THE LINCOLNS IN KENTUCKY

you [Music] it is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life it can all be condensed into a single sentence and that sentence you will find in Gray's elegy the short and simple annals of the poor that's my life and that's all you or anyone else can make of it Abraham Lincoln hello I'm Kent Masterson Brown welcome to witnessing histories I remember the old home very well the Lincoln's in Kentucky Abraham Lincoln the world knows that he was born in a log cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky and that he became the 16th President of the United States nearly 16,000 books have been written about Lincoln's life but the world really does not know very much about Lincoln's family his grandfathers and grandmothers migration to and settlement in Kentucky his mother father sister or brother or why the Lincoln's left Kentucky this is the story of the Lincoln's in Kentucky it is a story that has never been told in book form or on the screen before it is a story of a pioneer family in the years following the Revolutionary War in Kentucky of loss and sadness of a determination to make life better and to raise a family in the midst of want in hardship most of the documents you will see have never been published in any form before they were uncovered during the production of this film join me as we explore one of the most authentic of all American stories the Lincoln's in Kentucky I remember the old home very well the Lincoln's in Kentucky is brought to you by the Hardin County History Museum and the ancestral trails Historical Society Elizabethtown Kentucky a sense of past time and place Dupree Financial Group Lexington Kentucky the citizens of LaRue County and Hodgenville Kentucky the Springfield Tourism Commission Springfield Kentucky the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville Louisville Kentucky the Bourbon County Distilling Company Paris Kentucky the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial foundation and the Lincoln forum New York New York and the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum Lincoln Memorial University Harrogate Tennessee and generous gifts from bill and Dottie Spears Paris Kentucky Mack and Sharron Cox Richmond Kentucky and dr. Priscilla Lind Lexington Kentucky [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the Lincoln's were of Old English stock the first of that family to come to America was Samuel Lincoln a Puritan from Norfolk County England who sailed to the new world as a weaver Samuel Lincoln landed at Salem Massachusetts in 1637 he lived the remainder of his life in Hingham dying there at the age of 71 in 1690 by the early 18th century John Lincoln a great-grandson of Samuel Lincoln was living in Berks County Pennsylvania John Lincoln would be the great-grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln born in freehold New Jersey in 1716 John Lincoln married Rebecca flowers Morris the widow of a James Morris the marriage probably took place in Berks County Pennsylvania in 1743 nine children five sons and four daughters were born to John and Rebecca Lincoln the oldest of whom was Abraham born in Berks County Pennsylvania in 1744 [Music] John Lincoln and his family left Berks County around 1750 and migrated into the Shenandoah Valley settling along Linville Creek in present-day Rockingham County Virginia [Music] it seems John Lincoln gave his son Abraham 200 acres of land on Linville Creek Abraham Lincoln married Bathsheba herring in 1770 Abraham and Bathsheba lived along Linville Creek for 10 years their marriage produced five children Mordecai Josiah Mary Thomas and Nancy Abraham Lincoln served during the Revolutionary War he appears on the roles of the militia of Augusta County Virginia in 1776 and 1777 with the rank of captain captain Lincoln may have accompany Daniel Boone and the Boone family on their return to Kentucky from the Yadkin River Valley of North Carolina in October 1779 in order to explore lands in Kentucky the Boone's and Lincoln's work in Captain Lincoln returned to Virginia he was issued three Treasury warrants by Virginia in 1780 to claim land in Kentucky for his Revolutionary War service this land grant made out to Abraham Lincoln conveyed to him land along the Green River in what is now Lincoln County Kentucky [Music] captain Lincoln his wife Bathsheba and their children Mordecai age 11 Josiah age 8 Thomas age 4 Mary age 6 and the infant Nancy and maybe other families followed the Shenandoah Valley all the way to the Cumberland Gap and then the Wilderness Road into present-day Kentucky in late 1781 or early 1782 using Skaggs Trace they reached Logans fort and from there they journeyed along the Cumberland settlements trace to lands captain Lincoln claimed along the headwaters of the Green River all together a 500-mile journey the Lincoln's first settled on the green river property but troubles with the Native American tribes north of the Ohio River and from those in present-day East Tennessee in North Georgia forced them to move to a less exposed location the Lincoln's journeyed to the waters of long run of Floyd's Fork in what is now Jefferson County