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59-578: Lincoln's own memories, and independent records, point to the family of Thomas Lincoln entering Illinois in early March, 1830, crossing over the Wabash River by primitive flatboat or ferry from their former home in Indiana . After unloading themselves from the boat, the Lincoln family would have hitched up their oxen to the cart or wagon that carried their modest household goods, and begun to trudge northwest on

118-606: A 600-acre (2.4 km ) tract on Linville Creek in Augusta County (now Rockingham County ). In 1773, John and Rebekah Lincoln divided their tract with their two eldest sons, Abraham and Isaac. Lincoln built a house on his land, across Linville Creek from his parents' home. Lincoln married Bathsheba Herring ( c.  1742 – 1836), a daughter of Alexander Herring ( c.  1708  – c.  1778 ) and his wife Abigail Harrison ( c.  1710  – c.  1780 ) of Linville Creek. The assertion that Lincoln

177-570: A bride and courted Sarah Bush Johnston , a widow from Elizabethtown, Kentucky whom he had been acquainted with years before. On December 2, 1819, he married her and she brought her three children, Elizabeth, Matilda, and John, to join Abe, Sarah, and Dennis Hanks to make a new family of eight. Lincoln assisted in building the Little Pigeon Baptist Church, became a member of the church, and served as church trustee. By 1827, Lincoln had become

236-532: A bridge entry-point into Illinois; the Memorial is an unstaffed site operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency . 38°40′59″N 87°32′11″W  /  38.683126°N 87.536264°W  / 38.683126; -87.536264 Thomas Lincoln Thomas Lincoln Sr. (January 6, 1778 – January 17, 1851) was an American farmer, carpenter, and father of the 16th president of

295-471: A cabin. Lincoln owned at least 5,544 acres of land in the richest sections of Kentucky. One day in May 1786, Lincoln was working in his field with his three sons when he was shot from the nearby forest and fell to the ground. The eldest boy, Mordecai , ran to the cabin where a loaded gun was kept, while the middle son, Josiah, ran to Hughes' Station for help. Thomas, the youngest, stood in shock by his father. From

354-437: A cornfield on their new property, Native Americans attacked them. Abraham was killed instantly. Mordecai, at fifteen the oldest son, sent Josiah running to the settlement half a mile away for help while he raced to a nearby cabin. Peering out of a crack between logs, he saw an Indian sneaking out of the forest toward his eight-year-old brother, Thomas, who was still sitting in the field beside their father's body. Mordecai picked up

413-688: A day for manual labor or made a little more when he did carpentry or cabinetmaking, to accumulate enough money to buy his first farm." Father and son also differed in their beliefs about religion; Thomas was a conventional Baptist. Growing up in a nonconformist household, Abe developed on his own as a free-thinker. Lastly, some say that Thomas favored John Johnston, his stepson, over Abraham. Their relationship had become strained after Abraham left his father's house and even more so after Abraham reluctantly bailed Thomas out of financial situations. His stepbrother, John D. Johnston, also made repeated requests for money. Although Abraham provided financial assistance on

472-635: A district of the Commonwealth of Virginia . The family settled in Jefferson County , about twenty miles (32 km) east of the site of Louisville . The territory was still contested by Native Americans living across the Ohio River . For protection the settlers lived near frontier forts, called stations, to which they retreated when the alarm was given. Lincoln settled near Hughes' Station on Floyd's Fork and began clearing land, planting corn, and building

531-626: A family with competent means, a reputation for integrity, and a modest record of public service. John Lincoln gave 210 acres of prime Virginia land to his first son, Captain Abraham Lincoln (1744–1786), a veteran of the American Revolutionary War . In 1770, Abraham married Bathsheba Herring (c. 1742–1836), who was born in Rockingham County, Virginia. Bathsheba was the daughter of Alexander Herring and wife Abigail Harrison, of

