Abraham Lincoln chair

HALLER, LINCOLN, PENNELL, SNYDER

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 12/16/2014 at 18:23:10

Newton Woman Has … Chair Lincoln Used … Long, Long Ago
“Lincoln sat here.”
That in a statement Mrs. Margaret Snyder, who will observe her 84th birthday in March, can say.
In her room at the H. L. Pennell home here is a small hard white oak rocking chair with arms and a high back. It is well over 100 years old but the exact age is not known. It was handed down to Mrs. Snyder from an uncle, George Haller of Springfield, Ill., who lived just around the corner from a struggling young attorney, Abraham Lincoln.
As Mr. Haller was an abstractor and his office was located in his home, Mr. Lincoln often called to consult him about abstracts. On these occasions he sat in the rocker, which at that time had a cane seat and back. These have since been replaced with other material.
Telling of the revered Mr. Lincoln, a long dead cousin of Mrs. Snyder said, “Mother would permit me to take a walk each day. I would often time these walks to the hour Mr. Lincoln was returning to his office from lunch. Then he would life me high on his shoulder, carry me a couple of blocks, set me down, give me a piece of candy from a sack in his pocket and say, ‘Now, Kitty, run on home like a good girl.’ A great lover of children, Abraham Lincoln found no child too dirty or too ragged to pat on the head and to give a piece of candy. Lacking the candy, he would give each a penny.”
Today of course is the great emancipator’s birthday.
Source: Newton Daily News; 12 February 1952