Section of Tree Planted by Abraham Lincoln / SOLD

Section of Tree Planted by Abraham Lincoln - Inventory Number: POL 321 / SOLD

Historic section of wood measuring 3 ½” x 4” nicely mounted in a shadowbox frame measuring 15” x 17” with four original pieces of provenance. There are three newspaper articles which show evidence of once being pinned to the section of wood and a handwritten label which reads: “Elm Bark from the tree, planted by Lincoln’s hands. Secured at the time Mrs. Edwards gave me it.” (The ink signature is intertwined with the printed portion and would take some time to discern the name).

Newspaper Article #1

Lincoln Tree Felled

Last Survivor of Those Planted by

President Blown Down.

The last trees planted by Abraham Lincoln at his old home in Springfield was a victim of the storm which struck that city Friday night, was an elm and the last survivor of a number planted by the martyr president over sixty-five years ago, and while he was a lawyer in Springfield.

Early Saturday morning when work. men began to chop the tree to pieces, preparatory to carting it away, curious people began to gather at the scene, and in a short time there were many persons standing about eager to procure some part of the elm to preserve as mementoes. One man secured a stick of wood about four feet long and a foot in diameter and will convert it into penholders which he will sell as souvenirs of the capital of Illinois.

Newspaper Article #2

LAST LINCOLN TREE DOWN

Relic Hunters Pounced Upon the Prostrate Elm.

[Petersburg (Ill.) Observer.]

The last tree planted by Abraham Lincoln at his old home at Eighth and Edwards streets in Springfield, was a victim of a recent severe storm.

The tree was an elm and the last Survivor of a number planted by the martyred president over sixty-five years ago while he was a lawyer in Springfield.

Early the next morning, when workmen began to chop the tree to pieces, preparatory to caring it away, curious people began to gather at the scene, and in a short time there were many persons standing about, eager to procure some part of the elm to preserve as mementoes.

One man secured a stick of wood about four feet long and a foot in diameter and will convert it into penholders which he will sell as souvenirs of the capital of Illinois.

Almost before daylight most of the smaller branches had been broken off to be used as walking canes and by the time that the workmen had completed their task of cutting the trunk of the tree into sections almost the entire remaining portion had been carried away.

Hartford Times

Newspaper Article #3

Last of Lincoln’s Trees

Wind Levels Elm Planted by the Emancipator

Special to the record, Harold Springfield, Illinois. August 19 – – the last survivor of a row of shade trees planted around the Lincoln Homestead by the emancipator, has succumbed to the fury of a summer windstorm. While a S. Edwards, custodian of the homestead, which is now the property of the state, Mrs. Edwards, who is a niece of President Lincoln —- the spreading Elm was uprooted last night. Itelic seekers swarmed to the place today and carried away limbs and pieces from the tree. Some of the void will be manufactured into pen holders and other souvenirs while many of the small branches will be made into sticks., With five others, was planted in front of Lincoln Homestead by a Lincoln, the country lawyer, before his associates in Springfield dream that he was esteemed to be one of the foremost figures in the world’s history.

Inventory Number: POL 321 / SOLD