Wilson, Douglas L., ed.; Davis, Rodney O., ed.; Taylor, James. 'James Taylor (William H. Herndon Interview)' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: interview]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon482b.html

378. James Taylor (William H. Herndon Interview).

[1865 — 66]

I came up in the boat with Bogue ^[1] in 1831 — Knew Lincoln as Early as 1833 I saw him painting a sign in N.S. in 1837. He surveyed, laid off Petersburg — Jack Armstrong used to plague Abe a great deal a bout his — Abe's son, which he had by Mrs Armstrong; it was a joke — plagued Abe terribly —

About the year 1835 the roughs of N Salem and surrounding Country did Cook a live pig ^[2] in a tin plate stove — did barrel up — put in a hogshead a drunken man and roll him down the hill ^[3] — Lincoln surveyed land for me.

Rutledge kept a grocery in NS: he saw a fellow in town bare-foot — Wadkins ^[4] — and told Wadkins if he would cut up an old house that he would give him a pair of shoes: Wadkins started on his job — Abe Saw him — got his axe & helped him to cut up the thing — "Now go get your shoes" Said Abe

Library of Congress: Herndon-Weik Collection. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. 2922; Huntington Library: LN2408, 1:472