Thomas Lincoln

Thomas Lincoln. He was an American pioneer, farmer, and carpenter, best known as the father of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. A native of Rockingham County, Virginia, he spent much of his life in the frontier communities of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. His life, marked by modest means and frequent relocations, provides critical context for the early frontier environment that shaped his famous son's character and ambitions.

Early life and family

Born in 1778 in Rockingham County, Virginia, he was the fourth child of Captain Abraham Lincoln and Bathsheba Herring. His family moved to the Kentucky frontier in the 1780s, settling in Jefferson County. In 1786, his father was killed in an ambush by a Native American raiding party during the Revolutionary War era, an event that left the family in difficult circumstances. As a young man, he worked as a farmhand and carpenter, acquiring skills he would use throughout his life. The family's experiences were part of the broader Westward Expansion and the settlement of the Northwest Territory.

Marriage and children

On June 12, 1806, he married Nancy Hanks Lincoln in Washington County, Kentucky. The couple settled in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where their first child, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, was born in 1807. Their second child, the future president Abraham Lincoln, was born on February 12, 1809, at the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. A third son, Thomas Lincoln Jr., was born in 1812 but died in infancy. After Nancy's death in 1818 from milk sickness, he married the widow Sarah Bush Lincoln on December 2, 1819, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. This marriage brought three stepchildren into the household: John D. Johnston, Matilda Johnston Hall, and Sarah Elizabeth Johnston Grigsby.

Career and economic struggles

He worked primarily as a farmer and carpenter, trades common on the American frontier. His economic pursuits were often hindered by insecure land titles, a pervasive problem in early Kentucky due to disputes within the Virginia Military District. He lost several farms, including the Knob Creek Farm, to legal challenges over property boundaries. Seeking more stable land tenure, he moved his family to the Indiana Territory in 1816, settling in what became Spencer County, Indiana. There, he helped establish the Little Pigeon Creek Community, built a log cabin, and cleared land for a homestead. Despite his labor, the family's existence remained one of subsistence farming, and he was never financially prosperous.

Relationship with Abraham Lincoln

His relationship with his famous son was complex and reportedly distant. While he provided the basic necessities of frontier life, young Abraham Lincoln had a strained relationship with him, finding him unsupportive of formal education. The future president's biographers, such as William Herndon, noted a lack of intellectual kinship between them. After reaching adulthood, Abraham Lincoln left the family homestead in Indiana for New Salem, Illinois. He provided some financial support later in life, purchasing a tract of land in Coles County, Illinois, for his father and stepmother. Their correspondence was infrequent, and he did not attend his son's inauguration or visit the White House.

Later life and death

In his later years, he lived with his wife Sarah Bush Lincoln on a farm in Goose Nest Prairie, Coles County, Illinois. He remained active in the local Baptist church, having been a member of the Separate Baptists in Kentucky and Indiana. He died on January 17, 1851, at the age of 73. He was initially buried on the farm, but his remains were later reinterred at the Shiloh Cemetery near Farmington, Illinois. His death was noted briefly in Illinois newspapers, but his historical significance is almost entirely derived from his paternal connection to Abraham Lincoln, whose own life and presidency would reshape the nation during the American Civil War.

Category:1778 births Category:1851 deaths Category:American farmers Category:People from Coles County, Illinois Category:People from Spencer County, Indiana Category:People from Hardin County, Kentucky