Nancy Hanks
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- For the passenger train, see Nancy Hanks (passenger train). For the National Endowment for the Arts chairman, see Nancy Hanks (NEA).
Nancy Hanks Lincoln (February 5, 1784 – October 5, 1818) was the mother of Abraham Lincoln and Sarah Lincoln and wife of Thomas Lincoln.
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[edit] Early life
Nancy Hanks (February 5, 1784 - October 5, 1818), mother of President Abraham Lincoln and Sarah Lincoln, was born in Hampshire County, Virginia (now Mineral County, West Virginia.) She was born in a log cabin on the Doll farm near Mike's Run at the base of Knobly Mountain near Antioch, West Virginia. and baptized in the Broad Run Baptist Church there which still retains the baptismal record. Her father either died shortly after her birth, or she was born out of wedlock. Little is known about her early life, but she was admired as an excellent seamstress. On June 12, 1806, she married Thomas Lincoln. A record of their marriage license is located at the Washington County, Kentucky courthouse.
[edit] Marriage and Family
On June 12, 1806, she married Thomas Lincoln.
They had three children:
- Sarah Lincoln, born February 10, 1807
- Abraham Lincoln, born February 12, 1809
- Thomas Lincoln, died in infancy
Nancy Hanks Lincoln was born in Campbell County, Virginia to Abraham & Sarah Hanks. The year was 1784. Another woman named Nancy Hanks was baptized at the Broad Run Baptist Church. She was the wife of Luke Hanks.
According to the minutes of a church in Fauquier County, Virginia published in the The Genealogical Record by The Houston Genealogical Forum in Houston, Texas (Volume VII, Number 3, Sept., 1965). Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, was baptized there. On page 13 of the Minutes of the Broad Run Baptist Church it states that Nancy Hanks was baptized on June 13, 1778. On page 14 it states her husband Luke Hanks was baptized on August 25, 1779. Nancy Hanks, mother of Abraham Lincoln was born in Campbell County, Virginia in 1784, six years after the Nancy Hanks mentioned in the minutes of the Broad Run Baptist Church. The Nancy listed there was probably the wife of Luke Hanks I.
Actor Tom Hanks is a direct descendant of Nancy Hanks.[1]
-This last claim can not be true. If Tom Hanks were a direct descendent of Nancy Hanks...his name would be Tom Lincoln. Unless the writer is claiming that she had a child out of wedlock. Tom Hanks may be related, but he can not possibly be a "direct" descendant of Nancy Hanks.
[edit] Last Years
In 1816 Nancy Hanks and her family moved to Southern Indiana.
[edit] Death
On October 5, 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of "milk sickness", a disease contracted from drinking the milk of a cow that has eaten the poisonous white snakeroot. In the same year, several other people also died of "milk sickness" in the small town of Little Pigeon Creek in Spencer County, Indiana, where the Lincolns lived. Nancy Hanks Lincoln was only thirty-four years old when she died, and her son Abraham was only nine.
Nancy Hanks Lincoln's grave is located in Nancy Hanks Lincoln Cemetery, on the grounds of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Fenster, Bob. They Did What!? The Funny, Weird, Wonderful, and Stupid Things Famous People Have Done, Andrews Publishing, 2002. Page 55.
[edit] External links
- Abraham Lincoln's Parents
- The Maternal Lineage of Abraham Lincoln
- Paul H. Verduin (1988), "New Evidence Suggests Lincoln's Mother Born in Richmond County, Virginia, Giving Credibility to Planter-Grandfather Legend"
- Sturgill, David Andrew, "Who Was Nancy Hanks Lincoln?"
- David S. Keiser (1970), "How I Found Nancy Hanks' Father, Thomas Hanks, Without Trying"
- Raymond Martin Bell and Christopher Challender Child (1997), "Mother of the President: Nancy Hanks Lincoln, 1784-1818"
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