590-503: A few occasions and once visited Thomas during a bout of ill-health, when he was on his deathbed Abraham sent word to a stepbrother to: "Say to him that if we could meet now, it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful than pleasant; but that if it be his lot to go now, he will soon have a joyous meeting with many loved ones gone before; and where the rest of us, through the help of God, hope ere-long to join them." Abraham preferred not to attend his father's funeral and would not pay for

649-629: A flatboat to New Orleans down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on behalf of the Bleakley & Montgomery store in Elizabethtown. On June 12, 1806, Thomas Lincoln married Nancy Hanks at Beechland in Washington County, Kentucky . Nancy Hanks, born in what was Hampshire County , Virginia , was the daughter of Lucy Hanks and a man whom Abraham believed to be "a well-bred Virginia farmer or planter." She

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708-608: A headstone for his father's grave. Aside from the strained and distant relationship between father and son, Abraham's actions may have been influenced by a "painful midlife crisis" and depression. During Thomas Lincoln's lifetime, he and his wife were not invited to Abraham's wedding and never met Abraham's wife or children. David Herbert Donald stated in his 1995 book Lincoln that "In all his published writings, and indeed, even in reports of hundreds of stories and conversations, he had not one favorable word to say about his father." Abraham, did, however, name his fourth son Thomas ,

767-609: A leader in the denomination. According to several historians, Thomas Lincoln was "one of the five or six most important men" among the Indiana Separates, and "for all effective purposes, Abraham Lincoln's life in Indiana was lived in an atmosphere of what William Barton called 'a Calvinism that would have out-Calvined Calvin.' " In Indiana, Lincoln served as a trustee of the Pigeon Creek Baptist Church and helped to build

826-494: A manual laborer. Their first child, a daughter named Sarah Lincoln , was born on February 10, 1807, near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, at Mill Creek. By early 1809, Lincoln bought another farm, 300-acre (1.2 km ), near Hodgenville at Nolin Creek , located 14 miles southeast of Elizabethtown and near the home of Betsy (Elizabeth) and Thomas Sparrow. Although their cabin was a standard dirt floor, one room log cabin, their property

885-470: A modicum of talent as a carpenter and although called "an uneducated man, a plain unpretending plodding man", he was respected for his civil service, storytelling ability and good-nature. He was also known as a "wandering" laborer, shiftless and uneducated. A rover and drifter, he kept floating about from one place to another, taking any kind of job he could get when hunger drove him to it. Aside from making cabinets and other carpentry work, Lincoln also worked as

944-597: A prominent political family, and made a name for himself in Pennsylvania society as a wealthy landowner and ironmaster. Mordecai and Hannah's son, John Lincoln (1716–1788) settled in Rockingham County, Virginia and built a large, prosperous farm nestled in the Shenandoah Valley . Abraham Lincoln, instead of being the unique blossom on an otherwise barren family tree, belonged to the seventh American generation of

1003-403: A relative of the Lincoln family. In May 1786, eight-year-old Thomas Lincoln witnessed the murder of his father by Native Americans "... when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest." Lincoln's life was saved that day by his brother, Mordecai. One of the most profound stories of Lincoln's memory was: While Abraham Lincoln and his three boys, Mordecai, Josiah and Thomas, were planting

1062-835: A respected Puritan weaver, businessman and trader from the County of Norfolk in East Anglia who landed in Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637. Some Lincolns later migrated into Berks County, Pennsylvania , where they intermarried with Quakers , but did not retain the peculiar ways. According to the National Humanities Center , both Quakers and Puritans were opposed to slavery even though many profited from it. Noteworthy ancestors include Samuel's grandson, Mordecai (1686–1736) who married Hannah Salter from

1121-632: A rifle, aimed for a silver pendant on the Native American's chest, and killed him before he reached the boy. Between September 1786 and 1788 Bathsheba moved the family to Beech Fork in Nelson County, Kentucky , now Washington County , (near Springfield ). A replica of the cabin is located at the Lincoln Homestead State Park. As the oldest son, and in accordance with Virginia law at the time, Mordecai inherited his father's estate and of

