Abraham Lincoln - Taylorville, IL
Posted by: YoSam.
N 39° 32.944 W 089° 17.733
16S E 302759 N 4380226
Ole Abe and the famous Christian County pig.
Waymark Code: WM4M9T
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 09/06/2008
Views: 13
Statue Erected by: Mr. and Mrs. Monte Siegrist and Family.
Date Statue Dedicated: 28 May, 2005.
County of Statue: Christian County.
Location of Statue: S. Washington St. & Main Cross St., courthouse lawn, Taylorville.
Title Plaque on Base:
The Last Stop
Abraham Lincoln's
8th Judicial Circuit
1839-1853.
Story of the Pig:
"I had pleasant accommodations at Taylorville
in company with Mr. Lincoln
& Mr. Thompson," Circuit Judge.
David Davis once wrote from here. He found this town--the last county seat on his circuit route--to be "prettily laid out, & tastefully arranged with trees & shrubs." But pigs rummaged underneath the floor boards of the courthouse sometimes disrupted the Judge's courtroom. Once, it was so noisy that attorney Abraham Lincoln reportedly rose to his feet to demand a "writ of quietus" to abate the hog nuisance. Pigs seemed to be a theme for Lincoln here in Taylorville. In 1842 he represented James Masterson, whose herd of four hundred pigs escaped when a careless boy allowed the cows he was herding to break down a holding pen fence. Masterson lost seventy pigs worth a total of $350. Lincoln sued the negligent boy's father on behalf of Masterson. Lincoln lost. A jury (whose members probably had unpredictable children of their own) ruled that the boy's father was not liable for his son's negligence.