Evening star., 1932-02-12
L|NC0LN'S FAMILY
SALT OF EARTH"
Story of Emancipation by
Harvey H. Smith Denies They
Were "Poor Whites"
RY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

Abraham Lincoln was born 1913 years
ago TODAY. The date is uncontroverted
but as to just where and under what
conditions he was ushered into the
world there is question and DEBATE.
According to his own story, the pace
of the Emancipator's nativity was a
lean-to log cabin on Nolin Creek. Har-
din County, Kentucky. Hence the
familiar legend OF his humble origin
povertv-stricken boyhood and un-
tytored youth-a page of romance with
which every American Is acquainted:
For so years there was no contradlc
ton of either Lincoln's own statement
or the repetitionS of it in the innumer-
able biographies of him penned by
other men.
But now, in his recently published
book, Lincoln and the Lincolns,' Har-
vey H. Smith, himself native of Har-
din County. born within seven miles OF
the property once owned by Lincoln
father, has fatty and convincingly de-
clared that the whole narrative Is
tissue of falsehoods, one of the base
less myths of history.
Book Brims With Details.
Mr.. Smiths opinion, it must be ad-
mitted, cannot be dismissed without
serious consideration. His book Is a
remarkable work. 1t brims with details
which no other writer has collected.
The author certainly knows very init
mately the people from among whom
Lincoln came. No other study of the
mar.yred Presidents background Is
nearly so complete. Mr.. Smith justly
NAV claim to be a competent authority
on the early phases of Lincoln's career:
He mas had peculiar advantages OF
ment, environment and
training. :,
The Lincolns were not poor whites"
On the contrary, they were OF the
salt of the earth" They belonged to
the most remarkable race Of emigrants
who had ever made a single
trek in America" Mr.. Smith says:
Before 1900, their descendants, born
in Kentucky, had produced 69 native
Kentucky ministers, ambassadors ano
consuls to foreign countries; u Fed
eral and 18 Confederate generals in
the War Of the Rebellion, There were
also eight Speakers of the Congress,
nine members of the Supreme Court
of the United States, II governors of
States, two Presidents of the Senate
and three Presidents of the United
States and the Confederacy Those
who find ground and feel it opportune
to regard the lowly birth from which
Lincoln sprang, with aboundlng 1gno-
rance, should feel it truly unfortunate
that the nation was not afflicted at that
time with more of the same misfor-
tunes"
The Lincolns or Linkhorns may be
traced back to the Germany of the
Middle Ages, and Lincoln himself &C
cording to Kimball's "Genealogy, was
descendant of Charlemagne. The
American branch of the clan derives
from Samuel Lincoln OF bingham,
Mass, "to escape religious proscrip-
tions then prevailing in England"
ALI Conspicuous.
Samuel Lincoln had four sons and
one daughter, whose offspring were
important and more or less conspicuous
in the Revolutionary War" Levi Lin
coin, Samuel's grandson, was fol-
lower of Jefferson, and his Attorney
General" His son, Levi, was a Gov
ernor of Massachusetts,, and Lewis
brother. Enoch, was a Governor Of
Maine
Abraham Lincoln was a lineal de-
scendant of Mordecai Lincoln, who was
IAN industrialist and paid little or no
attention to politics" Mordecai's son,
Mordecai, migrated to Berks County,
Pennsylvania, where he became prom
inent as miller and iron master" :"
His. son, John. resided near what is
now Harrisonburg, Va, in which neigh
borhood also lived the Hanks family.
John Lncoln's son, Capt. Abraham
Lincoln, served in the Virginia Militia
under Gov Patrick Henry in the Revo-
luton. He appeared in Kentucky in