Lincoln's Homes

Kentucky

1809-1811

Type: log cabin

Location: Sinking Spring, near Hodgenville

Description: one-room, sixteen by eighteen feet, dirt floor, no glass windows

Occupation: None

1811-1816

Type: log cabin

Location: on Knob Creek

Description: one-room, dirt floor, no glass windows

Occupation: helped father with farm work

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Indiana

1816 - Spring, 1830

Type: log house

Location: Southern Indiana

Description: one-room, sleeping loft reached by pegs in the wall, first dirt floor later wooden floor, no glass windows

Occupation: helped father with farmwork

• Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, dies of milk sickness on October 5, 1818
• Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, marries Sarah Bush Johnston on December 2, 1819

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Illinois

March 15, 1830 - March, 1831

Type: log house

Location: near Decatur, Illinois

Occupation: helped father with farm work

July, 1831 - April 15, 1837

Type: lived in several log houses

Location: New Salem, Illinois

Occupations: postmaster, clerk, surveyor, store keeper, Illinois state legislator

• Lincoln begins studying law
• In 1832, Lincoln is defeated in his first attempt to run for the Illinois State Legislature
• In 1834, Lincoln is elected to the Illinois State Legislature
• In 1836, Lincoln is re-elected to the Illinois State Legislature

1837-1841

Type: two-story wooden building

Location: Springfield, Illinois, at corner of Fifth and Adams Street

Description: Joshua Speed's general store

Occupation: lawyer, Illinois state legislator

• In 1838, Lincoln is elected to the Illinois State Legislature for the third time
• In 1840, Lincoln is elected to the Illinois State Legislature for the fourth time

1841-1842

Type: wooden building

Location: Springfield, Illinois, location uncertain

Description: William Butler's home

Occupation: lawyer

• Courts and becomes engaged to Mary Todd during 1842

November, 1842 - 1843

Type: two-story wooden inn

Location: Springfield, Illinois, on Adams Street

Description: Globe Tavern

Occupation: lawyer

• Robert Todd, their first son, is born on August 1, 1843

1843-1844

Type: wooden cottage

Location: Springfield, Illinois, on Fourth Street

Occupation: lawyer

1844-1861

Type: purchased as a one-and-a-half story cottage with six rooms; enlarged in 1855-56 to two stories with twelve rooms

Description: wooden structure, carpeted in several rooms, first and only home he ever owned

Location: Springfield, Illinois, corner of Eighth and Jackson Streets

Occupation: lawyer

• Eddie (March 10, 1846), Willie (December 21, 1850), and Tad (April 4, 1853) are born in this house
• August 4, 1846, Lincoln is elected to the United States House of Representatives
• Eddie dies on February 1, 1850 at the age of 3 years, ten months
• On November 2, 1858, Stephen A. Douglas defeats Lincoln for the United States Senate
• May 18, 1860, the Republican National Convention in Chicago nominates Lincoln for the presidency
• November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected president
• February 11, 1861 Lincoln departs Springfield, Illinois for Washington, D.C.

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Washington, D.C.

1847-1849

Type: two-story house

Location: Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill

Description: Ann G. Sprigg's boardinghouse

Occupation: United States Congressman from Illinois

1861-1865

Type: multiple story stone house

Location: Washington, D.C., on Pennsylvania Avenue

Description: The White House, thirty-one rooms, carpeted

Occupation: President of the United States

• On February 20, 1862, Willie dies in the White House at the age of eleven

Summers 1862, 1863, 1864

Type: two-story brick house

Location: Washington, D.C., four miles north of the Capitol

Description: Soldiers Home, also known as the Riggs House (renamed Anderson Cottage in 1888), twelve rooms

Occupation: President of the United States

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