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Online Editor's Note: The picture referred to here will be added at a later date.
To those who remain cynical about Lincoln's
presence in Beaver County, let me make the following apologia,
a challenge to your thinking, about the clear inferences that
may arise from the JACK BOYLE ambrotype. Assume, then, for the
sake of the following argument, that the Lincoln figure is ambiguous,
or not even present in the ambrotype. Then, from the research
of Harold Boyer, or your own work, examine carefully the other
personages involved, which I divide into categories as follows:
1) The two bodyguards, Col. Elmer Ellsworth and Ward Lamon. These
men are clearly and unquestionably present and identified in most
of the Lincoln literature.
2) Next examine Lockwood Todd, Francis Todd Wallace and Margaret
Todd Kellogg. All of these, clearly and unambiguously, are related
through marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln. All
relate to Lincoln's Springfield Ill. life, and are reported to
have visited him shortly after his inauguration, which possibly
explains their presence as being on a return trip to Illinois.
3) Next examine William Lincoln, age 11 in 1861, and Thomas Lincoln
age 8 in 1861, the sons of Lincoln. This is particularly strong
in view of the photo of Lockwood Todd with the two boys, which
brings in Albert Edwards, a known friend of William Lincoln who
appears on the BOYLE as well.
Thus, if you deny the Lincoln presence, what accounts for the
presence of these folks, who almost like a "cloud of witnesses"
exist also in the photograph? Even if you reject Lincoln, you
must as well explain them.
Now, as an anchor to the conclusion I present, take as irrefutable
that the Canal boat in question, the JACK BOYLE, was unarguably
part of the Beaver Valley scene in 1861 as is the site of the
ambrotype, which matches the photo exactly when one stands on
the west bank of the Beaver facing east on the first curve above
Geneva College.
Now, with the location given, what do you do with the above identities?
Do you deny that the body guards, in-laws, and two sons are who
they appear to be? Are they fakes, made up to appear as Lincoln
intimates? But if that's so, it only raises the larger question
of Why? In other words what other nexus could exist for the presence
of these people on the Beaver River? Happenstance? They just felt
like showing up there? Hardly. Their very presence points in but
one direction: That the tall top hatted figure is the family nexus
that explains the presence of all, bodyguards, in-laws and children.
Thus, to reject the genuineness of the ambrotype, one must reject
as well, without reason, I submit, the whole of the other persona
whose identities remain clear based on the existing photographic
record, irrespective of the ambrotype. Yet their very independent
existence in the photographic record sheds explanatory light on
the ambrotype.
Thus, if we return the Lincoln figure to the ambrotype, the whole
becomes clear. No puzzle or ambiguity arises regarding the presence
of this group of friends and family. Thus the very existence of
the surrounding persona carries Lincoln along with them. I rest
my case.