Individual Details

Denton Offutt is credited with giving Abraham Lincoln employment:

Find A Grave Memorial# 133314260
Denton Offutt is remembered by many as the person who in early 1831 hired 22-year-old Abraham Lincoln - along with his cousin John Hanks and step-brother John D. Johnston - to build, then run a flatboat of barrel pork, corn, and live hogs down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. His brothers and father had become successful in trafficking livestock and other goods via the river trade, and Denton had decided to seek his fortune in same. After receiving his share of inheritance from his father Samuel, he sold all his possessions and left the family lands in Jessamine County to seek his fortune in Illinois.
Denton is thought to have sought out Lincoln after having become impressed with his reputation as a skilled boatman in Indiana. The two soon became close; though neither man had much formal education they shared an intellectual affinity. Also, Denton Offutt was a personal friend of Kentucky Senator and US Secretary of State Henry Clay, whom Lincoln greatly admired.
Before the river trip had completed, Denton hired Abe Lincoln to run his dry-goods store in the town of New Salem. On July 8th, 1831 he paid $5 for a retail merchandise license and opened his doors, with Lincoln in charge of his day to day operations.
Offutt was again quickly impressed with Lincoln's skills, so much so that he rented a local mill and placed Lincoln at the head of the entire operation. (He is said by some to have told the "entire county" around this time that his friend and employee Abe "would be President someday.") During this period working under Offutt in New Salem, Lincoln reportedly gathered a group of ardent admirers who would later help launch him into a military and political career, leading to his role as the Great Emancipator. This is in contrast to his description of himself in his autobiography as having arrived in New Salem a "friendless, uneducated penniless boy."
In 1832 Denton Offutt failed in business, having discovered the difficulties of frontier merchandising and of navigating the local Sangamon River were insurmountable. He began the process of dissolving his business, with Lincoln in charge of the liquidation. However, his place in American history had been secured as having rendered, in Lincoln's own words, "a lasting service. [Offutt] had given him a larger vision of life and inspired him with a new confidence in his own powers."
Further records survive of Denton Offutt's exploits in business. After leaving New Salem, he returned to Kentucky, where he worked in the livestock business with his brothers Otho and Samuel. Considered a gifted horseman, Denton has been described by Kentucky Historical Society researcher Gary O'Dell as "America's first horse whisperer," relying on techniques of "equine psychology" and kindness.
in 1848 Denton published a manual with instructions on training horses, "A New and Complete System of Teaching the Horse on Phrenological Principles," and was devastated when the work was plagiarized and accredited to another.
Relying upon references from Sen. Henry Clay and others, Denton traveled extensively. He is not known to have married or to have fathered offspring, although of course either is possible. We know Denton lived until at least 1860, since correspondence between him and Lincoln survives from that year. In a letter to the President from New Orleans, Denton states he is gravely ill and will be staying in the area thanks to its temperate climate.

Birth	Abt 1790
Death	Aft 31 Jan 1861

Father	Samuel Offutt (1751 - 1827)
Mother	Elizabeth Ray (1762 - 1831)
Sibling	Eleanor Offutt (1780 - )
Sibling	Arah Offutt (1782 - 1825)
Sibling	Tilghman Offutt (1786 - 1862)
Sibling	Otho Offutt (1788 - 1842)
Sibling	Andrew Offutt (1794 - )
Sibling	Samuel Ray Offutt (1798 - 1865)
Sibling	Rezin Ray Offutt (1800 - 1886)
Sibling	Dr. Azra Nathaniel Offutt (1802 - 1831)
Sibling	Sarah Offutt (1807 - 1825)