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Nancy Hawks Lincoln:
Details are sketchy: Little is known about the early life of Nancy Hanks, whose father probably died before she and her mother moved from Virginia to Kentucky. Nancy lived with an aunt and uncle in Washington County, Kentucky, where she met Thomas Lincoln, a neighbor.
Marriage and motherhood: She married Thomas Lincoln June 12, 1806. The couple settled in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and became parents of a baby girl, Sarah, in 1807.
Flax and folklore: Folklore describes Nancy as an expert spinner of flax who taught her family to read and write. There is no evidence, however, that Nancy could read or write. Legal documents show that Thomas's mother, Bersheba, could write her name and that Thomas could write his name before he married Nancy.
Her contribution: While Nancy Lincoln remains somewhat a mystery, her place in history is clear. Lincoln historian Louis A. Warren wrote in 1926: "Her short and obscure life may not have impressed her contemporaries with its significance, but the offering she made to the nation gave it a new birth."
Abraham Lincoln gave his mother all the credit for his later accomplishments, even though she died when he was nine. His law partner, William H. Herndon, wrote that Lincoln once told him: "Everything I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. I remember my mother's prayers, and they have always followed me." |