1.2 Mother's death. On October 5, 1818, Nancy Lincoln died of milk sickness, leaving 11-year-old Sarah in charge of a household that included her father, 9-year-old Abraham, and Dennis Hanks, Nancy's 19-year-old orphaned cousin. Ten years later, on January 20, 1828, Sarah died while giving birth to a stillborn son; Lincoln was distraught over his sister's death.