Kentucky about 15 miles from present-day Louisville in it appears late 1784 captain Lincoln and his family first lived in the fortified station established by Morgan Hughes in 1780 known as Hughes his station it stood on the site where the ruins of a long run Baptist Church are found today 42 year old captain Lincoln was accompanied by his youngest son Thomas then 8 years old and his second son Josiah 13 while in the fields a long long run on a fateful day in May 1786 a [Music] small band of Native American warriors may be from the tribes along the Wabash River crept through the underbrush one of them leveled his rifle at captain Lincoln and fire attempted Lincoln fell killed instantly young Thomas screamed at the sight the warrior ran toward the body of Captain Lincoln in order to take its scalp and to seize Thomas Thomas's older brother Mordecai hurried out of the front gate of Hughes's station followed by his screaming mother Mordechai quickly aimed his rifle and fired killing the warrior little Thomas Lincoln would carry the scars of that day for the rest of his life that terrified young boy would grow up to become the father of President Abraham Lincoln captain Lincoln the grandfather and namesake of the future president was buried near Hughes's station the log long-run Baptist Church would be built next to the grave in 1797 in 18 6 the church would be built of stone when the church was rebuilt of brick in 1844 it was expanded over the site of Captain Lincoln's grave somewhere within the ruins of the old Church the grave of the grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln remains today in response to frequent Native American attacks General George Rogers Clark commanded an expedition against the tribes north of the Ohio River among the weapons collected for use in the expedition was a gun the property of widow Lincoln valued at 8 pounds that appeared on a subscription list dated September 6 1786 Bathsheba Lincoln gave Clark's men one of Captain Lincoln's long rifles sometime between 1786 and 17 18 EIN the widow Bathsheba Lincoln and her five children moved to beach Fork in what is now Washington County Kentucky [Music] beach fork is a tributary of the salt river the settlement there was about six miles from the town of Springfield along a road to Frankfort in a long horseshoe bend of beach Fork being coerced by a large stream in its tributaries the land is undulating and hilly with heavy woods along the stream and smaller creeks why Bathsheba chose to move to beach Fork may be found in the fact that her deceased husband's kinsmen Hananiah Lincoln owned land and had moved there to Bathsheba's five children were raised in the community of beach Fork living near Bathsheba Lincoln and her children was the family of Richard Berry senior and his wife Rachel Shipley berry the berries had six children by 1795 the berries had become the foster parents of two girls Sara Shipley Mitchell and Nancy Hanks Sara Shipley Mitchell was the daughter of Robert Mitchell and Naomi Shipley Mitchell of Mecklenburg County North Carolina Naomi Mitchell and Rachel Berry were sisters Sarah's mother and many of her siblings were killed in 1790 in an attack by what were likely Chickamauga warriors near present-day Crab Orchard Kentucky at a site since known as defeated camp Nancy Hanks was also living in the Barry home at the time the Lincoln's arrived at beach Fork it appears she too was an orphan it seems she was born in Campbell County Virginia in 1784 her mother according to Abraham Lincoln was a Lucy Hanks that Lucy Hanks may have also been a Shipley and a sister to Rachel Berry and Naomi Mitchell but her Bourne name may have been Hanks and she had given birth to Nancy Hanks out of wedlock some claim that Nancy's mother was the widow of a James Hanks who died in Virginia Lucy Hanks more than likely came from Virginia to Kentucky as a widow along with her daughter Nancy we will probably never really know his certainty the parentage of Nancy Hanks for sure Nancy Hanks and Sarah Mitchell became inseparable they grew up together as though they were sisters but what do we know about Thomas Lincoln possibly shown here in later life we know he was born along Linville Creek in Rockingham County Virginia in 1778 Abraham Lincoln wrote of his father once in rather uncomplimentary terms Thomas Lincoln was a wandering laboring boy hill grew up literally without education he never did more in the way of writing than bugling Lee write his own name Abraham Lincoln yet there was much about Thomas Lincoln that foreshadowed the appearance personality and character of his famous son many years later Abraham Lincoln's law partner William H Herndon interviewed a number of people including Lincoln himself about Thomas Lincoln Herndon was able to piece together a description of Thomas Lincoln it is the most complete physical description that we have Thomas Lincoln stood very erect always had his face clean shaved he was 5 foot 10 or 11 inches in height with large bones and strong heavy muscles not fat weighing about a hundred and seventy 175 pounds with a medium high forehead straight nose gray were light blue eyes rather a broad