Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln
Original Thomas Lincoln Monument- 1880
Now located near entrance to cemetery
Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln Monument- 1924
It reads:
LINCOLN
THOMAS and SARAH BUSH LINCOLN
1778-1851 1788-1869
FATHER AND STEP-MOTHER
OF OUR MARTYRED PRESIDENT
THEIR HUMBLE BUT WORTHY HOME
GAVE TO THE WORLD
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
ERECTED BY THE LIONS CLUBS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
Grave markers at the foot of the graves
of Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln
Dedicated in 1925 by the Kiwanis Club of Danville, Illinois
Thomas Lincoln died on January 17, 1851- he was 73 years old. He was buried in the Gordon Graveyard, although his grave remained unmarked until 1880. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln came to Coles County to visit his father’s grave on his way to Washington. A historical marker erected by the State of Illinois in 1934 and placed near the entrance to the cemetery mentions Lincoln’s visit.
“In Shiloh Cemetery are the graves of
Thomas and Sarah Lincoln, father and stepmother
of Abraham Lincoln.
On January 31, 1861, shortly before
assuming the presidency,
Lincoln came here from Springfield
to visit his father’s grave
in company with his stepmother.”
George B. Balch, a resident of Pleasant Grove Township, was a farmer and a poet. Balch knew Thomas Lincoln before his death in 1851. In 1876, Balch wrote a poem about the neglect suffered by Thomas Lincoln’s grave. Due in large part to the poem, public interest in Lincoln’s grave grew, and in 1880 a twelve-foot high monument was erected. The poem reads:
I
In a low, sweet vale, by a murmuring rill,
The pioneer’s ashes are sleeping.
Where the white marble slabs are so lonely and still,
In the silence their vigil are keeping.
II
On their sad, lonely faces are words of fame,
But none of them speak of his glory,
When the pioneer died, his age and his name,
No monument whispers the story.
III
No myrtle, nor ivy, nor hyacinth blows,
O’er the lonely grave where they laid him;
No cedar, nor holly, nor almond tree grows
Near the plebian’s grave to shade him.
IV
Bright evergreens wave over many a grave
O’er some bow the sad weeping willow,
But no willow trees nor evergreens wave
Where the pioneer sleeps on his pillow.
Some are inhumed with honors of state
And laid beneath temples to moulder;
The grave of the father of Lincoln the great,Is known by a hillock and boulder.
VI
Let him take his lone sleep, and gently rest,
With naught to disturb or awake him,
When the angels shall come to gather the blest
To Abraham’s bosom, they’ll take him.
Through the years, Lincoln’s monument was chipped away at by people seeking “souvenirs” from their visit to his grave. Susan D. Baker, a resident of the neighborhood, formed the “Shiloh Lincoln Memorial Club” in an effort to obtain a new monument that would be protected from vandals and would include the names of both Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln. Eventually, after failure to obtain the support of the Illinois Legislature or enough private donations, the Memorial Club turned to Mr. Wayne C. Townley, the district governor of the Lions club of Illinois. The financial help provided by the Lions club members around the state was crucial, and on May 16, 1924 the new Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln monument was dedicated. In 1925, markers at the foot of Thomas and Sarah’s graves were added by the Kiwanis Club of Danville, Illinois, and in 1934 an iron fence was placed around the plot by the Illinois-Eastern Iowa district of the Kiwanis. The original 1880 monument, which is still at the cemetery, was moved nearer to the entrance.
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