Moore House IL41
Here on January 31, 1861 President-elect Abraham Lincoln visited his stepmother Mrs. Sarah Bush Lincoln and her daughter Mrs. Reuben Moore (Matilda Johnston). This was his last visit to Coles County before leaving Illinois for his inauguration. Mrs. Lincoln returned with him to Charleston that night and their farewells were said the next morning.

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Lincoln Farm, 1831-1834 IL39
From 1831 to 1834 Thomas and Sarah Lincoln, father and stepmother of Abraham Lincoln, lived in a cabin which stood a short distance to the north. It was their first home in Coles County, and their second home in Illinois.

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Lincoln-Douglas Debate IL38
On September 18, 1858, the fourth of the famous joint debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas was held approximately one-quarter mile south of here. Twelve thousand people heard the two candidates for the United States Senatorship discuss the question of slavery in American politics.

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The Last Lincoln Farm IL37
In 1837, Thomas Lincoln erected a cabin on a tract of land situated one-half mile to the east. Here he resided until his death in 1851. Abraham Lincoln visited here frequently, and after 1841 held title to forty acres of land on which his parents lived. The State of Illinois now owns most of the Lincoln farm.

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Home of Dr. Hiram Rutherford IL36
This was the home of Dr. Hiram Rutherford, who was involved in 1847 in a case in which Abraham Lincoln represented a slaveholder. Rutherford and Gideon Ashmore harbored a family of slaves who had sought their help. The slaves belonged to Robert Matson, a Kentuckian who had brought them north to work on his farm. While the slaves were being sheltered in Ashmore's tavern, Matson obtained a court order to have the slaves jailed. Rutherford and Ashmore sued out a writ of habeas corpus for their release. Matson then hired Lincoln. The Circuit Court, after a hearing, freed the slaves.

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Christian County Courthouse 1840-1856 IL25
CHRISTIAN COUNTY COURTHOUSE
1840-1856

The first courthouse of Christian County (originally Dane County) was built in 1840 for $2,350. It was located in the center of Taylorville’s public square. Court was held on the lower level with county officers sharing the upstairs floor. Since the circuit court came to town only twice each year, the courtroom was available at other times for use by county commissioners or for public functions.

Until 1853, Christian County was part of the Eighth Judicial Circuit. A judge would travel to all county seats in the circuit twice each year to hear cases. The circuit was almost 450 miles long and took almost three months to complete by horse and buggy.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the attorneys who traveled the Eighth Circuit and came to Taylorville. He had trials in this courthouse before Judge David Davis, whom he later appointed to the United States Supreme Court. During one trial, Lincoln was interrupted by a loud noise from the hogs underneath the courthouse. In mock earnestness, he asked Judge Davis to issue a “writ of quietus” requiring the sheriff to abate the nuisance!

This courthouse was replaced with a new one in 1856 and sold for $267. It was moved several times before being placed on these museum grounds in honor of it's historical significance and its connection to Lincoln.

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Thy Wondrous Story, Illinois IL24
The fertile prairies in Illinois attracted the attention of trader Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette as they explored the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in 1673. France claimed this region until 1763 when she surrendered it to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris. During the American Revolution George Rogers Clark and his small army scored a bloodless victory when they captured Kaskaskia for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Illinois became a county of Virginia. This area was ceded to the United States in 1784, and became in turn part of the Northwest Territory and the Indiana and Illinois Territories. On December 3, 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state. Illinois acquired the fourteen northern counties because of the forsight of Nathaniel Pope, congressional delegate from the Illinois territory. His amendment to the Statehood Act moved the upper boundary from an east - west line through the tip of Lake Michigan to the present location. US 52 passes a variety of scenic and historic sites. The Mississippi Palisades, north of Savanna, and the White Pines forest, east of Polo, preserve the natural beauty of the area. In Dixon the statue of Abraham Lincoln as a soldier in the Black Hawk War and in the Lowden State Park near Oregon the towering Indian statue recall the exciting year 1832 when a band of Sauk and Fox Indians terrorized the settlers in northern Illinois.

