Lincoln Motor Company
The Lincoln Motor Company was founded in August 1917 by Henry Leland and his son Wilfred. Among the founders of Cadillac, Leland had sold the company to General Motors in 1909, remaining on as an executive until 1917, when he left over a dispute with GM President William Durant. Naming Lincoln Motor Company after Abraham Lincoln, the first President for whom he ever voted (1864), Leland financed the company by securing a $10 million contract to build Liberty V12 aircraft engines, breaking ground on the Lincoln Motor Company Plant. To build the Liberty engines, Lincoln sourced parts from other manufacturers; along with cylinders produced by Ford, other parts were sourced from Buick, Cadillac, Marmon, and Packard. In total, 6,500 Liberty V12 engines were produced by Lincoln before the end of World War I ceased wartime production.
Lee L. Driver
Leotis Lincoln Driver was born on February 22, 1867 in Stoney Creek Township, Randolph County, Indiana. His father, a veteran of the Iron Brigade, named him for Abraham Lincoln. Driver's youth was spent in the town of Farmland, Indiana, where he completed a common school education. He later attended Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana, where he graduated in 1883. Driver taught in the district schools of western Randolph County, farmed, and did carpentry work, until 1895, when he was hired to teach at Winchester High School in Winchester, Indiana. Driver was principal of Winchester High School from 1901 until 1907.