The state herald., 1890-04-04
THREE ABRAHAM LINcoLNs.
All Cut Down Suddenly by indian.
Assassin and Surgeon.

Chicago News.
The sad fato Of the great "Emancipator''
hallowed the name Of Lincoln. The recent
renewed attention to tho great president,
his ancestors and descendants. Popular
knowledge Of tho family covers about two
centuries. During that time alternate gon-
erations have produced three Abraham
Lincolns. all Of whom have died under cir
cumstances that have riveted upon them
tho attention of Americans.
The years 1856 1866 and 1890 arc mcmor-
able in Lincoln chronology, for in those
years tho grandfather Of the president,
President Lincoln himself and his grand
son fell-two by the hands OF assassins
and the third by the hand Of the surgeon,
no less fell, though better intentioned.
The facts of the death Of the presidents
grandfather are meager. Descended from
the good old Quaker stock Of Pennsylvania,
and possessed of moderate means he was
one of the first to leave his home in Rock
ingham county, Virginia, in 1850, to follow
the lead of Daniel Boone into tho wids OF
Kentucky, taking with him his wife uni
five children. Prepared to bravo dangers
and hardships for home, Abraham Lin
coin bought 400 acres of land from the Gov
ernment tor ECO. A spot in the forest was
cleared, u log cabin was erected, and soon
Lincoln found himself on the way 70 pros
perity. Tho three sons-Mordecai, Josiah
and Thomas-who partook OF the fathers
ambition, helped him with will. The
little farm in the wilderness broadened,
and two additional tracts of land, one OF
500 and the other OF 500 acres, were taken
But fortune soon changed. Ono morn
Ing in 1856 Lincoln and his three sons
went out to the edge of the clearing, and
the bush killed the father. Mordecai im-
medately ran to the cabin for u gun, and
Josiah TO Hughes station for assistance,
while Thomas was left with his iathcr's
body. Mordecai go. the gun, and was Just
In time to save his brother's life by shoot
ing the Indian, who was about to kill him.
The murdered man was buried near where
he fell, and soon after the family, for bet
ter protection, moved to thicker settled
portion Of the wilderness, where Mordccai,
with the settled hate that is born of unfor-
given wrongs, became an Indian stalker,
who slew the redskins on no other provo
cation than mere sight.
Two generations later the second Abra-
ham Lincoln was exalted from the position
| Of an obscure lawyer to that Of President
Of the United States-nn 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 generation in the
transmission of names, and tho third
Abraham appeared in the family AZ the
son Of Robert 4. Lincoln, the American
minister to England. Young Jsck,n as
he was usually called, was born in Chicago
in 1873, and the story OF his seventeen
years is that Of many another bright boy
who has been stricken down before tho
possibilities in him have been developed.
The promise of the future was cut off by
the surgeons knife while undergoing an
operation for an abscess. The operation Is
not usually regarded as dangerous, but 1t
proved fatal in this case from the boys
weakness.
| Jack wns boy grave and deliberate
beyond his years, an unusually good
scholar and a universal fayorite among
his associates.