face and black hair which he wore combed straight down cut off square at the ends and not combing his front locks behind his ears it gave him something of a picturesque appearance Thomas Lincoln was candid and truthful and amiable and sociable with everyone he had a great stock of border anecdotes and professed a marvelous proclivity to entertain by spinning yarns and narrating his youthful experiences what you made turned him he served in the 4th regiment Washington County militia in the summer of 1795 Thomas Lincoln journeyed from beach fork to Elizabethtown the county seat of Hardin County Kentucky as early as 1795 there he worked on a mill dam and mill on Severns Valley Creek for a prominent citizen of the town Samuel hay Kraft jr. shown here in his 80s Lincoln's work is illustrated by this pay ledger in the handwriting of hay Kraft Lincoln was then 18 years old in the years ahead Samuel hatecraft signature a circuit court clerk and County Court Clerk would adorn almost every important document ever connected to Thomas Lincoln in Hardin County Kentucky Thomas Lincoln appears to have been an out-of-the-ordinary laborer Samuel hatecraft senior and Jacob van Meter the two founders of Elizabethtown used him here seven years later as a witness to a promissory note entered into by and between both of them Thomas Lincoln it seems returned to beech Fork this February 1796 petition objecting to the building of a proposed road from beech fork to Chaplin's Fork presents a marvelous representation of the families living at beach Fork families bearing the names Barry head Mitchell Montgomery Thompson and mcLaughlin among many others appear in bold handwriting also appears eight year-old Thomas Lincoln 23 year old Josiah Lincoln and 25 year old Mordecai Lincoln these are the earliest known signatures of Thomas Lincoln and his brothers Thomas Lincoln appears again in Hardin County in 1802 by 1803 the records reveal that he purchased 238 acres of land on Mill Creek about seven miles north of Elizabethtown he acquired that acreage for 118 English pounds after receiving a sum of money from the estate of his late father captain Lincoln it is interesting to note that at the time Thomas Lincoln purchased the Mill Creek property his mother Bathsheba Lincoln and his sister Nancy who had married a William Brumfield in 1801 were living along Mill Creek in Hardin County having moved there from Beach Fork Thomas apparently was very close to his mother and he may have acquired that property for her Bathsheba lived along Mill Creek until her death at 94 years of age in 1836 Nancy died there in 1843 both are buried in the first Mill Creek Baptist Church yard along Mill Creek in Hardin County it has been conjectured by some Lincoln scholars that Thomas Lincoln finally determined to stay in Elizabethtown after he became an apprentice carpenter to a Joseph hanks what is known is that Thomas Lincoln became a very fine carpenter and joiner in Elizabethtown here the ledger of the bleakly and Montgomery store in Elizabethtown shows Thomas Lincoln purchasing carpentry tools planes files and saws on credit in 1805 from all the accounts of Thomas Lincoln's purchases at the Blakely and Montgomery store it appears he regularly smoked tobacco and imbibed whiskey although there is no evidence indicating he was ever in temperate in fact most of those individuals having credit accounts purchase whiskey and tobacco in much greater amounts than Thomas Lincoln Thank You Thomas Lincoln would be given responsible positions in his new community he would be at times of patroller not too different from a deputy sheriff a juror a jury foreman and a special bailiff or the hardened Circuit Court and even a county court-appointed appraiser of estates [Music] Thomas Lincoln it seems had been courting Nancy Hanks who was then living in the beach for cabin of Francis berry the son of Richard very senior who had died in 1798 she was obviously one of the reasons Lincoln often returned to beach Fork for how long a time Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks courted is not known Nancy Hanks must have been a woman of fine character although simple and background learning and attainments she had a profound Christian faith and would become a caring and nurturing mother to her children Abraham Lincoln's law partner William H Herndon who interviewed individuals who remembered Nancy Hanks including Abraham Lincoln penned a description of her she was above the ordinary height and stature weighed about a hundred and thirty pounds was slender Lee built and had much the appearance of one inclined to consumption or tuberculosis her skin was dark hair brown eyes gray and small forehead prominent face sharp and angular with a mark expression of melancholy which fixed itself in the memory of whoever saw or knew her though her life was seemingly be clouded by a spirit of sadness she was in disposition amiable and generally cheerful William H Herndon Abraham Lincoln rarely spoke of his parents one day though while Lincoln and William Herndon were riding in a buggy to attend court at Petersburg in Minard County Illinois Lincoln broke his silence on the subject god