Spencer County registered in the state's official records in March 1818 named after a Revolutionary War hero, Spier Spencer. Although Abraham Lincoln is hands-down the area’s most well known son, local historians have put much time, energy and funds into preserving the legacy of lesser-known pioneers. For example, Col. William Jones' - a farmer, merchant, politician and soldier in the early 1800s - home in Gentryville is listed on the National and State Registries of Historic Places, along with that of James Gentry. (Of course, Jones did employ young Abe as his store clerk until the Lincoln family packed up for Illinois, and later threw open his home to provide Lincoln a
campaign speech stop.)
Lincoln roamed his family's 160 wilderness acres (today just east of Gentryville) from 1816 when he was seven until his 21st year in 1830. That makes Spencer County the backdrop for the popular images of America's best-loved president splitting rails, plowing, planting and reading by candlelight. His mother, Nancy, is buried in Spencer County.
Dale, formerly known as Elizabeth, takes its name from Robert Dale Owen, a prominent member of the U.S. Congress in the mid-1800s. Legend has it that Santa Claus earned its famous label from a group of residents who found themselves forced to hold a town meeting on Christmas Eve when visions of sugarplums instead danced in
their heads.

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