More on Abraham Lincoln

* The clutter in Lincoln's law office was notorious, and a continual source of irritation to his partner, William Herndon. On his desk, Lincoln kept one envelope marked "When you can't find it anywhere else, look into this."

* At 6 feet, 4 inches, Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president.

* There are no direct decendents of Lincoln despite the fact that Abe had four sons.

* Lincoln was the first president to wear a beard

* Abraham Lincoln was the first major leader in our history to favor extending the vote to women. In 1836 - a full 12 years before the first woman's rights convention had even convened - State legislator Lincoln gave an Illinois newspaper a statement endorsing "female suffrage."

* Lincoln was the only president to receive a US patent - for a device used to lift boats over shoals.






* Frederick Douglass, the celebrated abolitionist and former slave, was invited by then President Lincoln to the inaugural reception in 1865, but when Douglass tried to enter, policemen man-handled him and forced him back out. Making his way in again, he managed to catch Lincoln's eye. "Here comes my friend Douglass," the President exclaimed, and leaving a circle of guests, took Douglass by the hand and began to chat with him.

* Lincoln wore a size 14 shoe


* The contents of Lincoln's pockets on the night of the assassination weren't revealed until February 12, 1976. They contained two pairs of spectacles, a chamois lens cleaner, an ivory and silver pocket knife, a large white Irish linen handkerchief (slightly used) with "A. Lincoln" embroidered in red, a gold quartz watch fob without a watch, a new silk-lined leather wallet containing a pencil, a Confederate five dollar bill and news clippings of unrest in the Confederate Army, emancipation in Missouri, the Union party platform of 1864, and an article on the presidency by John Bright.