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© Abraham Lincoln OnlineThe Lincoln Family Church
First Presbyterian Church
321 S. Seventh Street
Springfield, IllinoisLincoln in Springfield Photo Tour
When you're visiting the Lincoln home neighborhood, stop by the church which houses the original Lincoln family pew. The Lincolns purchased and used the pew when the congregation worshipped in a previous building (no longer standing) at Third and Washington Streets. In that building, the pew was No. 20 on the left side, fifth row from the front.
Mrs. Lincoln referred to this pew in an 1861 letter to Mrs. Samuel Melvin, a Springfield friend, whose husband was chairman of the church pew committee. She wrote, "I had intended requesting Mr Melvin to have given me a promise, that on our return to S- we would be able to secure our particular pew, to which I was very much attached, and which we occupied some ten years, may I hope that he will be able to do so."
The Lincoln family began attending the church in 1850 after the death of three-year-old Edward Lincoln. Dr. James Smith, the pastor at the time, had conducted Eddie's funeral service in the Lincoln home. Abraham Lincoln did not formally join the church, but his wife Mary became a member on October 13, 1852. Their youngest son Thomas (Tad) was baptized in the church on April 4, 1856, which was his third birthday.
The present structure, built three years after President Lincoln died, was the site of Mrs. Lincoln's funeral on July 16, 1882. A stained glass window in the front features President Lincoln in the middle, flanked by Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton.
© Abraham Lincoln OnlineThe old Lincoln pew now occupies a place of honor in the narthex where it is embellished with flags and a silver marker. You can take a tour of the church from June through September on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. For information call 217/528-4311.
Related Links
Church of Lincoln's Ancestors Seeking Help (State Journal-Register)
First Presbyterian Church, Springfield
Lincoln's Faith in God
Lincoln, Evangelical Religion, and American Political Culture in the Era of the Civil War (Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association)
Looking for Lincoln
New York Avenue Presbyterian ChurchRelated Reading
Davenport, Don. In Lincoln's Footsteps: A Historical Guide to the Lincoln Sites in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. Revised edition, Trails Books, 2002.Jones, Edgar DeWitt. Lincoln and the Preachers, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948.
Temple, Wayne C. Abraham Lincoln: From Skeptic to Prophet.
Wolf, William J. The Almost Chosen People. Garden City: New York, 1959.
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