by Nancy Bliss Slepicka

From Journal - News Thursday August 20th, 2009

Area residents and Old Settlers visitors have the rare opportunity this weekend to see a locally written and produced play about Abraham Lincoln's ties to Hillsboro and Montgomery County.

"Among Friends" will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church, 506 S. Main St.

Mrs. Pat Brink, retired teacher of Hillsboro, wrote the play in conjunction with the dedication of the new sculpture of Lincoln on the downtown plaza. All proceeds from ticket sales go to the Lincoln Fund.

The play weaves a story of Lincoln’s visits with friends in Hillsboro, his association with notable figures in Montgomery County’s history and his speech at the Hillsboro fairgrounds on Sept. 9, 1858, when he was the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. The cast of local actors includes:

• Jack Evans and Liz Huber as Joseph and Jane Eccles, Lincoln’s dearest friends in Hillsboro;

• David Hough as Judge Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic opponent who defeated Lincoln in the Senate race;

• Pat Brink as the wife of A.N. Kingsbury, a staunch Democrat who as editor of The Montgomery County Herald supported Douglas;

• Matt Ferguson as Jonathan Baldwin Turner, 19th century political activist and public education pioneer who was involved in the establishment of the University of Illinois and the Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act, which President Lincoln signed in 1862. In 1854 Turner bought the rural Butler farm still owned by the family of his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Jack (Anita Turner) Rundquist. Turner was the keynote speaker at one of the early Old Settlers Reunions.

• Ken Sandlin as Francis Springer, who was pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, edited The Prairie Mirror newspaper in Hillsboro, and headed the Hillsboro Academy after it became the Lutheran Theological Seminary of the West. Springer was later a neighbor of the Lincoln family in Springfield and taught Lincoln’s children in the back room of his home.

Lincoln will be portrayed by Lonn Presnall, Decatur, the surprise guest who appeared as Lincoln for last Saturday's dedication program.

Several local children will be part of the production, and harmonica music of the Lincoln era will be performed by sixth graders Hannah Anderson and Drew Paden.

Tickets, $5 each, are on sale at The Journal-News, Books & Moore and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

Limited reserved seating, $10 each, is available by contacting Mrs. Brink at 532-3158.

Tickets will also be available at the door both evenings.

From the left, are Judge Stephen A. Douglas (David Hough), Francis Springer (Ken Sandlin), Mrs. A.N. Kingsbury (Pat Brink), Jane Eccles (Liz Huber), Joseph Eccles (Jack Evans) and Jonathan Baldwin Turner (Matt Ferguson). Journal-News Photos

Four of the children who will appear with Lincoln in the play, "Among Friends" passed out programs Saturday and then posed with Abe's likeness. They are, from the left, Kylie Meier, Samantha Matoush, Eli and Isaiah Atkins. Journal-News Photos