Blog Post Courtesy of Kathy Tretter, President, Editor/Co-publisher · Dubois-Spencer Counties Publishing Co., Inc.
This article originally appeared in Spencer County Online.
This article could actually fill an entire book, although a book will not fit into the pages of this newspaper. So readers (and this writer) must settle for a more manageable rendering of what took place last week. It’s a slice of Spencer County history that must be preserved.
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A few more than 200 years ago — just as Indiana was gaining statehood in 1816 — a family of four packed their belongings and moved from Kentucky to a small settlement in the new 19th state known as Little Pigeon Creek.
The husband and father was a talented furniture maker with a magnificent set of tools to ply his trade. He was also artistic and particular in his craft.
Sadly, history has not remembered him fondly, which likely can be laid down to a marketing ploy designed to get his son elected president, making the claim the father was a shiftless, illiterate ne’er-do-well and the son was entirely a self made man who came from nothing.
The son, as readers will already have guessed, was Abraham Lincoln and the father was Thomas Lincoln.
Flash forward a couple hundred years.
Steve Haaff, of Patronville, became fascinated with Federal style furniture many years ago. The former educator decided to educate himself on the furniture Thomas Lincoln crafted by hand. He educated himself to the point of replicating Thomas Lincoln’s tools and recreating certain pieces of furniture. He made patterns from the designs and became so knowledgeable that Haaff — a Spencer County native — is considered the world’s foremost authority on Thomas Lincoln furniture. He has been contacted by people the world over, including those fine folks at Antiques Roadshow, to authenticate (or debunk) a claim of a Thomas Lincoln-made item.
A couple years ago he received a call from a family in Kansas who had a dresser that family legend claimed was made by Thomas Lincoln.
Without going into the details of Haaff’s investigation (lacking an entire book to write), he was able to confirm the four drawer dresser or bureau had been crafted by Mr. Lincoln. In fact, it was a piece Haaff had been looking for over many years. Noted southern Indiana author and Lincoln historian Bess Ehrmann had written about it after a visit to the home of Squire William Wood over 100 years ago, although she claimed it was crafted from mahogany, which was incorrect.
However, Haaff was not surprised at the misidentification. While the dresser is actually walnut and poplar (the latter for pieces that would not be seen) with an 1/8th inch thick cherry veneer gracing the arched front — time, linseed oil and smoke from the fireplace would have darkened the finish over time, rendering the finish with a mahogany-hued patina.
Thomas had built this dresser for Wm. Wood, whose family came to Spencer County before there was such a thing, and even before there was a state of Indiana in 1809.
Wood was a close neighbor of the Lincolns and later told William Herndon, Abraham Lincoln’s law partner in Springfield who interviewed many neighbors after Abraham was assassinated, that in fact Thomas Lincoln, “built my house, he built my furniture and the run up the stairs in my house.”
Thomas and Squire Woods were good friends and according to Steve, the latter even spent a night with Nancy Hanks Lincoln as she lay dying from the Milk Sickness.
One thing Steve Haaff wants the world to know, beyond the fact that Thomas Lincoln was a talented and meticulous craftsman, is that the people of this new state were not all backwoods hillbillies, but folks who appreciated and desired the finer things, including beautiful cabinets and other fine furniture.
One thing this writer wanted to know was how the bureau ended up in Kansas. The question was answered and will be revealed, just not quite yet.
Following many conversations, the current owner wanted the bureau displayed and while she thought the Lincoln Museum in Springfield should be the recipient, Steve convinced her the Indiana State Museum would provide a better showcase, since Thomas crafted the piece in Indiana for a Hoosier family.
But first, Steve had another task to complete. The current owner, 91 year-old Mildred “Millie” Moore’s father had replaced the federal style brass pulls with crystal knobs. Steve knew exactly what type of drawer pulls would have been used and the museum staff wanted them restored, but wanted the most knowledgeable person in this generation to handle the job.
Last Wednesday, January 24, Steve drove to Indianapolis and set to work. While he was making the transition he pointed out significant details and explained how Thomas would have crafted the bowed front, affixing the cherry to the walnut and carving the arch. He pointed to two stars etched into the legs, saying stars were a particular signature on Thomas Lincoln works, noted original nails and a plethora of other details the average person would not necessarily notice.
At some point the linseed oil had been removed with a tongue oil finish. There was some damage, which he attributed to mice, including a partially missing decorative apron along the bottom. The conservators at the museum listened raptly to every word, soaking up knowledge as Haaff imparted it.
Haaff said every cabinetmaker had his own idiosyncrasies, which helps him with identification. He believed Thomas learned from Jesse Heade, a noted cabinetmaker in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, who was know to use apprentices and who, in fact, had performed the wedding ceremony uniting Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks.
While history has left the impression that Abraham Lincoln came from poverty, that truly wasn’t the case. His grandfather, also Abraham Lincoln, owned 5,000 acres and was well-to-do, but was massacred by Native Americans when Thomas was just a child. The rule of the day, known as primogeniture, meant his older brother, Mordecai, inherited everything so it’s likely why Thomas became an apprentice.
“His work was an extension of himself,” Haaff asserted, “a labor of love.”
He crafted in the Federal style and that never changed, although in the 1830s Duncan Phyfe came into vogue.
