Existing comment:
Glimpses of the World:
Abraham continued to labor for his father and was sometimes hired out to work for others. In 1828, the nineteen-year-old helped merchant James Gentry float a boatload of goods down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. It was Abraham's first look beyond his father's neighborhood. In 1830, Thomas moved the family to Macon County, Illinois, where his son again helped build a home and prepare land for crops. In early 1831, Abraham. now legally an adult and no longer subject to his father's direction, left the family to begin life on his own. He signed on with speculator Denton Offutt to build a flatboat and help float it, loaded with goods, to New Orleans. The trip provided Abraham Lincoln with his first look at New Salem. |