removal was a disease called the "milk-sick." Abraham Lincoln's
mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and several of their relatives who had
followed them from Kentucky, had died of it. The cattle had been
carried off by it. Neither brute nor human life seemed to be safe. As
Dennis Hanks says: "This was reason enough (ain't it?) for leaving."

The place chosen for their new home was the Sangamon country in
central Illinois. It was a country of great renown in the West, the
name meaning "The land where there is plenty to eat." One of the
family--John Hanks, a cousin of Dennis--was already there, and sent
them inviting reports.

Gentryville saw young Lincoln depart with real regret, and his friends
gave him a score of rude proofs that he would not be forgotten. Our
representative in Indiana found that almost every family who
remembered the Lincolns retained some impression of their leaving.

"Neighbors seemed, in those days," she writes, "like relatives. The
entire Lincoln family stayed the last night before starting on their
journey with Mr. Gentry. He was loath to part with Lincoln, so
'accompanied the movers along the road a spell.' They stopped on a
hill which overlooks Buckthorn Valley, and looked their 'good-by' to
their old home and to the home of Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, to the grave
of the mother and wife, to all their neighbors and friends. Buckthorn
Valley held many dear recollections to the movers."

After they were gone James Gentry planted the cedar tree which now
marks the site of the Lincoln home.[A] "The folks who come lookin'
around have taken twigs until you can't reach any more very handy,"
those who point out the tree say.