bless my mother all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her Abraham Lincoln Herndon claimed Lincoln then became very sad and absorbed in thought according to this account kept by the bleakly and Montgomery store Thomas Lincoln purchased silk on May 24th 1806 to give to his bride-to-be most likely to be used with her wedding dress Lincoln returned to beach Fork where on June 10th 1806 he entered into this marriage bond for the full sum of 50 pounds current money guaranteeing that he would appear and marry Nancy Hanks Richard Barry jr. signed the bond as Nancy's guardian dearly beloved we come together to commence the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks took place inside the two-story log cabin of Frances berry on June 12 1806 the marriage ceremony was performed by the Reverend Jesse head a 38 year old Methodist Episcopal minister who was then living a long road run not far from the Lincoln's and berries the Reverend Jesse head was a native of Frederick County Maryland who had migrated to Kentucky in 1795 and had been ordained a deacon by bishop francis asbury in 1805 he was apparently a fine cabinet maker and a justice of the peace he may have actually taught a very young Thomas Lincoln the rudiments of cabinet making and joining once the vowels were exchanged Frances berry held what was called an in fair family neighbors and even those who happen to come by were welcome to attend we had bear meat venison wild turkey and ducks eggs wild aunt Ange so calm you could buy them at two bits of Bush's maple sugar swung on a string to bite off for coffee or whiskey syrup and big gourds peach and honey a sheep that the two families barbecue coal over coals of wood burned in a pit and covered the green boughs to keep the juices in and a race or the whiskey bottle Christopher Columbus Graham in April 1807 the Reverend Jesse had prepared this return setting forth the marriages he had performed over the previous 12 months here in the Reverend Jesse heads own handwriting he recorded officiating at the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks on June 12th 1806 in later years it was said that Abraham Lincoln expressed doubts about whether his father and mother were ever married if Abraham Lincoln had only seen this document that had been hidden in an annex to the Washington County Courthouse for many many years his concerns would have been put to rest it has been said that Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks spent the first few days and nights of their married life in this simple cabin that stood along the rolling hills overlooking beach for behind the home of Richard berry jr. Thomas Lincoln soon brought his new wife to Elizabethtown Kentucky where he continued his work as a carpenter and joiner Thomas Lincoln and his new wife lived in this one-room log house on two leased Lots in the town of Elizabethtown situated near Severns Valley Creek he possessed only one horse [Music] On February 10th 1807 Nancy Hanks Lincoln gave birth to the Lincoln's first child a daughter who they named Sarah in honor of Nancy's friend and possibly kinswoman Sarah Shipley mitchell of beach fork in november 1807 Thomas Lincoln made what he thought was his first payment of four dollars and 43 cents on a 200-acre homestead in Cumberland County but a Samuel bigger staff entered his claim only hours before Thomas Lincoln lost the property a year later on December 12th 1808 Thomas Lincoln paid an undetermined amount of money to an Elizabethtown friend Isaac Bush also a customer of the Bleakley and Montgomery store in order for Bush to assign to Lincoln a contract previously assigned to bush to purchase 300 acres of land on the waters of the South Fork of the Nolan River two and 1/2 miles south of Hodgenville on that land was a notable sinking spring in a grove of trees called little turkey Grove the acreage was known as the sinking Spring Farm Isaac Bush had been assigned the contract to buy the sinking spring farm on November 2nd 1805 from a mysterious figure named David Vance a Bleakley and Montgomery store customer who it appears entered into the original land purchase agreement on May 1st 1805 with the owner of the sinking spring farm Richard Mather of Elizabeth town yet another bleakly and Montgomery store customer the land purchase contract required Richard Mather to tender to David Vance the deed to the property upon Vance making full payment whether Vance ever actually paid Mather or Bush paid Vance for the land was not known to Thomas Lincoln at the time he was assigned the contract as the contract was never recorded in the County Clerk's office there was no means by which Lincoln could have determined the exact status of the property the sinking spring farm was not prime land but it was very good land relatively high it was not prone to flooding although largely forested there were some clearings and with work more land could be cleared for farming the name of the farm was derived from a large sinking spring that flows today as it did in 1808 when Thomas Lincoln acquired it above the sinking spring on a rolling ridge stood a little single room log cabin this little