Abraham always had the ax in his hands unless he was planting or harvesting the fields. In this area Abe took to hunting. This was not Abe's strong area, but he enjoyed the hobby, until he killed his first turkey. After this action he never again pulled the trigger of a gun on any type of game (Home.att.net/Lincoln).
In the fall of 1818, Abraham's mother died, and only a year later his father remarried. Mrs. Sally Johnston was a widow who had three children. She was a very kind and loving mother. She took Abraham as one of her own. Thomas and Sally had no children during this second marriage (The History Place).
The family continued to reside in Indiana. Abraham also attended A.B.C. schools here. It was said that recalling all of his schooling combined, Abe probably did not have more than one year of education. Everything that he knew he had taught himself (Home.att.net/Lincoln).
When Abe was ten years old, a horse kicked him, apparently, to have died for a short period of time. At the age of nineteen, Abe got a job as a hired hand and made his first trip to New Orleans on a flatboat. .
On this trip, he, the owner, and his son stopped along the Sugar Coast. The nature of the cargo made it possible to linger and trade. While there seven black men attacked one night the three men. These black men had the intent to first rob them and then kill them. Abe and the crew suffered little loss, but were very successful in driving the men off the boat. They quickly pulled anchor and set off on their journey (The History Place).
On March 1, 1830, Abraham, his father, and the rest of the family left their homestead in Indiana and headed for Illinois. They made the trip by ox and wagon. They reached Macon County later in the month of March. They settled there along the north side of the Sangamon River. Here they built a log cabin, fenced ten acres of ground, and raised a crop of corn all in the first year (The History Place).
