Bellevue Place in Batavia where Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s widdow, had a short-lived stay when the site was a mental hospital. (Photo by Jack McCarthy / Chronicle Media)

As Abraham Lincoln’s 208th birthday arrived this week and the annual President’s Day observance is days away, it’s a good time to highlight Kane County connections to the 16th U.S. President.

Lincoln had handful a few local connections and one with no Lincoln connection at all, according to a report produced by Kane County.

Bellevue Place in Batavia/

Batavia Depot Museum

Kane County’s best-known connection to Lincoln probably is the well-documented stay of Mary Todd Lincoln at Bellevue Place in Batavia. According to the Batavia Historical Society website, Bellevue Place was established in an abandoned private high school known as Batavia Institute by Dr. Richard J. Patterson, a renowned expert in the field of mental health.

In 1875, a Chicago court deemed that Mrs. Lincoln behaved irrationally. It was ordered that she be placed in a mental hospital. Her son Robert brought her to Batavia on the train to Dr. Patterson’s sanitarium.

If the legends of Mary’s stay are correct, she was not very confined. She is said to have visited in several of the homes around Bellevue, to have eaten her meals with Dr. and Mrs. Patterson, and to have visited friends in St. Charles.

The need for Mrs. Lincoln’s continued confinement was debated on the national scene, and after three months, and against Dr. Patterson’s advice, Mrs. Lincoln was released in the care of her sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards in Springfield.

These details are just about verbatim from the Batavia Depot Museum website. You can learn more and actually see the bed and dresser Mrs. Lincoln used by visiting the museum on the Fox River at Houston Street and Island Avenue, just east of Route 31. It is open March through Thanksgiving on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information call 630/406-5274 or 630/879-5235.

The elegant Bellevue Place building still stands at 333 S. Jefferson St. in Batavia.

John Farnsworth:

The St. Charles Connection

John Farnsworth, one of St. Charles’ most prominent historic figures, was a friend of Lincoln and was present at his bedside when he died on April 15, 1865.

The St. Charles History Museum reports that Farnsworth began his political career as a Democrat but left the party very quickly and became an ardent support of the Republican Party and anti-slavery movement.

In 1856, he was elected as the congressional representative from the Illinois 2nd District. After he was elected again in 1858, and in the summer and fall of 1858, Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, referred to Farnsworth specifically by name, in his famous debates with Lincoln, accusing Farnsworth of believing in the equality of the races and opposing new slave states entering the Union.

In response to Douglas, Farnsworth wrote a letter to Lincoln in September of 1858 to clarify his own position and that of the Republican Party. The letter, along with other documents in relation to Farnsworth, are preserved in the Lincoln President Papers Collection at the Library of Congress.

In 1860, Farnsworth heard the call to action and left his position as congressional representative to lead Civil War efforts in Illinois. He secured a Presidential Directive establishing Camp Kane in 1861 and was assigned as colonel of the 8th Illinois Cavalry. His efforts won acclaim, and he ultimately was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

Farnsworth resigned from the military in March of 1863 to resume his duties as a congressman, and so was in Washington and at Lincoln’s bedside when Lincoln died.

The Aurora Connection

Lincoln has a good tie to Aurora as he represented Charles Hoyt, a major political player, in a waterwheel patent case. Lincoln eventually won the case.

You can read all about this amazing and fascinating case in “True Tales of Aurora, Illinois: Mysterious Murders, Presidential Visits and Blues Legends in the City of Lights“.

The Aurora Historical Society presents evidence that Lincoln did indeed stay overnight in Kane County.

Lincoln, of course, was no stranger to Aurora. As a young lawyer in 1849, he worked with Hoyt, after Hoyt was accused of building a mill with a type of water wheel that had already been patented. As they worked on the case, Lincoln would visit Aurora, most likely staying at Mrs. Pinney’s boarding house, where Hoyt also lived.

Another connection is Isabelle Landry, remembered as the girl who sang for Lincoln, when at 10 years old she sang to him in French, at Judge Pinney’s request. For her efforts, Lincoln bought her a pound of horehound candy, her favorite. Not to be outdone, the judge purchased her another pound. Isabelle was a very lucky girl that day.

Grand Army of the

Republic Memorial Hall.

The GAR Memorial Hall, Post 20 was built as a memorial for Civil War veterans. On both a national and local scale the GAR was active in pursuing benefits for veterans. The GAR founded soldiers’ homes, worked to provide relief for widows and orphans, and lobbied for pension legislation. Membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who had served between 1861and 1865.

A ‘Little Lincoln’ History:

The Geneva History Museum

Abraham Lincoln’s last known pass through in Geneva was in 2015 to celebrate his 206th birthday!” writes Geneva History Museum Executive Director Terry Emma. “This was the mini-Abe version, of course, the star of the marketing campaign from the Illinois Office of Tourism.”

Mini-Abe spent a week at the museum back in 2015, attending the “February Brown Bag on Presidential Visits to Geneva,” assisting volunteers in the archives and visiting some favorite places downtown. Here’s a link to a fun YouTube video of his visit, which is also embedded (above) in this article.

The Geneva History Museum has several Lincoln-related artifacts including:Lincoln campaign button, a large bust which once sat on a shelf in the Geneva High School Library, a gift from the class of 1926, an 1861 Abraham Lincoln Campaign Ferrotype — a photo on a tin for small campaign pins and buttons donated to the museum collection by Katie Lu Hawkins.

The Geneva History Museum is located on South Third Street in Geneva, across the street from the historic Kane County Courthouse.

Largest Illinois City

Lincoln Never Visited

Mike Alft, Elgin’s historian and a Lincoln buff, told Elgin History Museum Director Elizabeth Marston that Elgin is “the largest community in Illinois never visited by Lincoln.”

“We don’t even have a statue,” Alft said.

For what it’s worth, Alft said, Lincoln did carry the city in the elections of 1860 and 1864. Elgin also has a street named after Lincoln, which ironically crosses a street named after Sen. Stephen Douglas.

​As far as Lincoln-related artifacts, the museum has a dress worn to Lincoln’s second inaugural in the collection that is definitely worth seeing.

For more information, visit the elginhistory.org website.

— Lincoln made a modest mark in Kane County —