1180-465: A son who said his father 'grew up literally without education,' the very value Abraham Lincoln would come to prize the most." Abraham Lincoln, in turn, appears to have been unaware of his father's early struggles, particularly how the death of his grandfather forced Thomas to become a laborer: "Abraham Lincoln never fully understood how hard his father had to struggle during his early years. It required an immense effort for Thomas, who earned three shillings

1239-404: A wedding because he did not have appropriate clothes to wear. Sarah was taken in by a local family and earned her room and board by performing housekeeping chores. Abraham's life was considered "one of hard labor and great privation ." David Herbert Donald, noting that Thomas Lincoln's eyesight began to fail in the 1820s, described his struggle to support his family: In the early 1820s, Lincoln

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1298-455: Is now Spencer County, Indiana . There Thomas and Abraham set to work carving a home from the Indiana wilderness. Father and son worked side by side to clear the land, plant the crops and build a home. Thomas also found that his skills as a carpenter were in demand as the community grew. Nancy's aunt Elisabeth Sparrow, uncle Thomas Sparrow, and cousin Dennis Hanks settled at Little Pigeon Creek

1357-541: Is now known as the Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial near Decatur, Illinois , where young Abraham parted ways with his family. The Lincoln Trail State Memorial was installed in 1938 during the administration of Illinois Governor Henry Horner , an admirer of the Lincoln legacy. A bridge had replaced the old flatboats and ferries that had previously crossed the Wabash River. Horner hoped that

1416-479: Is preserved as the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site , although his original saddlebag log cabin was lost after being disassembled and shipped to Chicago for display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition . Lincoln, already in his fifties, remained a resident of the county for the rest of his life. In 1851, at the age of 73, Lincoln died and was buried at nearby Shiloh Cemetery, which

1475-510: The Harrison family of Virginia with Thomas Harrison his maternal great-great-grandfather. Thomas was born in 1778 in Linville Creek, Virginia , to Abraham and Bethsheba Lincoln. The Lincolns later sold the land in the 1780s to move to western Virginia, now Springfield, Kentucky . He amassed an estate of 5,544 acres of prime Kentucky land, realizing the bounty as advised by Daniel Boone,

1534-457: The Louisville and Nashville Turnpike . It was at Knob Hill that Abraham had some of his first memories. For instance, he remembered the death of his parents' third child, his brother Thomas Jr. a few days after his birth in 1812. He also remembered the cultivation of corn and pumpkins and sometimes attending a limited, "A.B.C." school with his sister within a couple of miles of the family's cabin. It

1593-499: The Memorial would both pay tribute to the young Lincoln and also serve as a sort of roadside welcome center to westward-bound drivers on U.S. Route 50, which was then a key east–west trunk route in the central U.S. states. Less than thirty years after the installation, however, the federal Interstate highway system bypassed Lawrence County and its Memorial. As of 2011, the Lincoln Trail State Memorial continues to mark

1652-583: The United States , Abraham Lincoln . Unlike some of his ancestors, Thomas could not write. He struggled to make a successful living for his family and faced difficult challenges in Kentucky real estate boundary and title disputes, the early death of his first wife, and the integration of his second wife's family into his own family, before making his final home in Illinois. Lincoln was descended from Samuel Lincoln ,

1711-439: The cabin, Mordecai observed a Native American come out of the forest and stop by his father's body. The Native American reached for Thomas, either to kill him or to carry him off. Mordecai took aim and shot the Native American in the chest, killing him. Tradition states that Lincoln was buried next to his cabin, which is now the site of Long Run Baptist Church and Cemetery near Eastwood, Kentucky . A stone memorializing Lincoln

1770-556: The choice of which, Donald speculates, "suggested that Abraham Lincoln's memories of his father were not all unpleasant – and perhaps hinted at guilt for not having attended his funeral." Abraham, likely in response to his unhappy relationship with his stern, demanding father, was a caring and indulgent father with his own children. As a young man, Lincoln became active in the Primitive Baptist church (also known as Predestinarian or Separate Baptists ), and eventually became