cabin the traditional structure that housed the Lincoln's may well contain some of the original logs the cabin in which the Lincoln's lived at the sinking spring farm would have looked much like this one [Music] altogether the sinking Spring Farm was a good acquisition for a simple farmer like Thomas Lincoln in that area of the county live families with the names Sparrow Hanks friend and Walters the sparrows Hanks and friends were probably important to Thomas Lincoln's decision to move to the Hodgenville area Thomas and Elizabeth Sparrow and their adopted son Dennis Hanks lived in that area the sparrows and Dennis Hanks were undoubtedly related to Nancy Hanks indeed Polly Hanks friend the wife of Jessi friend was also related to Nancy the sinking Spring Farm was located about two miles from the sparrow and friend cabins the sinking Spring Farm never appeared on the Hardin County tax assessment records under Thomas Lincoln's name it remained under the name of Richard Mather Thomas Lincoln had moved there solely relying on David Vance having made full payment to Richard Mather under such tenuous circumstances Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln set out to clear the land repair and furnish the simple one-room log cabin and start life anew in the fashion both had known all their lives the move to the sinking spring farm was notable for another reason Nancy Hanks Lincoln was pregnant again it was in that little log cabin on Sunday morning February 12th 1809 that Nancy gave birth to the couple's second child Dennis Hanks shown here in later life recalled that Sunday morning Nate's it was laying there in a pulled bed looking pretty happy Tom built up a good fire and throw out a bar skin over the carriage to keep him warm you bet I was tickled to death babies wasn't as plentiful of blackbirds in the woods of Kentucky Dennis Hanks Dennis Hanks recalled that he asked Nancy what she was going to name the baby she proudly responded according to Hanks Abraham after his grandfather who came to Kentucky with Daniel Boone Nancy Hanks indeed Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln named the child Abraham in honor of captain Abraham Lincoln Thomas's father thus was born in a log cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky Abraham Lincoln the Future 16th President of the United States the Lincoln's lived on the sinking spring farm for only two years David Vance never paid his obligation to Richard Mather for the balance due on the farm even though he accepted what may have been the full price of the farm for his assignment of the land sale contract to Issac Bush not having been paid Richard Mather forced Thomas Lincoln to leave the premises probably as early as eighteen eleven then little Abraham Lincoln would have been only two years old but Thomas Lincoln was determined to do all he could to recover that farm make no mistake about it he was determined to stay in Kentucky and would fight to do so needing a place to live Thomas Lincoln moved his family to this 30 acre site along Knob Creek it was owned by a man named George Lindsay of Breckinridge County who possessed in all 230 acres along the slopes of muldraugh Hill and the banks of Knob Creek the acreage was a little more than nine miles north of the sinking spring farm and seven miles north of Hodgenville there was an unoccupied one-room log cabin Thomas Lincoln may have moved to the Knob Creek Farm believing it was abandoned only in 1815 does Thomas Lincoln appear on the Hardin County tax assessment records as possessing 30 acres along Knob Creek as a rent paying tenant the Knob Creek farm was situated on the west side of the Bardstown and Green River Turnpike a toll road that connected Louisville Kentucky with Nashville Tennessee the little one-room log cabin occupied by the Lincoln's faced the Turnpike just north of the cabin flowed Knob Creek the farm was all bottom land it was relatively good soil for that part of Hardin County but there was not much of it the earliest record of the presence of Thomas Lincoln and his family at Knob Creek is this entry in the Hardin County book of astrays dated May 11th 1811 here Thomas Lincoln records taking up on Knob Creek on the road leading from Bardstown to Nolan an eight-year old gray mare 14 hands high branded on the thigh and appraised at $20.00 the Knob Creek Farm was a poor substitute for the sinking spring farm but it was all Thomas Lincoln could find he determined to live there if possible while he struggled to get the sinking spring farm back the Knob Creek place I remember well but I was not born there I was born in Nolan Neera Hodgenville in the Knob Creek places my earliest recollection however is of this Knob Creek place Abraham Lincoln while entertaining a doctor JJ Wright of Emporia Kansas and others in the White House President Lincoln remarked about his youth at Knob Creek I remember the old home very well our farm was composed of three fields which lay in a valley surrounded by high hills and deep gorges sometimes when there came a big rain in Hills the water would come down the gorges and spread over the farm the last thing I remember doing there was one Saturday