Woman talks of meeting Lincoln

One of the earliest residents of Decatur was a woman named Jane Martin Johns. Born on June 28, 1827 in Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, she was married on Oct. 29, 1845, in Circleville, to Dr. H.C. Johns.
In May 1849, by pure chance, which included getting thrown from his horse 10 miles west of Decatur and breaking his collarbone, Dr. Johns chose that place as his new home. He had been on a deer hunt when his horse spooked.
During his recovery, he stayed at the Macon House for three weeks and then three weeks as guest of Dr. Peter Hull, who was eager to sell his 1,600 acres of land known as “The Farms.”
Returning to Ohio with the news, his wife, Jane, who was in opposition to living in the “God forsaken state of Illinois” was “overcome by the promise that in five years we would be so rich off the product of young cattle, fattened on the prairie without money … (and) that I could live anywhere I pleased.”
At age 85, Jane Martin Johns was asked to write about the early history of Decatur by the Decatur Chapter Daughters American Revolution, and she acknowledges that the history under the title “Personal Recollections 1849-1865” became a memoir.
She was a feisty little woman, taking her husband up on the promise that she could live anywhere she pleased for the “five years in exile.”
She wrote, “We came into Decatur by the Williams Street road, and when I saw the beautiful hill, crowned with lofty forest, just east of the town, I exclaimed, ‘I will consent to live in Illinois if I can live on that hill.’ That hill has been my home for over 60 years.”
Not only did Mrs. Johns record the growth of Decatur from a small village of 400 inhabitants to a city, she writes of her early neighbors and the customs common in those early days.
Her first-person description of meeting Abraham Lincoln at the Macon House is exceptional.
She wrote, “When I first knew Mr. Lincoln, he was 40 years old; had been a member of the state legislature and congress … his manner was that of a gentleman of the old school, unaffected, unostentatious, who ‘arose at once when a lady entered the room.’”
“His dress, like his manner, was suited to the occasion, but was evidently a subject to which he gave little thought. It was the fashion of the day for men to wear large shawls, and Mr. Lincoln’s shawl was very large, very soft and very fine. He wore it folded lengthwise (three and one-half yards long) in scarf fashion over his shoulders, caught together the chin with an immense safety pin.
“Court was in session in Decatur, Judge David Davis presiding. The hotel where I was living temporarily was kept by David Krone and his good lady, whose popularity extended over the fourteen counties of the Eighth Judicial District.
“It was court week that my piano, after a long journey by steamer down the Ohio and up the Wabash to Crawfordsville, Ind., and thence by wagon, arrived in Decatur. The wagon was backed up to the steps at the front door of the Macon House and the question of how to unload it and get it into the house was a puzzling one.”
Landlord Krone soon solved the problem by telling her that court would soon adjourn and there would be plenty to help. This happened, and Krone explained, “There is a piano in that box that this woman here wants some one to help unload.”
She recalled, “A tall gentleman stepped forward, and throwing off a big gray Scotch shawl, exclaimed, ‘Come on, Swett, you are the next biggest man.’ That was my first meeting with Abraham Lincoln.
“Lincoln went into the basement where Mr. Krone had a carpenter shop and returned with two heavy timbers across his shoulders. With them he established communication between the wagon and the front door steps.
The legs screwed into place the piano was set up. After dinner, members of the bar gathered around while during the evening Jane played more than 20 selections, from “Old Dan Tucker” to “Battle of Prague” and ending the evening with “He Doeth All Things Well,” one that she played for Mr. Lincoln and Gov. Oglesby many times afterward.
Her first meeting with Mr. Lincoln would not be her last, and next week, Jane Martin Johns will share another Lincoln story through this column.