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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowGrowing up just a few miles from where Abraham Lincoln spent most of his childhood, Joshua Claybourn, an attorney with Jackson Kelly PLLC in Evansville, said it was easy to become interested in learning about the former president’s “rags to riches” life. And once the spark was ignited, Claybourn developed an admiration for Lincoln and curiosity for the life he led in the Hoosier state.
When he’s not working at Jackson Kelly, where he leads the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, Claybourn is researching and offering his own knowledge on Lincoln’s time in Indiana, and how important those years were in launching whom Claybourn believes was one of the greatest leaders of the Western world.
“It often gets overlooked…and yet, Lincoln spent ages seven to 21 here in Indiana. And I always like to encourage people: imagine your own life from age seven to 21, and how important those years were to you and influencing who you are, what you think, what you believe, how you approach life. Those are critical years for everybody, and the same is true for Abraham Lincoln,” Claybourn said.
He said there are many myths about the influence the state had on Lincoln, and part of his work is to help separate fact from fiction.
Claybourn conducts original source research on Lincoln’s Hoosier upbringing, finding source material from people who knew him or his family. He’s written and edited books about American history and Lincoln’s life and hosts the podcast “Lincoln Log,” where he interviews historians and other commentators about Lincoln and the Civil War. Claybourn is currently working on another book focused on Lincoln’s time in Indiana.
A link to all of his work can be found on his website.
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