My dear Sir: Aug. 24. 1860
Yours of the 23rd. is received. My recollection is that I never lived in the same neighborhood with Charles Hanks till I came to Macon county, Illinois, after I was twenty-one years of age. As I understand, he and I were born in different counties of Kentucky, and never saw each other in that State; that while I was a very small boy my father removed to Indiana, and your father with his family remained in Kentucky for many years. At length you, a young man grown, came to our neighborhood, and were at our house, off and on, a great deal for three, four, or five years; and during the time, your father, with his whole family, except William, Charles, and William Miller, who had married one of your sisters, came to the same neighborhood in Indiana, and remained a year or two, and then went to Illinois. William, Charles, and William Miller, had removed directly from Kentucky to Illinois, not even passing through our neighborhood in Indiana.
Once, a year or two before I came to Illinois, Charles, with some others, had been back to Kentucky, and returning to Illinois, passed through our neighborhood in Indiana. He stopped, I think, but one day, (certainly not as much as three); and this was the first time I ever saw him in my life, and the only time, till I came to Illinois, as before stated. The year I passed in Macon county I was with him a good deal---mostly on his own place, where I helped him at breaking prarie, with a joint team of his and ours, which in turn, broke some on the new place we were improving.
This is, as I remember it. Dont let this letter be made public by any means. Yours very truly A. LINCOLN