The tall, bearded man in a black suit wearing a stovepipe hat was instantly recognizable to the older kids, and their younger classmates surely had an idea who they were seeing.

It was President Abraham Lincoln.

They listened attentively as the president described growing up in Kentucky and Indiana, and how he got the nickname Honest Abe while working as a store clerk in New Salem, Illinois. When he asked for volunteers to help him hold a flag, students just about came out of their seats in their eagerness to raise their hands higher and faster than anyone else.

Obviously, the man they were getting a history lesson from was not the 16th president of the United States. It was Kevin J. Wood, of Adrian, Michigan, who specializes in portraying Lincoln in appearances across the country.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
A man contemplates a work of art by Mary Muller in the Blanden Memorial Art Museum. - Messenger photo by Bill Shea President Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by Kevin J. Wood, of Adrian, Michigan, pauses during a presentation Friday morning at Community Christian School in Fort Dodge.

Wood was in Webster County for a couple of days this week, visiting Community Christian School, St, Paul Lutheran School, the Dayton Library and Friendship Haven.

Before his presentation at Community Christian School, Wood said he began portraying Lincoln in 2000 when he lived in Philadelphia.

“For many years, it was just a hobby,’ he said. “Then it became a side job, then it became a full-time job.”

Wood said he became intrigued with Lincoln because of his “uniqueness in our history.”

“His character in particular was something very attractive to me,” he said.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
A man contemplates a work of art by Mary Muller in the Blanden Memorial Art Museum. - Messenger photo by Bill Shea Stephanie Coble-Day, left, the principal of Community Christian School in Fort Dodge, introduces President Abraham Lincoln to kindergarten, first grade and second grade students Friday morning. Kevin J. Wood portrayed Lincoln.

He joked that his physical resemblance to Lincoln narrowed down the choices of presidents that he could portray.

In character as Lincoln, he told the students that the country once had two kinds of states — free and slave. He said there was an argument every couple of years between the states over slavery and eventually those arguments erupted into the Civil War.

He said when he was elected his job was to hold the nation together. Then he decided to make the Civil War about more than that by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves.

He also shared some lighter stories from Lincoln’s history, including how an 11-year-old girl wrote him a letter that convinced him to grow a beard. He also recounted how Lincoln issued a presidential pardon to a turkey named Jack so that the bird would not become Christmas dinner.

In concluding, Lincoln/Wood left the students with these three pieces of advice:

• Be honest

• Realize how wonderful it is to learn

• Love God above all and love your neighbors as you would yourself