Abraham Lincoln’s journeys to Monticello could be difficult because of weather and local opposition. In the spring of 1852, Lincoln, Judge David Davis, and other members of the bar rode from Clinton in the rain and reached the ferry across the Sangamon River about one mile west of town, only to find no ferryman. After waiting for two hours, they swam their horses and floated the buggy across on a canoe, while Lincoln, the judge, and others rode comfortably in another canoe. In 1856, when Lincoln came to speak, he encountered many Virginians who opposed him and his stand on slavery, and many men came intending to stop the speech. Escorted only by his old friend Ezra Marquiss and Mr. Guy, Lincoln was followed by jeering men ready to throw eggs, but he turned to them and began telling stories and jokes that made them forget their prejudices against him. Marquiss later lived in Goose Creek Township and played a great part in its development; his daughter Clarinda married William H. Piatt, another early county leader. Known as “Mr. Republican” of his day, Marquiss was the first person to declare for the new Republican Party in 1856, held several public offices including commissioner and membership on the Circuit Court appointed to review swamplands in the county, and was one of three men to carry a petition into DeWitt County to strike off the new county of Piatt from Macon and DeWitt Counties. During court recesses, lawyers often entertained themselves, and one story of Lincoln’s athletic prowess tells how he, Squire Wiley, and John McDougal competed to throw an old ax the farthest from the southwest corner of the square. After several tries, Lincoln swung the meat ax around his head and sent it westward into Lizard Run, so much farther than the others that McDougal realized Lincoln had been baiting them.