The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-30
.THE.STORY OF NANCY HANKS
PEDIGREE or ABRAHAM LIN
COINS MOTHER TRACED.
Documents Showing the Migrattons OF
Nancy's Parents and Her Own Mar
riage to Thomas Lincoln Fo"H" ny
Mrs. Hitchcock.


| Mrs. Hitchcock.
A life is about to be published. of Mrs.
Nancy Hanks Lincoln the mother OF
Abraham Lincoln, from the pen of Mrs.
Caroline Hitchcock. Many Of the false
stories Of Mrs, Lincoln's early life are
entirely disposed of therein.
It is true that the ISLANDERS against
Nancy Hanks had never been accepted
by authentic history. 1t is true that
the fasity of the evidence on which
they were based had over and over
again been conclusively proved. Never
theless Mrs. Hitchcock comes forward
with irrefragible, positive evidence to
supplement the negative evidence on
which Lincoln's supporters have been
compelled to base their chief reliance
in the past.
This girl was born February g. 1884.
She was named for her mother. al
though the quaint oldfashloned name
Nancy is a favorte one in the Hanks
family throughout England and Ameri-
y
old, her parents decided to find a new
hoce in the then distant lands of Ken
lucky. They did not go alone With
them went their relatives, the Shipleys,
and neighbours, the Berrys, the Spar
rows and Joseph Hanks's brother Abra-
ham, with his family. An examination
by Mrs. Hitchcock in the real estate of
records of Amelia county shows that all
these families disposed of their Virginia
property. 1t would seem that noe of
them had prospered there.
The great migration in which these
families took part had b gun VIII n Dam
iel Boone and James Harrod, in MA
and 1875, succeeded in establishing
stations at the points now known as
Harrodsburg and Boonesborough, and
had increased at such rate that in
1884, when John Fllson published his
History of Kentucky" the popula
ton of the new country was estimated
at 10000.
The farm upon which Joseph Hanks,
the father of Nancy Hanks, and his
family settled in Kentucky consisted
of fifteen acres in what is now Eliza
BEETHOVEN. Their friends and relatives,
the Sparrows. the Berrys and the Mitch
ellis, formed a settlement a few miles
away, in Beachland, near the present
town Of Sprinfield in Washington coun-
ty.
Joseph Hanks lived but four years
on his new property. His will dated
Jan. 8, 1893, and probated May 14,1793,
is reproduced by Mrs. Hitchcock in fac
smile. His daughter Nancy is therein
bequeathed zone heifer yearling, called
Peidy,' and comes in for her equal one
eighth share of the estate of $50 acres
after the death of Joseph's widow, to
whom it Is left for life. This will set
ties the question Of Nancy Hanks's
parentage. 1t shows that she was the
legitimate daughter of reputable
Kentucky pioneer, who remembered her
in his will on basis of equity with all
her brothers and sisters
After Joseph Hankss death his elder
children married and scattered Nancy,
who was only 9 years old at the time,
to live on the family home
stead until the death of her mother a
few years later, made her doubly and
orphan. Then she was taken into the
household of her mothers sister, Mrs
Richard Berry, nee shipley, at Beach
land
Among the visitors at the Berry house
was Thomas Lincoln. He was a first |
cousin to Nancy. His father Abraham,
had married the eldest of the Shipley
girls prior to the migration from Vir-
ginia. Abraham had been a well1to-da- |
farmer. ITS he had been killed by the |
adams, and, according to the laws of |
which then governed int |
Estates In Kentucky, nearly all his pro-
oerty had gone to the eldest son, Nor
LEGAL. Thomas, as the youngest, had |
'eceiNed nothing.
He had been brought up under the
ARE first of one relative, then of an
,ther, and had finally settled in Eliza
'ethtown to learn the trace of carpenter
rom his cousin, Joseph Hanks, the
brother of Nancy. Thomas Lincoln was
ust six years older than Nancy. The
acquaintance between them ripened
nto love. In 1906 they were married.
Mrs. Hitchcock gives fac SMILES Of the
marriage bond, of the certificate and of
he minister's return Of the marriage
According to the customs of the time,
he marriage bond was entered before
he ceremony took place This was pro-
'erly done on July H. 1906. as the fac
imie of the original page shows Two
lays later the marriage ceremony was
performed at the home of r. chard Ber-
y by the Rev. Jesse Head, a Metho-
list preacher of Washington county.
kentucky. AS required by the law of
he time, Jesse Head returned the mar
iage bond of Thomas Lincoln and Nam
y Hanks, and also gave to the new
ouple a marriage certificate.
These documents prove conclusively
hat Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln
1ere married regularly three years be-
ore the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
'hus they set at rest forever the story
f Lincoln's illegitlmacY. They also
orm the legitimacy of Nancy Hanks
erself The marriage bond is signed
y Richard Berry. 1t is known from
utside evidence that, as already record
i, Joseph Hankss daughter, after her
lother's death, went to live with her !
ncle Richard Berry. Therefore. the
fancy Hanks of the marriage certiti-
ate, and the Nancy Hanks mentioned
Josephs will, are one and the same
Evening Post.
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