afternoon the other boys planted the corn and what we called the big field it contains seven acres and I dropped the pumpkin seed the next Sunday morning that came a big grain in the hills it did not rain a drop in the valley but the water coming down through the gorges washed ground corn and pumpkin seeds all clear off the people Abraham Lincoln one of little Abraham Lincoln's boyhood friends while living along Knob Creek was Austin gollaher whose family lived in a one-room cabin about two miles from the Lincoln's call her her shown here in old age remembered one Sunday at Knob Creek a band I played around all day the creek was swollen by recent rain and in crossing on the narrow foot log aid fell in neither of us could swim I pulled him ashore he was almost dead and I was badly scared I've rolled and pounded him in good earnest and then I got him by the arms and shook the water meanwhile pouring out of his mouth by this means I succeeded in bringing him to and he was soon all right Austan Gallaher Abraham Lincoln and his sister Sarah attended their first school while living along Knob Creek the school was a one-room log structure about two miles north of the Lincoln's Knob Creek farm on the Bardstown and Green River Turnpike it was about 15 feet square with a fireplace at one side we were sent for short periods to ABC schools the first kept by Zachariah Rainey and the second by Caleb hazel Abraham Lincoln Thomas Lincoln could write relatively well and undoubtedly read Nancy Hanks Lincoln was known only to have signed her name with an ex yet may have had some limited reading skills in the household the Lincoln's kept this large family Bible given how much abraham lincoln studied scripture and meticulously imitated its language in speeches and writings in later years one wonders how much this old Bible was read to little Abraham Lincoln in the household along Knob Creek [Music] throughout the time Thomas Lincoln lived at Knob Creek he struggled to recover the sinking spring farm from Richard Mather it is known he actually approached Mather to pay off the dead of Dave advance but Mather refused demanding the value odd to him by Vance to be paid in trade goods which Thomas Lincoln did not have Richard Mather finally filed an ejectment suit against David Vance Isaac Bush and Thomas Lincoln in the hardened Circuit Court in Elizabethtown on September 1 1813 seeking to put to rest all claims to the sinking Spring Farm the order books of the hardened Circuit Court revealed that David Vance was a defendant in at least four other lawsuits alleging similar acts brought by such notable residence as George helm Jacob Linder James Crutcher and Edward Thompson in every one of the lawsuits brought against David Vance he failed to appear Issac Bush and Thomas Lincoln had apparently been cheated out of their money [Music] Lincoln retained a lawyer and filed his answer on September 7th 1813 asking the court to order Mather to transfer to him the sinking spring farm or on his cross claim to order Isaac Bush to pay him back the money he took from Lincoln for the assignment of the land sale contract in order to obtain the money to pay his lawyer Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln in October 1814 sold to a Charles Melton 200 of the 238 acres of land he had purchased in 1803 along Mill Creek in Hardin County from the proceeds of his father's estate in spite of the legal troubles Thomas Lincoln continued his work as a carpenter and joiner at Knob Creek from an examination of corner cupboard still extent that were believed to have been made by Thomas Lincoln it is clear he was very familiar with fashionable furniture of the period many are very plain this one was made while he lived at Knob Creek and bears the initials TL 1814 another shown here is far more stylish and shows Thomas Lincoln's real skill as a cabinet maker his carpentry and joining work was as fine as any in the early years of Kentucky's statehood the Lincoln's suffered a heart-rending loss while living along Knob Creek a second son was born to Thomas and Nancy and died there his name was Thomas how long little Thomas lived is not known he probably died in 1814 gaybraham lincoln was no more than five years old at the time being a carpenter in a joiner Thomas Lincoln fashioned the little casket in his cabin [Music] on the brow of muldraugh Hill six miles distant live George Redman and his family not wanting to bury the remains of little Thomas on land they did not own the Lincoln's obtained permission from George Redmond to use his family cemetery to that little remote family cemetery of the Redmon's the Lincoln's carried the casket containing the remains of little Thomas there they were buried in this stone crudely marked TL by Thomas Lincoln was placed over the grave nearby of the graves of Redmond infants who died about the same time as little Thomas it is hard for us today to imagine how incredibly difficult life was in Kentucky during the early years of settlement death was a frequent visitor to every household the remote Redmond family cemetery is a stark reminder of how hard and oftentimes sad life was for those early settlers like the