1829-495: The church meeting house with Abraham. Thomas Lincoln had religious grounds for disliking slavery, and these served as a partial reason for moving from Kentucky to north of the Ohio River where slavery had been prohibited by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. After moving to Coles County, Illinois , Lincoln and his wife became Church of Christ members. A 1970 episode of Daniel Boone , although fictionalized, portrays

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1888-464: The courtship of Thomas Lincoln (played by actor Burr DeBenning ) and Nancy Hanks ( Marianna Hill ). Sarah Bush Johnston is referred to but not seen. It is mentioned that the couple will name their first son after Tom's father, Abraham. Daniel remarks, "He might even be President someday." Abraham Lincoln (captain) Captain Abraham Flowers Lincoln (May 13, 1744 – May 1786) was

1947-455: The degree to which it impacted their relationship is not clear, there seemed to be a struggle between Abraham's yearning for knowledge and Thomas' lack of understanding about the importance of study to Abraham's life. Abraham seemed particularly critical of his father's lack of education and lack of an earnest drive to see that his children received a good education. Historian Ronald C. White wrote that negative portraits of Thomas Lincoln come "from

2006-732: The family afloat. He also regularly hired his son out to work for other farmers in the vicinity, and by law he was entitled to everything the boy earned until he came of age. Lincoln had a restless nature, and when John Hanks , a cousin who had once lived with the Lincolns, moved to Illinois and sent back glowing reports of fertile prairie that didn't need the backbreaking work of clearing forest before crops could be planted, he sold his Indiana land early in 1830 and moved first to Macon County, Illinois , west of Decatur and eventually to Coles County in 1831. The homestead site on Goosenest Prairie, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Charleston, Illinois ,

2065-560: The following fall. While Abraham was ten years younger than his second cousin Dennis, the boys were good friends. In October 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln contracted milk sickness by drinking milk of a cow that had eaten the white snakeroot plant. There was no cure for the poison and on October 5, 1818, Nancy died. Abraham and Sarah Lincoln, as well as Sophie and Dennis Hanks (whose guardians had also died of milk sickness), lived alone for six months when Lincoln went back to Kentucky to seek

2124-569: The food and clothing that they needed, they were considered among the "very poorest people" while in Kentucky. Abraham recounted years later, in a discussion with homeless boys in New York, that he had been poor and could remember "when my toes stuck out through my broken shoes in the winter; when my arms were out at the elbows; when I shivered with the cold." Thomas Lincoln moved the family to Indiana in December 1816, and purchased land in accordance with

2183-491: The land ordinance of 1785, partly because slavery had been excluded in Indiana by the Northwest Ordinance . Abraham Lincoln claimed many years later that his father's move from Kentucky to Indiana was "partly on account of slavery, but chiefly on account of the difficulty of land titles in Kentucky." In December 1816, the Lincolns settled in the Little Pigeon Creek Community in what was then Perry County and

2242-412: The money to pay attorney's fees to resolve title disputes, such as liens against previous owners and survey errors. In addition, as a farmer, Lincoln was unable to compete with those who had slaves to work their fields. Reluctant to discuss the extreme poverty of his youth, Abraham Lincoln quoted Gray's Elegy in 1860, saying his life could be summed up as "The short and simple annals of the poor." Without

2301-512: The mother of a young son, Jonathan Morris. Lincoln was born May 13, 1744, in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania . He was the first child born to John and Rebekah Lincoln, who had nine children in all: Abraham born 1744, twins Hannah and Lydia born 1748, Isaac born 1750, Jacob born 1751, John born 1755, Sarah born 1757, Thomas born 1761, and Rebekah born 1767. Lincoln learned the tanner's trade and later took his brother John as his apprentice. A prominent tanner of Berks County in those days

