsport, to Troy, Ind.; a road from Troy to Warrick county line, this last road passing within a short distance of Lincoln City and the site settled upon by Thomas Lincoln in 1816. This road was the most direct route available for Thomas Lincoln and his family to his new home in Indiana. The Jacob Weatherholt memory writing and other affidavits stating that the Thomas Lincoln family moved thru Hardinsburg and Cloverport, Ky., and crossed the river at Cloverport.
Taking the affidavits in the order of travel followed by the Lincoln family. We refer to the brief of D. D. Dowell, in which he reviews the affidavits filed by his committee showing that a number of people in Hardinsburg had preserved the records and memories of having seen the Lincoln family in Hardinsburg, Ky. The affidavit of Matthias Miller, stating that his uncle John DeHaven had pointed out a cabin at the south edge of Hardinsburg where the Lincolns stopped on their way to Indiana. The affidavit of Edward Gregory stating his conversation with Logan C. Murray and the letter of Logan C Murray dated January 4,1922, in which he stated that his father and a negro servant named Minerva had fed little Abraham Lincoln on his doorstep as the Lincoln family passed through Hardinsburg to Indiana in 1816. The affidavit of John W. Hanks, and C. E. Keith telling of the Lincolnfamily being in Cloverport on their way to Indiana in 1816.
The memories of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., dated August 20, 1866, filed in the Perry county recorder’s office, stating that his father Jacob Weatherholt, sr., ferried Thomas Lincoln and his family across the Ohio river by canoe and raft of logs and landed on the Weatherholt farm described in the deed recorded in deed record A pages 9 and 10. This memory writing of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., is supported by the affidavits of Walter Hawkins, a great grandson of Mildred Weatherholt Pate, a daughter of Jacob Weatherholt, sr, by his second marriage. Said Hawkins having a clear recollection of his grandmother telling about her father taking the Lincolns across the river in 1816.
In as much as one of the committees urging that the Lincolns went through Corydon has attempted to cast reflection on this Weatherholt document, we believe that it would be pertinent at this time to call special attention to the following affidavits: Tom May was Deputy Recorder under his father, from 1904 to 1908, and during this time he saw the Weatherholt memory paper in original deed record A. The affidavit of Ray T. Goble, Recorder of Perry county from 1916 to 1920, in which he recalls having seen the Weatherholt document in the original deed record A. The affidavits of Clarence C. Leaf, a descendant of the Weatherholt, and the affidavit of Daniel C. Goble, an attorney of Cannelton, which clearly state that the finding of the copy of this Jacob Weatherholt, jr., memory writing by Leaf was the result of an examination of old papers of the Weatherholt family, in an effort to clear up title which Daniel C. Goble was running down. The affidavit of Wm. V.Doogs, who was acting for the Recorder in 1928, that he assisted Clarence C. Leaf in locating the original deed record A, and finding a duplicate original of the Jacob Weatherholt writing on the margin of page 9. It seems rather far fetched to claim that these various county officials would have been party to faking a document such as this Jacob Weatherholt memory writing, and their connivance would have been necessary if the document is not a genuine writing, as it purports to be, and as all the evidence indicates it is. There was no reason either at the time it was written or at the time these various officials noted its presence in the deed book, for getting up and filing such a paper, except the one purpose as stated in the paper, itself, by the author
thereof, and that is to record his memory of his father’s action in helping on the journey of the man that later became one of the most illustrious presidents of the United States. And certainly this one reason is sufficient explanation of Jacob Weatherholt, jrs’., purpose in recording this memory writing. Further, the committee that is advocating the Corydon route has attempted to prove that Jacob Weatherholt, jr., was not living at the time this memory writing was filed. This committee claims that Jacob Weatherholt, jr., died in 1837.
In order to clear this up we cite the following: The records of the Gillead Baptist church at Tobinsport show that Jacob Weatherholt was received into the church on October 1829, and was excluded from the church in March 1845. The records of the Perry circuit court shows judgement was rendered against Jacob Weatherholt in favor of David R. Murray in 1847.
