My Early Life

When I was a kid I grew up very poor in a log cabin on a farm. Everyday I had to work to help support my family. My grandfather had started the farm but was killed by Native Americans when making it so my dad had to grow up working very hard with no time for an education. Even though he had very little education, my father managed to become a skilled carpenter and bought three more farms before we had to move to Indiana because my family was against slavery. I too grew up with little education, however I still somehow knew how to read and write.

Indiana was a tough place to live because of many wild animals in the forest. I would have to work on the farm, cut down trees for wood, make fences, and help with any other work there was. In 1818 my mother died making it so that my father and I had to work even harder. Just the following year my father married another woman in Kentucky. Her name was Sarah Bush Johnston .In 1828 a friend and I started working a floatboat to bring people down the Mississippi to New Orleans so that we could make money. It was the same year that my sister died in childbirth. Two years later my family moved to New Salem, Illinois.

When I lived in New Salem I fought for two years in the Black Hawk War. That was the only time I was in the military. After being in the war I started doing many jobs including being a storekeeper. In 1832 I ran for the state legislator but failed. I continued to try and educate myself by reading many books. I even moved to Springfield to study more into law. In 1842 I got married to my wife Mary Todd. For the next few years I worked as a lawyer and had many cases. In 1846 I was elected into congress as a Whig. I continued working with the law for the next few years. In 1858 I ran for Senate but did not win the election. Only two years later I ran for president and won!

Matt Ruston