Lincoln Sites Saved by Ball
Members of the Ball family took a keen interest in saving sites historically connected to President Lincoln’s family and childhood. The first of these was the farm on which Lincoln was born, Sinking Spring Farm, now known as the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Hodgenville, Kentucky. In 1909 a national campaign was started to save the farm. Contributions of 25 cents to $25 enrolled donors as honorary members of the Lincoln Farm Association. George A. Ball was a donor as shown by his certificate pictured here.
Construction of the Lincoln Memorial Hall, which houses the “symbolic” birth cabin, began on February 12, 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth. The cornerstone was laid that day by President Theodore Roosevelt. The building was completed in 1911 and dedicated in a ceremony led by President Taft. The site became a national park in 1916 and a National Historic Site in 1959.
The second site of interest was the location of the school Lincoln had attended while living in Spencer County, Indiana. George became involved in 1943 when he was contacted by Isaphine Richey, a voice and music instructor who was a student of Lincoln –related history, while she was trying to verify the exact location of the school. He agreed with her that if the correct location could be identified it should be marked in some manner and he would pay for a marker.
The two corresponded quite a bit that year and George suggested a search of the county records. Unfortunately a fire in 1830 had destroyed nearly all the early records of that area so Isaphine tried to verify accounts of local families and locate any land records that still existed. Apparently she was not successful in finding enough information; according to a present-day brochure from the Lincoln State Park in Lincoln City, Indiana, the site has never been verified.
Third was the Lincoln Union (or Lincoln Memorial Union). In 1922 the Indiana Legislature formed the Lincoln Memorial Commission and committed $5,000 to start a fund to construct a memorial to Abraham Lincoln and his mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln on the site of their first Indiana homestead in Spencer County. As part of fundraising activities throughout the 1920’s, oration contests were held for high school students and in Delaware County, Frank C. Ball provided the cash prizes. Frank also served as state chairman of the organization. Ball Brothers gave $25,000, one of the two largest contributions to the project (Mr. Lilly providing the other) according to Frank’s recollections.
By 1929 a bill was pending in Congress to appropriate $500,000 for the construction of a memorial where Nancy Hanks Lincoln was buried. The state owned 70 acres but an additional 30 acres, encompassing part of Thomas Lincoln’s farm (Abraham’s father) and the cemetery containing the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was purchased and deeded to the Memorial Union by Frank C. Ball. That acreage and associated expenditures of relocating several buildings off the property, totaled $32,000 that Frank contributed to the project.
The fourth Lincoln project of Ball involvement was the Lincoln Marriage Temple. Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln were married in the log cabin of Richard Berry near Springfield, Kentucky. The property went through several owners and in 1911 the cabin was dismantled and moved to the Harrodsburg Historical Society. It was reassembled in 1913 but over the next couple of decades the structure deteriorated.
In 1931 Bertha Crosley Ball, who had an interest in several significant historic preservation projects, donated the money to build a structure to enclose the cabin and prevent further deterioration. The temple (constructed to look like a church) was dedicated on June 12, 1931, the Lincoln’s 125th anniversary. She did not attend the ceremony but George Ball did, presenting an Indiana flag and acting as a representative for Governor Leslie. Emma Doak, wife of William N. Doak, Secretary of Labor, represented Bertha at the ceremony reading a Bible verse and then installing the book on the pulpit inside the temple.