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A Stone Arch Bridge on the Galena Road IL23
The Stone Arch Bridge that stands to the east of the present highway was on the Galena Road, once the most important trail in northern Illinois. Along this route innumerable people streamed northward to the lead mines near Galena every spring and many returned southward in the fall. The movement was likened to that of the fish called Sucker, from which the State received its nickname. This portion of the road from Dixon was surveyed in 1830 as the road from Woodbine Springs to Ogee's Ferry (later Dixon's Ferry, now Dixon), replacing the longer 1825 Kellogg's Trail and the 1826 Boles' Trail. Roads from Peoria and Chicago joined at Dixon and continued as one to Galena. Mail and stagecoach lines traveled the Peoria - Galena route as early as 1830 and the Chicago - Galena route by 1834. Here the road intersected the earlier Gratiot's Trail, which also ran from Dixon to Galena but extended farther north to avoid the rough terrain. During the Black Hawk War in 1832, militia and regular army troops marched on both trails. Abraham Lincoln, as a private in the company of Captain Elijah Iles, camped overnight near here, June 8 and 12. As a private in the independent spy company of Jacob M. Early, Lincoln made a forced march to Kellogg's Grove (near Kent), arriving there June 26, the day after the last battle fought in Illinois during that War. Isaac Chambers, who was not only the first settler of Ogle County at Buffalo Grove near Polo but also of Lima Township here in Carroll County, operated a stage coach inn nearby and a sawmill on Elkhorn Creek two miles to the southeast.

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Mt. Sterling, Illinois IL14

In 1824 Cornelius Vandeventer, a native of Ohio, became the first permanent settler in this area. Additional pioneers came over the next few years from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. In 1829 Alexander Curry purchased a claim on the site of the future Mt. Sterling. Curry and his family laid out the town in 1834. At that time, this area formed the southern part of Schuyler County. Two years later, attempts were made to move the county seat from Rushville to a location nearer to the center of the county. When these failed Brown County, named after General Jacob Brown, a veteran of the War of 1812, was created on February 1, 1839. Mt. Sterling was named the county seat the same year it was on a major route of the western migration beginning in 1849 with the discovery of gold in California.

James Washington Singleton came to this area from Virginia around 1834 and lived in Mt. Sterling until 1854 when he moved to Quincy. A doctor, lawyer, and later a railroad executive, he became a Brigadier General in the Illinois militia and served in the Mormon War of 1844. He was also a delegate to two Illinois State Constitutional Conventions, a member of the Illinois Legislature, and a member of the U.S. Congress. Stephen A. Douglas held court in Mt. Sterling in 1841-1843 while Circuit Court Judge Abraham Lincoln spoke here on October 19, 1858 while campaigning for the office of U.S. Senator.

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Welcome to Illinois IL13
WELCOME TO ILLINOIS

In 1673 Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette explored the Illinois country for France. By the 1763 treaty ending the French and Indian War, this area passed to England. During the American Revolution, George Rogers Clark's men captured it for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Illinois was later governed as part of the Northwest Territory, Indiana Territory, and the Illinois Territory. In 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state.

Permanent American settlers began arriving at the state's southwestern tip in 1805. Earthquakes rocked the Mississippi Valley in 1811, bringing refugees here in search of new homesites. After the War of 1812, another wave of settlers came, some bringing slaves. The newcomers raised cotton, flax, and tobacco. Later, they raised corn and wheat.

Northeast of here, at Jonesboro, Abraham Lincoln debated Stephen A. Douglas during the 1858 Senatorial campaign. During the Civil War, Cairo served as a major staging base where men and supplies were assembled before departing for the war zones. Mound City on the Ohio River was the principal depot for the Western River Fleet. Nearby is Thebes, once a bustling river port. The town declined when railroads replaced the steamboats, but the beautiful 1848 courthouse still stands. Nowadays, tourists and hunters are drawn to "Egypt"-- Illinois sixteen southernmost counties -- by the beauty of the Shawnee Forest and wildlife at Horseshoe Lake.

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