Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-03-24
THREE ABR AHAM LIyCOLSS.
ALL CUT DOWN SUDDENLY BY
INDIAN, ASSASSIN AND
SURGEON.

The sad fate Of the great "I1man-
I cipatOr" hallOye the name Of Lin
( coin. The recent death Of little
abe; in London has called re-
newed attention 20 the great Presi-
dent. his ancestors aud descendants.
! Popular knowledge Of the family
covers about two centuries. Dur
ing that time alternate generations
have produced three Abraham Lin
coins, all of whom have died under
circumstances that have riveted
upon them the attention Of Ameri-
ems.
The years 1856. 1855 and 1899 are
memorable in Lincoln chronology,
for in those years the grsndfatherOf
the President, President Liucoln
himself ami his grandson fell-two
by the hands of assassins and the
third by the hand Of the surgeon.
no less fell, though better inten-
toned.
The facts OF the death OF the
Presidents grandfather are meager.
Descended from the good old QualI-
er stock Of Pennsylvania, and pos
sessed u moderate means, he WIS
one o: the first to leave his home in
Rockingham County, Virginia, In
lIS0, 10 follow the lead Of Daniel
Boone into the wilds Of Kentucky,
taking with him his wife and
five children. Prepared to brave
dangers and hardships for a home,
Abraham Lincoln bought 900 acres
Of land from the government for $50.
4 spot in the forest was cleared, n
log cabin was erected, and soon
Lincoln found himself on the way
10 prosperity. The three sons
MOrdecai. Josiah and Thomas-who
partOOk OF the fathers ambition,
helped him with a viii. The little
farn in the Wilderness broadened,
and two additional tracts of land,
one Of 500 and the other Of 500acres.
%sre taken.
But fortune soon changed. One
morning in 1855 LinEoln and his
three sons went out TO the edge Of
the clearing, and scarcely had work
begun when n shot from the bush
killed the father. MOrdecai imme-
diately ran to the cabin for a gun,
and Josiah 10 Hughes station for
assistance, while Thomas was left
with his fathers body. MOnieeai
got the gun. and was just in time
to save his brothers life by shooting
the Indian, who was about % kill. |
him. The murdered man was buried |
near where he fell, and soon after |
the family. for better protection.
moved to n thic'ler-seitled portion |
of the wilderness, where MOrdecai, |
with the settled hate that is born Of /
unforgiven wrongs, became an In
1lan-stalker, who slew the redskins /
on no other provocation than mere
sight.
Two generations later the second
Abraham Lincoln was exalted from
the petition Of an obscure lawyer to /
that Of President Of the United
honor which he bore
with courage and fortitude and paid
for with his life. All are familiar
with the story Of his assassination.
Another break Of n generation in
the transmission of names, and the
third Abraham appeared in the
family rs the son of Robert
+. Lincoln, the American
minister to England. Young
Jack" as he was usually called,
was born In Chicago, in 1873,
and the story Of his II years is tlIas
Of many another bright hoy who has
been stricken down before the posi-
bilities in himh have been developed.
The promise Of the future was cut
pit by the surgeons knife while
undergoing an operation for an alb
cess. The operation is not usually
-egarded as dangerous, hut it proved
atal in this case from the boys
weakness.
Jack" was boy grave and de-
iberate beyond his years, an uD-
Usually good scholar and a universal
avorite among his associstes-CHi-
ago Ne1Cs.