Maryann RUTLEDGE's spinning wheel - 1959

LINCOLN, RUTLEDGE

Posted By: nancy dorwart (email)
Date: 3/5/2004 at 16:09:09

"The Fairfield Daily Ledger"
February 12, 1959
Page 1, Columns 2 & 3

LIBRARY SPINNING WHEEL HAS EARLY LINCOLN TIE.

An ancient spinning wheel which one stood in a home frequently visited by Abraham LINCOLN is now gathering dust in the Fairfield Public Library museum. The wheel belonged to Mrs. Mary RUTLEDGE, mother of Ann RUTLEDGE. It was used in the RUTLEDGE home in New Salem, Ill., and was one of the household items brought to Van Buren county when the family migrated to Iowa in 1837. By coincidence, the wheel was made in 1809, the year of LINCOLN's birth.

From a historical standpoint, the wheel is an interesting bit of evidence in the controversial romance between young Abe and Ann RUTLEDGE. Ann and her father, James RUTLEDGE, both died in a typhoid epidemic which struck New Salem in 1835. LINCOLN scholars have long disagreed over the seriousness of the romance, but the story is one of the best known in the life of the Great Emancipator.

The original museum label attached to the wheel -- a stained and dog-eared piece of cardboard -- implies that LINCOLN spent a lot of time in the RUTLEDGE home. It reads: "Spinning wheel owned by Maryann RUTLEDGE -- made in 1809 -- to the music of whose humming Abe LINCOLN often went to sleep." Ben Taylor, chairman of the Fairfeild Library board, said there is no record of who donated the wheel or when it was added to the museum collection....

Following the death of her husband and daughter, Ann, Mrs. RUTLEDGE and six other children established their home three miles northwest of Birmingham. Two of Ann RUTLEDGE's sisters later became residents of Jefferson county and two of her nephews attended Parsons College.

Mrs. RUTLEDGE was a resident of Van Buren county for 41 years. She died in 1878 at the age of 91. She and a son, John, are buried in Bethel Methodist cemetery near the family homestead and a short distance south of the Jefferson county line. LINCOLN came to New Salem in 1831, taking a job as clerk in Offutt's store. He was appointed postmaster of New Salem in 1833.