Turns out, it's true - Abraham Lincoln really did participate in at least four court cases in the original Lincoln Christian Church building after the Logan County Courthouse burned on April 15, 1857.

He served as judge in one of the trials, which was about a chattel mortgage owed on two mules.

"If we weave our way through all the stuff we've found, we can see how the story unfolded from fact and became urban legend," said Todd Parmenter, executive minister at Lincoln Christian Church.

"Now we can say, it's fact. I'd stake my life that this was the only church Abraham Lincoln tried a case out of."

Parmenter, who became affiliated with Lincoln Christian Church in 2004, and preaching minister Ron Otto, who arrived in 2006, had heard rumors of the Lincoln connection from the onset. About six months ago, they set out to prove or disprove the rumors.

The project began as they prepared a three-part lesson, "An Insider's Look at Lincoln Christian Church." The first week deals with appreciating the past, and the next two explore future church goals.

"We're trying to get our people excited about our ministry plans for the future," Parmenter said. "We're using our historic past as a launch pad for the future."

During their research, the men probed local history books, did online research and put out feelers to members of the congregation.

"One of the first rumors we heard was that a plaque hung on the second church (telling about the Abraham Lincoln connection)," Parmenter said.

The plaque has disappeared, but someone finally remembered that it was once displayed in the yard of the Lincoln Public Library. The committee is still trying to find it.

"The first concrete proof we found was a picture of the plaque in front of the library," Parmenter said. According to the plaque, Lincoln practiced law in the building and "by common consent" acted as a temporary judge.

They also found a Lincoln Courier article quoting respected historian James Hickey, who said Lincoln couldn't have been at court in the church building in the fall term of 1858, because he was participating in a famous railroad case in Chicago at that time.

Still another Courier article tells about the unveiling of the bronze plaque. Speakers included Judge L.B. Stringer, a respected historian still known today for his "History of Logan County."

"Why would Stringer speak if he didn't believe what the plaque said was true?" Parmenter asked. "When he was doing research for his 1911 history, he would have talked to a lot of people who still remembered Lincoln.

"Now, we had Stringer and Hickey pitted against each other, and a plaque, which we're still looking for."

Digging through church archives, Otto found a copy of what was said at the plaque dedication, misfiled among some legal papers, "which is why it wasn't discovered before."

Meanwhile, Parmenter was doing online research, looking at the Lincoln Legal Papers and Abraham Lincoln Day by Day, which provides an ongoing account of where Abraham Lincoln was during much of his life.

"We were able to verify that he was in Lincoln, during the spring term of the circuit court in 1858," Parmenter said.

"The Hickey article was based on the fall term of 1857. But the plaque never references the fall term.

"Both Hickey and Stringer were right. In the fall of 1857, Lincoln was in Chicago. The spring term of 1858 was held in the church as well. Stringer was really definite in saying that they didn't get into the new courthouse until June of 1858, and court was held at the church during the construction period.

"It was only two terms, in the fall and in the spring."

Ron Keller, a member of Lincoln Christian Church and curator of the Lincoln College Museum, was able to locate papers showing that Lincoln did sit pro tem for Judge David Davis for a case in 1858.

"It wasn't any place I was able to look, but he was able to find it and verify it," Parmenter said. "We found summaries of ... four cases. Three he tried, and one he sat as judge."

Parmenter said there may have been more cases, but at least those four have proof. Besides the "mule case," there was one involving property, and two dealing with breach of contract over some hogs.

"They were all in March 1858, in the Logan County Circuit Court, which was held in the church at that period," he said. "In the cases where Lincoln was a lawyer, Davis sat as judge."

Their research also turned up some more missing items. A picture in the Feb. 9, 1952, Courier shows church pastor L.H. Appel and E.H. Lukenbill, county superintendent of schools, holding a case with items Lincoln used during the court sessions.

According to the article, the case containing a pair of fireplace tongs, a poker and a boot jack were found in the attic of the 1904 building as members of the congregation were preparing to move into the current facility.

The items had been donated to the church by a justice of the peace from that era named J.Q. Primm. The church is seeking information on the whereabouts of both the case and its contents.

Like the plaque, no one knows what happened to them.

The 1857 building, which hosted the circuit court, was destroyed by fire.

"Only one piece of the building was pulled from the fire," Otto said, "and we will reveal that Sunday."

For Otto, the church's historic past also has other ramifications.

"Finding the Lincoln information shows that prominent men in our nation's history were not overly concerned about the separation of church and state," he said. "They were willing to share a building."

Lincoln Christian Church will host an open house during the 8:15, 9:30 and 11 a.m. services Sunday. At that time, church officials will share the newly discovered Lincoln information, as well as other historic facts.

Parmenter said the church plans to pursue recognition of the Lincoln connection from the State Historical Society.