Lincoln's Thomas Lincoln's legal problems mounted on December 27th 1815 he was served with a summons requiring him to appear as a defendant to defend yet another lawsuit this one brought by the heirs of a Thomas Middleton of Philadelphia who claimed they owned titled to a vast acreage in Hardin County that included the Lincoln's Knob Creek farm [Music] every one of Lincoln's neighbors the Redmon's ashes LaFollette brownfields dies and Strange's were named as defendants as the middleton heirs claimed title to ten thousand acres in what was then Hardin County the Middleton heirs lawyer was none other than Charles a Wickliffe the young politically well-connected resident of Bardstown who had been twice elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives from Nelson County Kentucky he would eventually become governor of Kentucky congressman and Postmaster General of the United States Thomas Lincoln remained in rather high esteem in his community in spite of all his land troubles on May 13 1816 the Hardin County Court appointed him surveyor of that part of the road leading from Knoll in to Bardstown which lies between the big Hill and the rolling fork the previous surveyor was Lincoln's friend and neighbor George Redmond on September 12th 1816 Judge Alfred Metcalfe entered this judgment in the case involving the sinking Spring Farm ordering it sold on the courthouse steps Metcalfe ruled in favor of Thomas Lincoln on his claim against Isaac Bush but Lincoln lost the sinking spring farm he had no money to buy the property at auction it was a devastating blow to Thomas Lincoln the sinking spring farm was sold on the courthouse steps in Elizabethtown on December 19th 1816 487 dollars and 74 cents Thomas Lincoln had lived in Kentucky for 34 years and he had fought hard to stay there it is important to know that he never ever wanted to leave Kentucky but after Judge Metcalfe's ruling all of his lands there had been lost on the heels of Judge Metcalfe's ruling on the sinking spring farm Lincoln packed up his little family Nancy Sarah and seven-year-old Abraham on three horses and a mule with an ox drawn wagon carrying what furnishings they owned and moved to Indiana in the late fall of 1816 he had no other options the Lincoln's must have stopped in Elizabethtown to say their goodbyes to all their friends and at Mill Creek to bid farewell to Bathsheba Lincoln and Thomas's sister Nancy and her husband and children to get to Indiana the Lincoln's traveled across Hardin County to Breckinridge County where they sojourned in hardinsburg Kentucky they then crossed the Ohio River either at clover port Kentucky by way of a log ferry owned by a man named Jacob Weatherholt or by Hugh Thompson's ferry cross from the mouth of Anderson Creek they finally settled on a tract of land in Perry now Spencer County Indiana along Little Pigeon Creek they journeyed nearly 120 miles to get there the territorial government of Indiana had formerly surveyed all the lands there and a settler could rely upon his claim being secure tracing the footsteps of the Lincoln's to Indiana the following year would be Nancy Hanks Lincoln's kin from Hodgenville Thomas and Elizabeth Hank Sparrow and their foster son Dennis Hanks Thomas Lincoln returned to Elizabethtown Kentucky often he continued to defend the lawsuit brought by the Middleton heirs as he had already expended money doing so and he could recover all his costs and expenses from the Middleton heirs if he prevailed [Music] the hardened Circuit Court ordered the lands claimed by the Middleton heirs to be surveyed hardin county surveyor Benjamin Wright introduced this remarkable survey during the jury trial on June 9th 1818 Thomas Lincoln was present with his counsel the red dot marked number seven is the site of the cabin along Knob Creek formerly occupied by Thomas Lincoln and his family Thomas Lincoln and George Lindsay finally prevailed in the lawsuit brought by the Middleton heirs when the jury found for them and judge Metcalf entered a judgment on June 9th 1818 after Thomas Lincoln returned to Indiana tragedy struck again on October 5th 1818 Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of probably brucellosis the disease she contracted from the milk of infected cows that fed on snakeroot she was only 35 years old Abraham Lincoln was nine years old death had struck the Lincoln family for the second time in four years Nancy was buried in a family graveyard after Thomas Lincoln read Scripture and led the family and a few neighbors and prayers nearby are the graves of Thomas and Elizabeth Hank Sparrow who also died of the same illness that year Thomas Lincoln was hardly through with Kentucky though he returned often to visit his mother he also began visiting an old friend in Elizabethtown Sarah Bush Johnston whose husband Daniel Johnston the Hardin County jailer had died in 1816 while in Elizabethtown Thomas Lincoln attempted to get the Middleton heirs to pay his court costs and expenses in the months after he won the jury case but without success then on May 17th 1819 he returned to Elizabethtown Kentucky and filed suit in the hardened Circuit Court against John Kennedy as