As to the original shiny polished brass drawer pulls, Thomas would have purchased those and they were most likely imported.
Other than the time it took to cut down the trees and season the wood, the actual building of the cabinet would take about 40 days and if Squire Wood paid in cash, Thomas likely earned $40, although he could have been paid in goods as the barter system thrived during that period. Elizabeth Crawford once traded a quilt for a Thomas Lincoln corner cabinet.
Haaff reported it was said about his creations that “Thomas Lincoln was as good a cabinet maker as any of them and better than most.”
Also that he had the best set of tools around, composed of hundreds of pieces, some he made himself so he was also for all intents and purposes a blacksmith as well as a furniture maker.
After several hours of work the dresser was ready for display. A ceremony was planned for the following day during which (hopefully) answers to all questions would be revealed.
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Day Two
In addition to corner cabinets, chests of drawers, tables and other furniture, Thomas Lincoln built his own house and others, as well as Little Pigeon Church.
This, Steve Haaff told the assembly on the second floor of the Indiana State Museum who had gathered for the unveiling.
Haaff explained his process for identification and documentation and said the Federal style of furniture was popular from around 1780 to 1820 (give or take, depending where one lived).
Listening in fascination was the bureau’s owner, Mildred Moore, of Kansas City, Kansas, along with her daughter, Julie McIntire, also from Kansas City, Millie’s niece, Shirley (Fouse) and her husband, Dan Bishop of Topeka Kansas, another niece, Karen Yudnich of Denver, Colorado, Debora Wood, widow of Tim Wood from Louisville, Kentucky, and Mike, Bud and Ken Schaaf from Spencer County.
Millie said the dresser had always been in her home. As a child she placed her rag dolls in the drawers. Her father changed the knobs because her mother had very tiny, arthritic hands and the crystal knobs made it easier to manipulate the pulls.
She, being the youngest of three sisters, didn’t get to pick first when her parents passed away. Oldest sister Esther (Shirley’s mom) got first choice — a necklace watch. Middle sister Dorothy (Karen’s mom) chose some oak furniture. Millie felt like she ended up with the dresser by default.
But how did it end get to Kansas?
For that matter how did Squire Wood and his family (he and his wife had five children) end up in Spencer County?
This is what his descendants shared.
While not a Catholic, Squire moved to Bardstown, Kentucky with the influx of Catholics, then relocated to Daviess County, Kentucky. As with others, including Thomas Lincoln, he had trouble getting a clear title to his land, which was why he moved on in 1809 to what would become Indiana in 1816 and Spencer County in 1818.
One son, Robert, eventually moved to Terre Haute.
Robert’s son, Newton, decided to seek even greener pastures and he homesteaded in Kansas.
Newton paid a visit to Spencer County and was given a list of four local girls. He was told he needed a wife and had to pick one. He picked Mary Schaaf (hence the Schaaf connection).
They were wed April 26, 1894 and would take the train to Larned, Kansas, where they would debark and walk to Truesdale and the farm Newton had homesteaded.
Robert, Newton’s father, gifted the newlyweds with the dresser. He had likely been a playmate of Abraham and Sarah Lincoln in his youth.
Newton and Mary had four children before she passed away from Typhoid Fever on September 9, 1901 — their oldest child age six and the youngest a baby.
Newton never remarried and his maiden Aunt Jenny would move from Terre Haute to Kansas every summer, taking along a bunch of hard boiled eggs to eat along the way.
The other maiden aunt was Dr. Anna Wood, a physician practicing holistic medicine in Terre Haute.
Debora’s husband, Tim came through another branch of the family.
Lunch following the ceremonial unveiling of the bureau, or dresser, was rife with tales of Wood, Schaaf and other families that shall be saved for another day (or maybe that book that likely will never be written). But space is getting a bit tight, so it’s definitely time to reach a conclusion.
And a conclusion for readers? If you haven’t been to the Indiana State Museum lately, or even if you have, it’s a good time to slot it on your bucket list. The treasures found within are innumerable! A corner cabinet also built by Thomas Lincoln stands to the right of the dresser and a more utilitarian, open shelf cabinet, also his creation to the left. Steve explained Thomas built every piece to order and the intricacy and detail was largely dependent on what the customer was willing to pay (or barter).
Of course there are many other jewels in the State Museum’s collection with revolving exhibits that are sure to please every taste.
The museum is located at White River State Park at 650 West Washington Street in Indianapolis, in a complex that includes the NCAA Hall of Champions, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, White River Gardens, Indianapolis Zoo and more.
Photos by Kathy Tretter.
Group photo 1: Cousins, some who may not have met before, gathered for a snapshot at the Indiana State Museum. Pictured from left: Mike Schaaf, Shirley Fouse, Julie McIntire, Mildred Moore, Bud Schaaf, Ken Schaaf and Karen Yudnich, with Steve Haaff, who was responsible for authenticating the dresser as a Thomas Lincoln-crafted piece and for amking repairs to restore it to its former glory.
Group photo 2: Julie McIntire and her mother, Mildred Moore, discuss the family’s Lincoln connection with Haaff and Indiana State Museum Chief Curator and Research Officer Susannah K. Koerber.
