Susan Riney Yeager - Remembering Lincoln

This Article written about Susan Riney Yeager in 1897 and reprinted by
Margaret Settle Richardson in the Ancestral News in 1978. Susan was my
great great-grandmother. She was born during the years 1804/6 and died
in 1904.


My grandmother always told us that her grandmother went to school with
Abraham Lincoln,  I never knew which grandmother until I started  this
research, Mrs Susan Yeager of Rineyville Hardin Co. Ky., then in her
90th year was a schoolmate of Abe Lincoln, her maiden name was RINEY.
Her father was on of the pioneers of the state and Rineyville is named
for the family. She was much better educated than the average girl of
her generation, her family being one of the most prominent and wealthy
in the county.


The 1895 article indicated that Mrs Riney Yeager's husband has been
dead for many years, and with her family possessions scattered and 
in her extreme old age she was living in a state of poverty. Despite 
the hardships she has undergone, Mrs Yeager is a wonderfully well-
preserved women. She is fairly brisk in her movements, her voice is
firm and strong, having none of the quavering of very old age, her
blue eyes are bright as a young girls and she had recently discarded
her spectacles.


She was descibed as having a heavy suit of gray hair and that she wears
an old black silk cap. She is not much stooped, her mind is clear, her
memory wonderfully good and she would easily  pass for sixty-five years.
She wears calico dresses of an ancient pattern and make, cloth shoes and
a red woolen shawl about her shoulders. She is five feet, five inches 
in height and is of rather heavy build. She is a very intelligent women
and reads every newspaper and book she can get.


The article goes on to describe her recollections of her early years.

Yes I remember Abe Lincoln well as a little bit of a fellow, she said 
It was what now is Larue County, but was then a part of Hardin County.
Abe and I went to the same school. My father Zachariah Riney, was the
teacher.


I can see the old school house now, the old lady  continues with a
far-away look in her eyes. It was built of rough logs, as all school
houses were in those days and mostly all of the dwelling houses, daubed
with mud.  The school house had no windows, but one log removed the
length of the building served for light and ventilation. The floor was
a dirt one, leveled and beaten solid.
The benches consisted of logs split in the middle and place alongside the
walls. There was just one bench made of plank supported by stumps. This
the privilege of sitting upon it.


The old lady laughed as her memory called her back eighty long years and
evidently the senses of her childhood were vividly presented to her mind.
She continued...



 But you want to know about little Abe.  He was then barely seven years
 old and I was ten. I remember his big sister bringing him to school the
 first day. Oh, she was fond of him, she also  attended school there; 
 and all day long, whether at lessons or at play, her careful eye was 
 constantly watching him. She was a regular little mother to him. I have
 seen her on rainy days, or when the roads were muddy, carrying him in her
 arms to and from the school house. At playtime she would  always insist
 that he play with her and the girls.,
 telling him to keep away from the big boys, as they were likely to hurt
 him in their rough play. In those days quit a number of the scholars were full
 grown men.


A school session lasted the summer months, because it was too cold to go
to school in the winter. It therefore took a long time to acquire such an
education as the county afforded.
But little Abe would not consent to be held to his sister's apron strings.
He had a will of his own and, strangly enought he did seek the society of
boys his own age.


The one thing I remember most about him was his unfailing good humor.
I never remember seen him cry during the two years he attending that
school.
 
He wore home spun clothes as did all the children, and went barefooted.
He never received a whipping and in our time the child was not spoiled by
sparing the rod, and to go without a whipping a whole session was proof
that he was an extra good boy.

Of course, laughed Mrs Yeager, I did not know then that the little chap
we all loved so well would someday be the president or I would have taken
notes of his sayings and doings. Indeed, it is a fact that I never knew
until after his death that President Lincoln was the same identical little
Abe. In those days the Lincoln family pronounced their name, Linkhorn.


One thing I remember very distinctly is seeing him bending down saplings 
and riding them horses. That was his favorite amusement at playtime.

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