ar or two later he was killed by the Indians,
not in battle, but by stealth, when he was labouring to open a farm in
the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks
County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New England
family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a similarity
of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai,
Solomon, Abraham, and the like.

My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he
grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is
now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home
about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with
many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.
There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever
required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin', and cipherin'" to the
rule of three. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to
sojourn in the neighbourhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was
absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I
came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write,
and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to
school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education
I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.

I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At
twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, at
that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year as
a sort of clerk in a store.

Then came the Black Hawk War; and I was elected a captain of volunteers,
a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went
the campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the same year (1832),
and was beaten--the only time I ever have been beaten by the people. The
next and three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to the
legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. During this legislative
period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practise it. In
1846 I was once elected to the lower House of Congress. Was not a
candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practised
law more assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics; and
generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses. I was
losing inte