Little Pigeon Creek Community

Little Pigeon Creek Community, also known as Little Pigeon Creek Settlement and Little Pigeon River settlement, was a settlement in present Carter and Clay Townships,Spencer County, Indiana along Little Pigeon Creek. The community, in the area of present-day Lincoln City, Indiana, was established from frontier land by 1816. There were sufficient settlers to the Indiana wilderness that it became a state in December, 1816.

In 1820 there were 40 or more families, including Abraham Lincoln's family, that lived in the community. Living within 1100 feet of the Lincolns were Dennis and Elizabeth Hanks and the Casebier and the Barrett families. Most of the families—like the Lincolns, Carters and Gordons—had moved to the area from Hardin County, Kentucky.

Although there were also a number of families nearby, it was a "scattered rural settlement", rather than a village. Amongst the farms were a church, general store and post office, schools, and Noah Gordon's mill, which ground corn. The mill was operated by horse power. James Gentry, the namesake for nearby Gentryville, operated a 1000-acre farm and store. Abraham was a clerk at the store and ferried goods to New Orleans for Gentry. A east-west dirt road to Troy on the Ohio River traversed through the community. The roadbed crosses the Lincoln State Park and parts of the road are part of the parks trail system.

The Little Pigeon Primitive Baptist Church, a Regular Baptists congregation, was established June 8, 1816 with 15 charter members.Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, helped build the cabin for the church in 1819, located south of present-day Lincoln City, Indiana and in the center of the community near a spring. The land was donated by Samuel Howell. The log meetinghouse, completed in 1822, had split log benches for its congregation. Attending church was a social event where the settlers could discuss family life events, farming, the weather, land titles, and other current events. The church building was also used as a school. A second church building was erected in 1879. The current church building, which has continued to conduct services, was erected in 1948. The church's cemetery, built in 1825, is the grave site of the communities settlers, including Abraham's sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby.

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