Jacob Weatherholt’s name was on the tax duplicates of Perry county as late as 1849, and this record was known to the members of the Kentucky commission to their satisfaction, at the time of their visit to Cannelton in the Spring of 1931. The Affidavit of Amanda Mabel Kinder of Tobinsport who was the daughter of Edmond Polk, states that her father was taken into the home of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., shortly after January 5,1836, and that it is her recollection that her father continued to live with Mr. Weatherholt until after he was 21 years of age. Her father was born in 1834 and died in 1917, so if his daughter’s memory is correct, he was living with Mr. Weatherholt in 1855, and possibly later. The affidavit of George Tobin Weatherholt of Cloverport, Ky., a grandson of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., states that according to his best recollection Jacob Weatherholt, jr., died about the year 1869. The affidavit of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., states that according to his best recollection, Jacob Weatherholt, jr., died after the civil war, but prior to the year 1870. Affidavit of John L. Irvin, Cannelton, Indiana, states that he knew Jacob Weatherholt of Tobinsport, Indiana, in the spring of 1869. Mr. Irvin at that time was 19 years of age. He states that the peculiarities of Mr. Weatherholt made such an impression on him at the time that he well remembered him.
The affidavit of George T. Weatherholt, a grandson of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., states that his grandfather had six children, as follows; George, James, Catherine, Ruth, Joseph and Jacob “the 3rd.” We have traced down the records of these children, James Weatherholt was the only one that married, and the family tree reads as follows: Children born to Jacob Weatherholt, jr., and his wife Rebecca (Rebecca, wife of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., died on July28,1854) were: Catherine, unmarried, died Feb. 21, 1876; Ruth, unmarried, died Jan. 3, 1877; George T., unmarried, died Sept. 14,1898; Jacob, unmarried, died March 18, 1858; Joseph, unmarried, died Sept. 3, 1861; and James, married, died Sept. 18, 1886. Children born to James Weatherholt, and his wife Deborah Ann, were: Anna Elizabeth, married Arad Leaf; Mary R. married W. S. Leaf; Samuel J. Weatherholt, James Curtis Weatherholt, Geo. T. Weatherholt, jr., Kate N., married, Orr. Children born to Arad Leaf and his wife, Anna Elizabeth were: Clarence C. Leaf, and Clara Leaf Polk.
The county records show that Jacob Weatherholt conveyed by deed a tract of land to Jacob Weatherholt, jr., in 1816, in Perry county, Tobinsport, Indiana. The records show that Jacob Weatherholt, jr., owned 102 acres and another tract of land in Perry county, Tobinsport, Indiana. This estate of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., was never settled or divided until 1887 and then by an agreement between his only living child, George T. Weatherholt, the widow and the children of James Weatherholt, the sole surviving heirs. We would like to call the attention of the commission to that which seems to us as conclusive proof and human nature, that Jacob Weatherholt, jr., was living at the time that he wrote the memory writing. His wife, having died in 1854, no settlement of his estate had ever been made until 1887. That he had five single children including Jacob and Joseph, Jacob having been born in 1826 died 1858, and Joseph having been born in 1828 died 1861. They both died without issue, and the records of the Perry county court shows by an affidavit heretofore filed by James Nix, the duly elected and acting Recorder, that neither Jacob nor Joseph Weatherholt came into possession or had in his possession any real estate in Perry county, Indiana, from the years 1826 to 1861 inclusive. We will ask you to consider human nature and what seems to be reasonable. Jacob and Joseph, the sons of Jacob Weatherholt, jr., having attained the age of manhood would have asked for a division of their father’s estate, if he were dead, the records showing he owned 154 acres of land in Perry county, at Tobinsport, Ind., and this is conclusive proof that they both died prior to the death of their father. And Joseph, not having died until 1861, is evidence that his father was yet living.
Respectfully submitted,
PERRY COUNTY LINCOLN MEMORIAL
HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION,
E. D. JONES, President