I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks. . . . My father. . . removed from Kentucky to. . . Indiana, in my eighth year. . . . It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. . . . Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher. . . but that was all.
The happiest man is he, who being above the troubles which money brings, has his hands the fullest of work.