While Lincoln was Kentucky born and a distant relative of the McGees, he was not popular in his own land. He was considered a moderate, but his declaration that “this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free” made it clear to all that an ill wind was blowing across the country, one that most Kentuckians felt would surely harm them all. Not that many of her neighbors could afford to keep slaves, but all just seemed to want to keep things the way they were. In the end the politician John Bell carried Kentucky as expected, but when the national vote was counted, Lincoln was the victor. Joseph was cutting his first tooth by the time the account of the inauguration reached them. As Lydia nursed her baby boy, she kept thinking of the little girl she had seen in the auction
