Another Lincoln legend to which I would attach some basic possibility would be a visit to Plesant Hill some time in the 1840's. Some years ago the writer was told by James H. Stone and his family, that Samuel Stone, who lived two miles east and north of Plesant Hill, started one morning to the Owsley grist mill which stood at Six Mile Creek near Pleasant Hill. Before going on to the mill, the two men, upon arrival at Pleasant Hill, went up the hill where then stood the business part of town (known as Fairfield at the time. ) As they came up the hill they noticed a group of men congregated at the public well at the brow of the hill. Going over to the group they found a tall, friendly man visiting with the men and making inquiry about a man from this area whom he used to know. When told the man he had come to visit had moved, the stranger then went on out the road to Pittsfield. Upon inquiry by the Stones as to the man's identity, they were told that the stranger was Abraham Lincoln. After some thinking and some research, the writer of this article is inclined to attach truth to this legend. It is a matter of record that Abraham Lincoln served in the Illinois State Legislature with a man by the name of Richard Kerr who lived in Pleasant Hill and represented Pike County, In fact, Mr. Lincoln was a very close friend of Richard Kerr, so close that it is recorded that Lincoln maneuvered for Representative Kerr in the contested election, in order that Kerr might be seated. The record of this incident would indicate a close friendship, so it is quite possible that the legend may be true, in the light of this thinking.

Lincoln is known to have visited Hannibal, Missouri at the home of Judge Helm. Or he may have been in Atlas and on his return to Pittsfield may have come down the old St. Louis to Keokuk stage road by the way of Pleasant Hill, with the visit with Richard Kerr in mind. There is a memorial stone erected in the Wells Cemetery, west of Pleasant Hill in honor of Rep. Richard Kerr.

______ Richard Kerr's immigrant ancestor was the Rev. James Kerr, Sr., a Northern Ireland Presbyterian minister, who settled in Pennsylvania where he married a widow, Mrs. Susan Hyde in 1746. Their son, the Rev. James Kerr, Jr, a practical Baptist minister, was the first Protestant to preach west of the Mississippi. He married Patience Wells, the daughter of Col. Richard Wells and Nancy Brown. They were the parents of ten children. Their eldest son, Major James Kerr III was the first American to settle on the Guadlupe River. He was the founder of Gonzales, Texas, the capitol of Green DeWitt's colony, and Kerr County, Texas was named for him.

Richard Kerr, in addition to serving in the Illinois Legislature, as stated in the article, served eight years in the House of Representatives in Missouri. At one time was also the sheriff of Pike County, Missouri and an Indian Agent. He married his first cousin Ruth Wells and they were the parents of Zerilda Wells, Margaret Wells Cannon, Patience Wells Smith/McElfresh, Elizabeth Jane Wells, Mary Wells Steele and Carolyn Wells Duncan.

Submitted by Charlott Wells Jones
Pike County Republican - February 15, 1961 / Article written by Milo Pearson, Jr.