The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-29
THE sTORY OF NANCY HANKS.
Pedigree of Abraham LncOln's
Mother Definitely Traced.
From the Louisville Evening Post.

From the Louisville Evening Post.
A life is about 20 be published of Mrs
Nancy Hanks Lincoln the mother of Abra-
ham Lincoln, from the pen of Mrs. Caro-
line Hitchcock Many of the false stories
Of Mrs Lincoln's early life are entirely
disposed of therein.
1t is true that the ISLANDERS against
Nancy Hanks had never been accepted by
authentic history. Il is true that the falsi-
ty of the evidence on which they were
based had over and over again been con-
ciusively proved. Nevertheless, Mrs.
Hitchcock comes forward with irrefragi-
bic, positive evidence to supplement the
negative evidence on which Lincoln's sup
porters have been compelled to base their
chief reliance in the past.
This girl was born Feb. 5, 1874. She
was named for her mother, although the
quaint old-fashoned name Nancy is a
favorite one in the Hanks family through
out England and America" In 1889, when
she was years old, her parents decided
to find a new home in the then distant
lands of kentucky. They did not go
alone. With them went their relatives,
the Shlpleys, and nelghbors, the Berrys,
the Sparrows and Joseph Hanks brother
Abraham, with his family. An examina-
ton by Mrs. Hitchcock in the real es-
IdVe I6COIuS VI AtliGlld county SbONS lAal
all these families simultaneously disposed
of their Virginia property 1t would seem
that none of them had prospered there.
The great migration in which these fami-
lies took part had begun when Daniel
Boone and James Harrod, in IVA and l775,
succeeded in establishing stations al the
points now known as Harrodsburg and
Boonesborough, and had increased at such
a rate that in 1884, when John FilsOn pub
lished the History of Kentucky" the
population of the new country was esti-
mated at $1,000.
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 Elizabethtown. Their
friends and relatives, the Sparrows, the
Berrys and the Mtchells, formed a settle
ment a few miles away, in Beachland,
near the present town of Springfield in
Washington county.
Joseph Hanks lived but four years on his
new property. His will, dated Jan. Q, 1888,
and probated May IA, 1898, is reproduced
by Mrs Hitchcock in fac-simile. His
daughter Nancy is therein bequeathed zone
heifer yearllng, called Peldy," and comes
in for her equal one-eighth share of the
estate of $50 acres after the death of Jo-
sephs widow to whom it is left for life
This will settles the question of Nancy
Hanks parentage. 1t shows that she was
the legitimate daughter of a reputable Ken
lucky pioneer, who remembered her in his
will on a basis of equality with all her
brothers and sisters.
After Joseph Hanks death his elder chill
dren married and scattered Nancy, who
was only years old the time, continued
to live on the family homestead until the
death of her mother, few Vars later,
made her doubly an orphan. Then she
was taken into the household Of her moth
er's sister, Mrs. Richard Berry, nee Ship
ley, at Beachland.
Among the visitors at the Berry house
was Thomas Lincoln. He was first cou-
sin to Nancy His father, Abraham, had
married the eldest of the Shipley girls
prior to the migration from Virginia. Abb
raham had been a well-to-do farmer In
1873 ne had been killed by the Indians. and
according TO the laws of primogeniture
which then governed intestates in Ken
lucky. nearly all his property had gone
to the eldest son, Mordecai. Thomas, as
the youngest, had received nothing.
He had been brought up under the care
first of one rela tive, then of another. and
had finally settled in Elizabeth 20 learn
the trade of carpenter from his cousin
Joseph Hanks. the brother of Nancy.
Thomas Lincoln was just six years older
than Nancy. The acquaintance between
them rlpened into love. In 1906 they we're
married, Mrs. Hitchcock gives fac Smiles
of the marriage bond, of the certificates
and of the minister's return of The mar
riage.
According to the customs Of the times.
The marriage bond was entered before the
ceremony took place. This was properly
done on June u. 1906 as the fac simile
Of the original page shows Two DAYS
later the marriage ceremony was per-
formed at the home of Richard Berry by
the Rev. Jesse Head, Methodist preach