The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-24
ABRAHAM LINcoLN's ANCESTRY.
Mr.. Depew shown to Be Not Only In
correct, but Unjust.
Iron and Steel Bulletin.

iron ana steel Bulletin.
Feb. II was the eighty-sixth birthday of
abraham Lincoln. In many cities the birth
day of Lincoln was observed with more en-
thusiasm than in former years, and many
appropriate and eloquent eulOgieS upon this
remarkable man were pronounced. These
have been printed in the newspapers. We
Chauncey NJ. Depew's eulogy at Burlington,
VT, before the Young Mems Republican
Club. 1t was in the main a philosophical
analysis of Lincoln's character, a less hack
neyed theme than an account of his public
services. We have. however. read with sur
prise the following words in one of Mr..
Depews best paragraphs:
There never was such a President-never
such a ruler as Abraham Lincoln. He did
not represent hereditary privileges, for he
came from the plainest of the plain people;
he did not represent heredity, for he had
none"
Mr.. Depew is very far wrong in saying
that in Abraham Lincoln the laws of he
redity were not illustrated. meaning that
tors because there was nothing to inherit.
Mr.. Depew should have better studied the
life and family history of his great subject.
Abraham Lincoln was descended on his
fathers side from one of the oldest and
best of New England families. Nicolay and
Hay have not made as clear as they should
have done Abraham Lncoin'S descent from
S~muel Lincoln, of Norwich, England. who
emigrated to bingham, Mass, in 1887, but
to the careful student of Abraham L%incoln's
ancestry there cannot be any doubt that
ne was thus descendea. he was not, as
1.-The son of a poor white in the sense that
his father was descended from the poor
Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father. was
undoubtedly iraprevident, but de-
Lincoln, his father, who had lived in Vir-
ginia, to John Lincoln, his grandfather,
who was a Pennsylvania Quaker. removed
but three generations from Samuel Lincoln,
the bingham pioneer. SamuePs son, Nor
decai, was one of the early ironmasters of
Massachusetts. He married Sarah Jones,
the daughter of Abraham and Sarah Jones,
of Hull, whence comes the name Abraham
in the Lincoln family. Two of their sons,
Mordecai and Abraham, removed to Berks
county. Pennsylvania. 1t was Mordecai's
son John who removed to Virginia. Thomas
Lincoln was not. therefore, q Southern poor
white. Nor does it anywhere appear that
Thomas Lincoln was at all lacking in nat
ural abilities. He was probably lne victim
of his inhOspitable surroundings, as has
been the case with thousands OF others who
would have been prophets and heroes if
We are all creatures OF circumstances
Take from any enlightened community to-
day the props of civilization as they were
taken from Thomas Lincoln and probably
from his father, Abraham Lincoln. who was
killed by the Indians. and that community
will in time lapse into barbarism or some
thing like it. Thomas Lincoln, with the
help of John Hanks, his brother-in-law,
finally broke through his miserable sur
roundings, and his son Abraham thereafter
had a chance to develop the greatness that
was born in him.
Lincoln, to whom Thomas Lincoln was mar
rled on June IL, 1906, as Nicolay and Hay
nave eSIaD1iSne1, was ALSO QSSc0Du6u from d
Pennsylvania family, which eniigrated first
to Virginia and thence to Kentucky. That
she was a woman of strong character may
fairly be inferred from what We know of
her brother. John Hanks, who led the way
to Illinois for the family of Thomas Lin
coin out of the wilderness of southern In
diana.
Abraham Lincoln's Pennsylvania ances-
tors and Pennsylvania relatives were prom
inent people. An Abraham Lincoln, of
Berks county, was long prominent as a pol
itician. He was one of the county commits
and from 1852 to 1856 he was a member of
the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. A
letter from Reading. published in the Phila-
delphia Press a few years ago, saws that
after his service in the Assembly Abraham
Lincoln was elected a justice of the peace,
and ex officio became one of the Justices
of the Court Of Quarter Sessions. His sig
nature, which can be found attached to
various ancient documents in the commits
of affairs, and it is not unlike that of his
illustrious namesake which Is attached to
a member of the State convention of 1857.
which ratified the federal Constitution of
that year; ana su Mnifa ne me nI,er Of aga the state
constitutional convention of 1870. he died
in 1906 in his seventeen year, having been
4 communication in the Philadelphia
Ledger in 1891 said that there was an Abra-
han1 Lincoln then living in Caernarvon
about fourteen miles from Reading, ana
who was about eighty years Old ~ nves
ilv. never had any ambition for office, and
in general appearance he is not unlike Pres
ident Lincoln. having the same large, erect,
gaunt form. and retaining to a remarkable
degree some of the general characteristlcs
of his famous relative and namesake.'
Othsr Lincolns are still living in Berks
We have stated enough to show that Mr..
Depew was wholly wrong, If not cruelty I'M
lust. when he said that Abraham Lincoln
did not represent heredity. for he had
none, There coursed in his veins not only
good New England blood, but also good
Pennsylvania blood.