2360-472: The paternal grandfather and namesake of the 16th U.S. president , Abraham Lincoln . Lincoln was a military captain during the American Revolution , and a pioneer settler of Kentucky . Some historical sources attest his last name as Linkhorn , although neither Abraham nor his children ever signed themselves as such. Abraham Flowers Lincoln was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln (1622–1690), who

2419-481: The primitive trails that led to open, unclaimed farmland in central Illinois. Walker's sculptural installation depicts the scene, with the family, animals, and oxcart depicted in bas-relief carved in Bedford stone and a tall young man, representing the young Lincoln, cast in bronze and given a prominent place on the pedestal in front of the relief. Following their entry into Illinois, the Lincoln family trekked to what

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2478-413: The proud owner of 100 acres of Indiana land. Sarah Lincoln became a valued member of the household, and she and Abraham became very close. However, the family continued to live in extreme poverty in Indiana, according to family members, neighbors, and friends. There were times that the only food in the house was potatoes, and the children did not have sufficient clothes to wear. Abraham was not invited to

2537-505: The state militia at the age of 19 and became a Cumberland County constable at 24. He moved to Hardin County , Kentucky in 1802 and bought a 238-acre (1.0 km ) farm the following year for £118; It was located seven miles north of Elizabethtown, Kentucky on Mill Creek. When he lived in Hardin County, he was a jury member, a petitioner for a road, and a guard for county prisoners. Lincoln

2596-421: The subsistence farming necessary on the colonial frontier. The Lincoln home farm on Hiester's Creek , in what is now Exeter Township, Berks County , was left to John's half-brothers, the children of his father's second marriage. In 1743, John Lincoln married Rebekah Morris (1720–1806), daughter of Enoch Flowers of Caernarvon Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania . Rebekah was the widow of James Morris and

2655-411: The three boys seems to have inherited more than his share of talent and wit. Josiah and Thomas were forced to make their own way. "The tragedy," wrote historian David Herbert Donald , "abruptly ended his prospects of being an heir of a well-to-do Kentucky planter; he had to earn his board and keep." From 1795 to 1802, Thomas Lincoln held a variety of ill-paying jobs in several locations. He served in

2714-562: Was 3 miles from his home. Sarah, his widow, remained at their home until her death in 1869. During Lincoln's youth, and particularly after the death of his mother, Abraham's relationship with his father changed and became increasingly strained. Due to his failing eyesight and likely declining health, Lincoln relied on Abraham to perform work needed to run the farm. He also sent Abraham to work for neighbors, generating money for Thomas. Michael Burlingame , in his book The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln , wrote that, "In his youth, [Abraham] Lincoln

2773-404: Was James Boone (1709 – 1785), uncle to Daniel Boone . James Boone was a near neighbor to the Lincolns of Hiester's Creek, and his daughter Anne was married to John Lincoln's half-brother. This family connection may have influenced Abraham's choice of occupation. In 1768, his father John Lincoln purchased land in the Shenandoah Valley in the colony of Virginia . He settled his family on

2832-589: Was also active in community and church affairs in Hardin County. The following year his sister Nancy Brumfield, brother-in-law William Brumfield and his mother Bathsheba moved from Washington County to Mill Creek and lived with Lincoln. In 1805, Lincoln constructed most of the woodwork, including mantels and stairways, for the Hardin house, now restored and called the Lincoln Heritage House at Freeman Lake Park in Elizabethtown. In 1806, he ferried merchandise on

2891-532: Was also called Nancy Sparrow as the adopted daughter of Elizabeth and Thomas Sparrow. Dennis Hanks, Abraham's friend and second cousin, reported that Nancy Hanks Lincoln had remarkable perception. Nathaniel Grisby, a friend and neighbor, said that she was "superior" to her husband. Nancy taught young Abraham to read using the Bible, and modeled "sweetness and benevolence". Abraham said of her, "All that I am or hope ever to be I get from my mother". Thomas Lincoln developed

