The Physical Lincoln: Allen Brooner

From Lincolnwiki

• Knew Lincoln in Indiana and Illinois.
• Son of Peter Brooner. Younger brother of Peter Brooner.

During my mother's last sickness, Mrs. Lincoln, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, came to see her. Mother said, 'I believe I will have to die.' Mrs. Lincoln said, 'Oh, you may outlive me.' She died just one week from the death of my mother. This was in October, 1818. I was five years old when mother died. I remember some one came to me in the night and told me my mother was dead. Thomas Lincoln made mother's coffin, and sawed the lumber with a whip-saw to make the coffin. She was taken on a sled to the graveyard on a hill, one quarter of a mile south of where Lincoln City now stands. Old man Howell took the corpse. He rode the horse hitched to the sled, and took me up, and I rode on the horse before him. I remember that his long beard bothered me. We did not have wagons in those days. The first wagon I ever saw, my father made, and it had wooden tires.

I went to Illinois in 1835-36. Most of the time I was there I worked at the carpenter trade at Petersburg. We were getting out timber for a mill. The owner made me 'boss.' At that time Abraham Lincoln was postmaster at New Salem. He was also keeping a store at the time. While I was there, Lincoln made a mistake in his own favor of five cents in trading with a woman. When he discovered his mistake, he walked two and a half miles to correct the mistake. The county surveyor came to see Lincoln while I was out there, and wanted to make him his deputy. Lincoln said, 'I know nothing of surveying.' 'But,' said the surveyor, 'they tell me you can learn anything.' Not long afterward I saw Lincoln out surveying. When Lincoln would hand me my mail he would often inquire about the Spencer County people and the old acquaintances. In his conversation he always put the best construction on everything.