Kentucky. It is not strange that the descendants of John Hanks should also be there. Joseph Hanks had emigrated to Kentucky. He was a

1806.

carpenter of Elizabethtown. Shall we think it strange that Thomas Lincoln, who was working with him, found pleasure in the society of his nieces-Lucy, Elizabeth, Polly, and Nancy Hanks? Nancy was tall, dark-haired, comely, dignified, and winsome by her grace and kindness. She seemed at times as if looking far away-seeing what others did not see. She had attended school in Virginia, and stood upon a higher intellectual plane than most of those around her. The Bible was read morning and evening, and her conduct was in accordance with its precepts. She was on the frontier, where few books were to be had to satisfy her thirst for knowledge, and where there was little intellectual culture. Through the summer days she heard the mournful cooing of the ring-doves, the mimicry of the mocking-bird, and the tender notes of the hermit-thrush in the forest. In winter the voices were harsh and discordant-the barking of foxes and the howling of wolves. Her eyes, so sad at times, looked into an uncongenial present and unpromising future.

Thomas Lincoln was twenty-eight years old and Nancy Hanks twenty-three when they were united in marriage by Rev. Jesse Head. Their first home was a cabin in Elizabethtown. (") They had but few articles. for house-keeping, but Thomas Lincoln was a kind and loving husband, and she a helpful wife, ever regardful of his happiness and welfare. A daughter was born to them in this uncongenial home. As their ancestors had done, they turned to the Bible for a name, and selected Sarah -the princess. (")

NOTES TO CHAPTER I.

(1) "History of Lincolnshire."

(2) "The Original List of Persons of Quality-Emigrants from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700," edited by John Camden Hutton, p. 290.

(3) Samuel Barnard Eliot, in "Cincinnati Gazette,” October 6, 1882.

(*) George Lincoln, in "Boston Transcript," January, 1892.

(5) Ibid.

(*) Will of Mordecai Lincoln, Plymouth, Mass., "Records."

(*) Samuel Shackford, in "Chicago Tribune," April 14, 1883. (*) Ibid.

(2) H. M. Jenkins, "Historical Collections of Gwynedd," p. 143. (19) Ibid., p. 110.

(1) Cecil B. Hartley, "Life of Daniel Boone."

(1) Samuel Shackford, in "Chicago Tribune,” April 14, 1883. (18) Ibid.

(14) Ibid.

(15) Nicolay and Hay, "Abraham Lincoln: A History," Century Magazine," November, 1886.

(16) Ibid.

(17) President Lincoln knew very little about his ancestry. In a letter written in 1848, he said: "My grandfather weut from Rockingham County, Va., to Kentucky, about 1782, and two years afterwards was killed by the Indians. We have a vague tradition that my grandfather went from Pennsylvania to Virginia; that he was a Quaker. Further than that I have never heard anything."

It has long been known that the first emigrants from England bearing the name of Lincoln came from Hingham, England, and settled in Hingham, Mass. Recent investigations show that Thomas Lincoln became an emigrant in 1633; that his younger brother, Samuel, apprenticed to Francis Lawes, landed at Salem, Mass., 1637; that he was eighteen years of age, and subsequently settled in Hingham, and was the ancestor of the President. The maiden name of his wife was Martha, but her family name is not known. Their children were:

1. Samuel, born August 25, 1650.

2. Daniel, born January 2, 1653.

3. Mordecai, born June 19, 1655; died in infancy.

4. Mordecai, born June 14, 1657.

5. Mary, born March 27, 1662.

6. Thomas, born August 20, 1664.

7. Martha, born December 11, 1667.

8. A daughter, born August 3, 1669; died in infancy.

9. Sarab, born June 17, 1671.

10. Rebecca, born March 16, 1674.

The fourth son, Mordecai, born in 1657, became a blacksmith. He married Sarah Jones, of Hull, daughter of Abraham Jones, of whom he learned his trade. The shop was on a point of land which projects into Boston harbor. It seems probable that the settlers in that vicinity may have been fishermen rather than farmers. He subsequently lived in Hingham, and with his elder brother Samuel was employed, in 1679, in building the meeting-house, still standing (1892) in Hingham. His father, Samuel, and himself paid taxes in that town in 1680, and the blacksmith was assigned a seat in the front gallery. It is probable that he moved into Cohasset, the adjoining town, about 1700, and with his neighbors established iron-works and built a mill. He died in 1727. His grave is in the cemetery in North Scituate.

