Joseph Rife's flintlock rifle used by Abraham Lincoln
-
In reply to:
Joesph Rife
1/29/02
I ran across the following article which was on the same page as my own birth announcement.I believe Mr. TIMMER was probably the father of Francis TRIMMER, a girl who was about three years older than me. Anyway, I think it will probably be of interest to you.
THE BLOOMFIELD NEWS, Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana, Thursday June 22, 1939, Volume LXIII, Number 34, Page 1, Column 5, “Has Gun Which Was Used Several Times By Abraham Lincoln.” [Transcribed on March 27, 2005 by RLJ from microfilm of the original newspaper on file in the Bloomfield-Eastern Greene County Public Library.]
William F. TRIMMER, well known farmer of Highland Township, was in Bloomfield yesterday.Mr. TRIMMER owns an old-flint-lock muzzle loading shotgun which he says was used many times by Abraham Lincoln on hunting trips.
Mr. TRIMMER’S grandfather, Joseph RIFE, came from Perry County, Pennsylvania, in 1839, to Macon County, Illinois.He was thirty-nine years old at that time.Johnnie HANKS,a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln, lived across the road from the RIFE’s.Lincoln lived at Springfield, Illinois, at that time in his practice of law rode horseback over the country and often visited Macon County and his cousin, Johnnie HANKS.RIFE and LINCOLN went on hunting trips together, and many times, so the story goes, LINCOLN used this gun now owned by Mr. TRIMMER.
Mr. TRIMMER is very proud of this historical firearm and is preserving it for future generations.