2950-523: Was born in Hingham , Norfolk , England , and who, as a weaver's apprentice, emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637. Abraham's father John Lincoln (1716–1788) was born in Monmouth County in the province of New Jersey , and grew up in the Schuylkill river valley in the province of Pennsylvania . Typical of his class, John Lincoln learned a trade, in his case weaving, to practice alongside

3009-532: Was first married to Mary Shipley has been refuted. Five children were born to Lincoln: Mordecai born circa 1771, Josiah born circa 1773, Mary born circa 1775, Thomas born 1778, and Nancy born 1780. During the American Revolutionary War, Lincoln served as a captain of the Augusta County militia, and with the organization of Rockingham County in 1778, he served as a captain for that county. He

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3068-482: Was hard, particularly for Thomas, the youngest, who got little schooling and was forced to go to work at a young age. In later years Thomas Lincoln would recount the story of the day his father died, to his son, Abraham Lincoln , the future sixteenth president of the United States of America. "The story of his death by the Indians," the president later wrote, "and of Uncle Mordecai, then fourteen years old, killing one of

3127-407: Was in command of sixty of his neighbors, ready to be called out by the governor of Virginia and marched where needed. Captain Lincoln's company served under General Lachlan McIntosh in the fall and winter of 1778, assisting in the construction of Fort McIntosh in Pennsylvania and Fort Laurens in Ohio. In 1780, Lincoln sold his land on Mill Creek, and in 1781 he moved his family to Kentucky, then

3186-477: Was like a slave to his father." Historians differ on Thomas' parental treatment of Abraham. Burlingame, citing testimony from Lincoln relatives like Dennis Hanks, characterized Thomas as abusive and hostile to his son's efforts to better himself, saying he "avoided whipping or scolding his son in front of visitors but would administer punishment after they had left." David Herbert Donald, citing similar testimony, concluded that Thomas, "generally an easygoing man ...

3245-519: Was named Sinking Spring Farm for the "magnificent spring that bubbled from the bottom of a deep cave." On February 12, 1809, the Lincolns' second child, a son named Abraham Lincoln , was born. Seeking more fertile property, Lincoln and his family moved to Knob Creek Farm in 1811. Situated 10 miles northeast of the Sinking Spring Farm on Nolin Creek, the Knob Creek Farm was also adjacent to

3304-656: Was not a harsh father or brutal disciplinarian," and noted that Thomas enrolled his children in public schools during the few periods when they were available to the family. He quoted Sarah Bush Lincoln, Abraham's stepmother, who said that "Mr. Lincoln never made Abe quit reading to do anything if he could avoid it. He would do it himself first." Both Burlingame and Donald agree that Thomas struck his son if he appeared overly neglectful of his chores, or if he thrust himself into adult conversations. As Abraham got older, he eagerly awaited coming of age so that he could move away and have as little to do with his father as possible. Although

3363-553: Was placed in the cemetery in 1937. Bathsheba Lincoln was left a widow with five underage children. She moved the family away from the Ohio River, to Washington County , where the country was more thickly settled and there was less danger of a Native American attack. Under the law then operating, Mordecai Lincoln, as the eldest son, inherited two-thirds of his father's estate when he reached the age of twenty-one, with Bathsheba receiving one-third. The other children inherited nothing. Life

3422-455: Was under considerable financial pressure after his second marriage as he had to support a household of eight people. For a time he could rely on Dennis Hanks to help provide for his large family, but in 1826 Dennis married Elizabeth Johnston, Sarah Bush Lincoln's daughter, and moved to his own homestead. As Abraham became an adolescent, his father grew more and more to depend on him for the "farming, grubbing, hoeing, making fences" necessary to keep

3481-406: Was while living at Knob Creek that Lincoln was made annual road surveyor and became 15th wealthiest of 98 property owners by 1814. Lincoln lost farms three times after boundary disputes due to defective titles and Kentucky's chaotic land laws , complicated by the absence of United States land surveys and the use of subjective or arbitrary landmarks to determine land boundaries. He did not have

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