Children of Mordecai and Sarah Jones Lincoln:

1. Mordecai, born April 24, 1686.

2. Abraham, born January 13, 1689.

3. Isaac, born October 21, 1691.

4. Sarah, born July 27, 1694.

5. Elizabeth.

6. Jacob.

The will of the

It seems that the two last-named were children of a second wife. iron-founder was made in 1727, and Jacob was sixteen years of age at the time.

Mordecai Lincoln, junior, born 1686, was the ancestor of President Lincoln. No record of his marriage has been found. We only know that he emigrated to Freehold, Monmouth County, N. J., accompanied by his brother Abraham, and that he had one son, John. He was married to Hannah Salter, of Freehold, before 1714-the date of his uncle's will, which bequeathed to Hannah Salter Lincoln £250. It appears that he moved to Amity township, Pa., and became near neighbor to George Boone. His will bears

date February 22, 1735-36, providing for Johu, Mordecai, Ann, Sarah, and a posthumous child which was named Abraham.

His

John Lincoln, born in Massachusetts, ancestor of the President, married and resided in Freehold, but moved to Union, Pa., in 1758, where he was assessed for taxes. children were Thomas, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is probable that all his children were born at Union, and that he moved to Virginia in 1759.

Abraham, his second son, joined the family of Squire Boone at Holman's Ford, eight miles from Wilkesborough, N. C., where he married Mary Shipley. Their children were Mordecai, Josiah, Thomas, born in North Carolina, and Mary and Sarah, born at Beargrass Fort, Ky. The paternal line of descent is: 1. Samuel; 2. Mordecai; 3. Mordecai; 4. John; 5. Abraham; 6. Thomas; 7. Abraham-President.

The maternal ancestry of President Lincoln cannot to a certainty be traced continuously from his mother, Naucy Hanks, back to John Hanks, who married Sarah Evaus, of Gwynedd, in 1711. It is very probable that the mother of the President was a descendant of their son John, who settled in Union township, Pa., and who probably moved to Rockingham County, Va., in 1759. Presumably Nancy Hanks was his granddaughter. It appears that John Hanks, who lived in Whitemarsh, made his will December 12, 1730. It was admitted to probate in May, 1731. His wife was executrix, and he mentions seven children. From the records of marriages among the Friends of Gwynedd, it seems that Sarah Evans Hanks, widow, married Thomas Williams, widower, of Montgomery township, Pa. The witnesses of the marriage were her seven children. "Historical Collections of Gwynedd," p. 116.

Mrs. William Parker Faulke, in "Historical Collections of Gwynedd," informs us that Sarah Evans was the daughter of Cadwallader Evans, who, with three brothers, emigrated from Merioneth County, in Wales, which, together with Montgomery, Flint, Denbig, Carnavon, and Anglesey constituted the ancient Gwynedd. The Evans family occupied an exalted position. Their ownership of land extends back to the twelfth century. The genealogical line has been traced to Mervyn Vrych, King of Man, who married Essylt, daughter of the King of Wales, in 820, both of whom traced their ancestral line to Lludd, King of Britain, who resisted the Roman invasion.

It does not appear that any of the paternal ancestors of President Lincoln in Pennsylvania belonged to the Society of Friends, but rather that they attended the religious meetings of the Friends, and lived in harmonious relations with them. It seems probable that John Hanks, of Whitemarsh, joined the society, and that his son John remained a Friend; but his nieces, who emigrated to Kentucky, were not Friends. On the paternal and maternal side it was a religious ancestry.-Author.

2

THO

CHAPTER II.

EARLY YEARS.

HOMAS LINCOLN selected a quarter-section of land situated on Nolin's Creek, near Hodgensville, for a farm. The site chosen for his home was near an ever-flowing spring of pure, cool, refreshing water, issuing from a cleft in a rock shaded by forest trees. Asters, columbines, and other flowers bloomed around it, drawing their moisture from the crystal fountain.

1809.

We may justly infer that the carpenter could not earn much money by working at his trade. Not many mills had been built for sawing

[From a photograph taken by the author, 1890. The stones at the foot of the pear-tree mark the locality of the fireplace.]

lumber, and consequently

the time had not come for erecting frame-houses. A log-cabin could be easily constructed by the settler himself felling the trees and notching the logs. His neighbors would manifest their friendship by coming to the "rolling," lifting the logs that were to form the cabin walls, and partaking freely of the whiskey provided for the occasion. The owner of the house could lay the stones for the fireplace and hew the timbers for the floor. The cabin built by Thomas Lincoln had but one

room. The floor was not laid, no glass had been purchased for a window, or boards provided for a door, when it became the home of the family.