The Dreisbach Girls Who Sat on Abraham Lincoln's Knee
The Dreisbach Book, 1998, p. 46, Section 9i:
In the autumn of 1860 two sisters, four and five years old, were playing in their temporary home, a hotel in Clinton, Illinois. Their father Daniel, a son of Henry Dreisbach of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, had recently brought his family to Illinois where he was employed in a shoe factory. While waiting for their belongings to arrive, the family stayed at the DeWitt Hotel.
It was on one of his campaigning tours that the gaunt and ungainly Lincoln went to Clinton to address a mass meeting in his interest for the presidency. When he came to Clinton he put up at the DeWitt House and it was there that he came in contact with the Dreisbach children. He saw the children playing about the hotel and speaking a language that he did not understand. Lincoln inquired who they were, where they came from and what language they were using. When told that the children were born in Pennsylvania from parents whose ancestors had come from Germany and who retained many of the customs as well as the language of the motherland, he became instantly interested in them. He called the two little girls to him and took them upon his lap and began to talk to them and he had them speak Pennsylvania German to him.
At the end of the Civil War, Daniel Dreisbach's wife, now a war widow, returned to Northampton County with her children. Almost 75 years after Lincoln's encounter with little Sarah and Elmira Dreisbach, the story was printed in the Allentown Morning Call, on Lincoln's birthday, 1935 (excerpt given above.) It was accompanied by photographs of Mrs. Sarah Moyer (80) and Mrs. Elmira Steinmetz (79), who were still living, and still residing in the Allentown, Pennsylvania area.
Family of Sarah and Elmira Dreisbach
Daniel DREISBACH
b: Nov 04, 1827 Kreidersville, Northampton Co, PA
d: Mar 12, 1863 in Memphis, TN, in Civil War - Private, 46th IL Inf. Co G
Residence: 1862 Freeport
. +Christiann KRATZER
b: Sep 23, 1833 Treichlers, Northampton Co. PA
m: Abt. 1850
d: Aug 04, 1914 in prob Allentown, Lehigh, PA Residence: 1870 Allentown, Lehigh Co, PA
.... 2 Ammon Peter DREISBACH
b: Dec 12, 1850 Pennsville (Near Kreidersville), PA
d: Sep 11, 1935 in Allentown, Lehigh Co, PA
Residence: Bet. 1913 - 1915 1344 Liberty St, Allentown, Lehigh Co, PA
........ +Flora Anna DORWARD
b: Mar 16, 1856 near Slatington PA ?
m: Aug 01, 1873 in Indianland Church
d: Feb 22, 1908 in PA
.... *2nd Wife of Ammon Peter DREISBACH:
........ +Mary Alice SENSINGER
b: Oct 03, 1867 m: Nov 29, 1909
d: May 26, 1935
.... 2 George H. DREISBACH
b: Feb 23, 1852
d: Jan 14, 1945 in Allentown, Lehigh Co, PA
........ +Amanda E. WEILL
b: Mar 31, 1856
d: Nov 02, 1931 in Allentown, Lehigh Co, PA
.... 2 Sarah C. DREISBACH
b: Feb 10, 1855 Kreidersville, Northampton Co, PA
d: Jan 03, 1940 in Allentown, Lehigh Co, PA
Residence: 1935 111 Gordon St. in Allentown, widow
........ +Jonathan MOYER
b: Apr 24, 1853
m: 1876
d: Aug 31, 1932
.... 2 Elmira E. DREISBACH
b: Dec 07, 1855
d: Aft. 1934
........ +Jacob STEINMETZ
b: 1850
m: Bet. 1878 - 1879
d: Aft. 1935
.... 2 Amanda Rebecca DREISBACH
b: Oct 23, 1858 Northampton Co., PA
d: Dec 19, 1885 in Kreidersville, Allen twp, Northampton Co, PA
........ +Amos BACHMAN
.... 2 Martha J. DREISBACH
b: 1862
d: Oct 19, 1943 in Allentown, Lehigh Co, PA
........ +Henry BREIDINGER
m: 1879