the surety on the bond of the Middleton heirs lawsuit [Music] Lincoln was eventually awarded a judgment against Kennedy for all the costs and expenses defending the lawsuit of the Middleton heirs as well as a penal sum for the Middleton's failure to pay Thomas Lincoln used those appearances before the hardened circuit court as opportunities to be with Sarah Bush Johnston clearly Sarah Illustrated to Lincoln that she was interested in his advances Thomas Lincoln returned to Elizabethtown often this marriage bond and license was signed by none other than Thomas Lincoln's first employer Samuel hay Kraft jr. as County Clerk Thomas again returned to Elizabethtown Kentucky and on December 2nd 1819 married Sarah Bush Johnston shown here in a photograph taken late in her life Sarah would raise young Abraham Lincoln and his sister Sarah along with her own three children in 1828 Abraham Lincoln's 21 year old sister Sarah who had married an Erin Grigsby died death struck the Lincoln's again she was buried in the Little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church yard two years later the Lincoln's moved to Illinois at a place called Goose nest Prairie in Coles County the Lincoln's settled again from there Abraham Lincoln moved out on his own the rest of his life is history [Music] Thomas Lincoln died in Coles County in 1851 Sarah Bush Lincoln would actually outlive her illustrious stepson dying in Coles County in 1869 at the age of 81 years Abraham Lincoln financially supported his stepmother throughout the years following the death of his father Thomas like his father Abraham Lincoln always identified himself as a Kentuckian he married Mary Todd of Lexington Kentucky all of his law partners John Todd Stewart Stephen T Logan and William H Herndon were born in Kentucky many of Lincoln's closest friends and political confidants were Kentuckians including James speed and Orville H Browning after his marriage to Mary Todd he became close friends with her half sister Emily Todd and Emily's husband Benjamin Hardin helm of Elizabethtown Kentucky grandson of Benjamin helm as a Confederate Brigadier General helm would die of wounds received at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863 [Applause] before he was elected to the presidency in 1860 Abraham Lincoln even carried on a correspondence with the aged Samuel hatecraft jr. in an attempt to learn more about his mother and father although he was born and lived in Kentucky only seven years Abraham Lincoln in many ways believed those years defined him I too am a Kentuckian he once remarked indeed he was a Kentuckian and was extraordinarily proud of it he was born there at a time when most Kentuckians lived as he and his family lived they built and occupied one-room log cabins the heads of those households eked out a living on subsistence farms while performing various types of labor in their communities sickness and death were frequent visitors their lives were often very sad they were mostly poor but they built a nation and for Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln their son in whom they instilled faith honesty and an indomitable will to succeed became the 16th president of the United States the president who fought to keep the nation United through a bloody civil war and whose efforts resulted in more than 4 million African American slaves being freed from bondage Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln's son Abraham Lincoln Co though born in a simple log cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky adorns the pages of history as one of the greatest figures of the english-speaking world [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I remember the old home very well the Lincoln's in Kentucky has been brought to you by the Hardin County History Museum and the ancestral trails Historical Society Elizabethtown Kentucky a sense of past time and place Dupree Financial Group Lexington Kentucky the citizens of LaRue County and Hodgenville Kentucky the Springfield Tourism Commission Springfield Kentucky the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville Louisville Kentucky the Bourbon County Distilling Company Paris Kentucky the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial foundation and the Lincoln Forum New York New York and the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum Lincoln Memorial University Harrogate Tennessee and generous gifts from bill and Dottie Spears Paris Kentucky Mack and Sharron Cox Richmond Kentucky and dr. Priscilla Lynn Lexington Kentucky

Channel: Witnessing History Education Foundation

Views: 520,941

Rating: 4.7932582 out of 5

Keywords: Abraham Lincoln, American History, Thomas Lincoln, Captain Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky History, Documentary, homeschool, pandemic, History, History Lessons, Civil War, Teacher Guides, Lesson Plans

Id: GQnl5TY2eh8

Length: 60min 39sec (3639 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 30 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/oneeye2]

So I started to watch the documentary. I was immediately reminded of an episode of The Office when Gabe pretended to be Lincoln.