Nancy Hanks Lincoln

Nancy Hanks Lincoln
National Park Service - Lincoln Home National Historic Site · Public domain · source
Name	Nancy Hanks Lincoln
Birth date	February 5, 1784
Birth place	Hampshire County, Virginia, United States
Death date	5 October 1818
Death place	Little Pigeon Creek Community, Indiana Territory, United States
Spouse	Thomas Lincoln
Children	Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, Abraham Lincoln
Relatives	Mordecai Lincoln (father-in-law)

Nancy Hanks Lincoln was the mother of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. Her life, spent almost entirely on the American frontier, was marked by hardship and early death, leaving a profound but enigmatic legacy on her famous son. Her origins and character have been the subject of extensive historical research and folklore, often intertwined with the Lincoln family mythology.

Early Life

Details of her early years are sparse and debated by historians. She was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, to Lucy Hanks and is believed to have been raised primarily in Washington County, Kentucky, and later Nelson County, Kentucky. Some accounts suggest she spent time in the household of her uncle, Joseph Hanks, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Her lineage, particularly the question of her legitimacy, was a topic of political gossip during her son's lifetime, with opponents like Stephen A. Douglas alluding to it. She was largely illiterate but remembered by contemporaries as intellectually curious, possessing a remarkable memory, and deeply devoted to the Separate Baptists faith, which emphasized a personal, emotional relationship with God.

Marriage and Family

She married Thomas Lincoln, a carpenter and farmer, on June 12, 1806, in Washington County, Kentucky. The ceremony was performed by Jesse Head, a Methodist minister. The couple initially settled at the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky, where their daughter, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, was born in 1807. Their second child, the future president, was born on February 12, 1809, at the nearby Knob Creek Farm. The family's life in Kentucky was challenging, with Thomas Lincoln facing difficult land title disputes, a common problem in the Green River country, which prompted their eventual migration north.

Life on the Frontier

In 1816, the family moved across the Ohio River to the Indiana Territory, settling in the Little Pigeon Creek Community in present-day Spencer County, Indiana. This move was part of a larger exodus from Kentucky by small farmers seeking more secure land titles in the Northwest Territory. Life at the new homestead was one of unrelenting pioneer labor. The family lived in a crude, three-sided shelter before constructing a log cabin. Nancy Hanks Lincoln managed the household under primitive conditions, with responsibilities including cooking, sewing, and helping to clear land. It was in this setting that she encouraged her children's education, reportedly arranging for brief periods of schooling with itinerant teachers like Zachariah Riney.

Death and Legacy

In the autumn of 1818, an outbreak of "milk sickness," caused by drinking the milk of cows that had ingested the poisonous white snakeroot plant, swept through the Little Pigeon Creek area. She fell gravely ill and died on October 5, 1818. She was buried near the family cabin, with her grave later marked by a memorial at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. Her death was a devastating blow to the family; her daughter Sarah took over household duties until Thomas Lincoln's remarriage to Sarah Bush Lincoln the following year. The loss of his mother at age nine deeply affected the young Abraham Lincoln, who later recalled her as a figure of "angelic" character and his intellectual inspiration.

Historical Significance

Her historical significance stems almost entirely from her relationship to Abraham Lincoln. Biographers, from William Herndon to Carl Sandburg, have grappled with her influence, often portraying her as the source of his melancholy, his compassion, and his moral convictions against institutions like slavery in the United States. While direct evidence is limited, it is widely argued that her Separate Baptists heritage, which rejected human bondage, provided an early ethical framework for her son. Her story is central to the narrative of Lincoln's youth and the formative hardships of the frontier, symbolizing the personal sacrifices that shaped a president during a critical period in American history.

Category:1780s births Category:1818 deaths Category:American pioneers Category:Lincoln family Category:People from Spencer County, Indiana Category:People from Hardin County, Kentucky