I wasn"t very old before I learned about the "Legendary Lincoln Table."

The cherrywood pedestal table with a round top sat in our family"s living room and only got occasional use.

It was said to be the table Abraham Lincoln used when he made an unexpected stay at my great-great-grandparents' home in Pontiac.

The story was pretty simple.

In early 1855, Lincoln was on a train southbound from Chicago to Springfield. Nine miles north of Pontiac, a towering snowdrift blocked the train from going farther. The 60 passengers were rescued from freezing in the bitter cold by townspeople who fought their way to the stranded train with horse teams and sleighs. They brought blankets to wrap the passengers in and took them to their homes.

Lincoln and 10 others were taken to the home of my ancestor, John McGregor. In 1853, McGregor, a former newspaperman and then an attorney, had left his home and legal practice in Ottawa to become the first resident lawyer in Pontiac.

He had lumber milled in Ottawa transported to Pontiac that he used to build his law office and home, which was said to be the finest in town.

I don"t know if McGregor knew Lincoln personally, but probably because they were both lawyers, it seemed appropriate his home is where Lincoln should stay.

During the several days before a relief train could make its way north from Bloomington to collect the passengers, Lincoln spent his time meeting townspeople when the weather allowed.

By family accounts, McGregor"s wife, Mary Jane Buxton McGregor, was a gracious lady who treated her guests well.

Her great-great grandparents, John and Martha Lott Van Doren, in 1777, put up Gen. George Washington and staff members at their house in Millstone, N.J., after the Battle of Princeton. Later, British soldiers interrogated Martha, hanging her by her heels in an unsuccessful attempt to get information.

Anyway, when it was time for Lincoln to leave, John and Mary Jane declined his offer of money. But when the McGregors' two small daughters, Emma and Elizabeth, accompanied their guests as far as the front gate, Lincoln gave each a gold dollar coin.

The table from Lincoln"s room was passed down. First to McGregor"s son, Buxton, who had been born in Ottawa, then to his daughter and then her daughter, my mother.

She gave it to me. A few years ago, I loaned it to my sister, who lives in the Wisconsin northwoods.

In January, my sister said she would be bringing the table back to me, so that meant I had to make some research preparations.

The problem with owning the Legendary Lincoln Table is after people admire it, they give you a squinty look and ask, "Do you have any proof that Abraham Lincoln actually used it?" I tell them that is where the "legendary" part starts.

But I could prove Lincoln stayed with my ancestors, and that helped. When I could not locate my file of accounts of the visit, I went to the Pontiac library to get some fresh copies.

When I explained my mission at the library, Bob Roarty, who was helping me, paused.

"Well," he said. "You know that never happened. Lincoln wasn"t on the train."

It was true, he said, there were multiple accounts of the blizzard visit. But he had a Chicago Tribune newspaper story clipping that did not list Lincoln"s name among the passengers. Plus, other accounts placed Lincoln in Springfield.

On my way back to Ottawa I called my sister, Mary, with the awful truth: The Legendary Lincoln Table had been unmasked as a fraud.

"So," she replied. "Should I just throw it on my burn pile?"

She was kidding. It was still a nice family heirloom. But, you know, geeze!

A few months later I spoke to Barb Sancken, a Pontiac historian well-versed in Lincoln"s association with the city who writes for the Pontiac Daily Leader.

She said the story was true. It showed up in too many accounts not to be. She pointed out that just because something was left out of a newspaper story did not mean it didn"t happen. How well I know that.

I felt better. And I felt much better when she said the visit would be recounted in one of the nine "Looking for Lincoln" storyboards to be erected in town recounting his visits and dealings in Pontiac.

There are more than 200 of the storyboards spread throughout Illinois on the Looking for Lincoln Story Trail. Four boards from the series are in Ottawa. The last was dedicated in August at the La Salle County Courthouse.

The Pontiac dedication was Sept. 17, and I was there — with the Legendary Lincoln Table.

I met a lot of nice people. There may be many in La Salle County who remember the new Pontiac mayor, Bob Russell. He grew up in Earlville where as a boy he used to deliver The Daily Times. Later, he lived in Marseilles and Ottawa and worked several years for the county highway department. He still keeps up with events here via the online edition of The Times.

The "Lincoln Stranded Here" storyboard looked pretty nice. The McGregor home is long gone. Where it was at the southwest corner of Oak and Madison streets there now are gas pumps for the County Market food store.

Each of the storyboards includes a raised medallion visitors can make a rubbing of as a souvenir. The "Lincoln Stranded Here" medallion is an enlarged replica of the type of $1 gold coin Lincoln gave each of the McGregor girls.

The overall dedication was in downtown Pontiac, where Mill Street crosses the Vermilion River, once the site of a cabin where Lincoln stayed.

As people came up to look at the Legendary Lincoln Table, I could see that old familiar squinty look again popping up on some faces.

I was given a minute to make some comments to the small crowd.

I mentioned the skepticism about the table was nothing new. But I said when I got home I was going to look under the table"s top.

There, I said, I was pretty sure I was going to find where Lincoln had clearly signed his name with black felt-tip marker.