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Selected American history
The Life of Abraham Lincoln
By Henry Ketcham
CHAPTER II.
THE LINCOLN FAMILY.
When one becomes interested in a boy, one is almost certain to ask,
Whose son is he? And when we study the character of a great man, it is
natural and right that we should be interested in his family. Where did
he come from? who were his parents? where did they come from? These
questions will engage our attention in this chapter.
But it is well to be on our guard at the outset against the
fascinations of any theory of heredity. Every thoughtful observer knows
something of the seductions of this subject either from experience or
from observation. In every subject of research there is danger of
claiming too much in order to magnify the theory. This is emphatically
true of this theory. Its devotees note the hits but not the misses. "It
took five generations of cultured clergymen to produce an Emerson."
Undoubtedly; but what of the sixth and seventh generations? "Darwin's
greatness came from his father and grandfather." Very true; but are
there no more Darwins?
If Abraham Lincoln got his remarkable character from parents or
grandparents, from whom did he get his physical stature? His father was
a little above medium height, being five feet ten and one-half inches.
His mother was a little less than medium height, being five feet five
inches. Their son was a giant, being no less than six feet four inches.
It is not safe to account too closely for his physical, mental, or
moral greatness by his descent. The fact is that there are too many
unexplored remainders in the factors of heredity to make it possible to
apply the laws definitely.
The writer will therefore give a brief account of the Lincoln family
simply as a matter of interest, and not as a means of proving or
explaining any natural law.
The future president was descended from people of the middle class.
There was nothing either in his family or his surroundings to attract
the attention even of the closest observer, or to indicate any material
difference between him and scores of other boys in the same general
locality.
Lincoln is an old English name, and in 1638 a family of the name
settled in Hingham, Mass., near Boston. Many years later we find the
ancestors of the president living in Berks County, Pa. It is possible
that this family came direct from England; but it is probable that they
came from Hingham. Both in Hingham and in Berks County there is a
frequent recurrence of certain scriptural names, such as Abraham,
Mordecai, and Thomas, which seems to be more than a coincidence.
From Berks County certain of the family, who, by the way, were Quakers,
moved to Rockingham County, Va. In 1769 Daniel Boone, the adventurous
pioneer, opened up what is now the state of Kentucky, but was then a
part of Virginia.
About twelve years later, in 1781, Abraham Lincoln, great-grandfather
of the president, emigrated from Virginia into Kentucky. People have
asked, in a puzzled manner, why did he leave the beautiful Shenandoah
valley? One answer may be given: The Ohio valley also is beautiful.
During the major portion of the year, from the budding of the leaves in
April until they pass away in the blaze of their autumn glory, the
entire region is simply bewitching. No hills curve more gracefully, no
atmosphere is more soft, no watercourses are more enticing. Into this
region came the Virginian family, consisting, besides the parents, of
three sons and two daughters.
A year or two later the head of the family was murdered by a skulking
Indian, who proceeded to kidnap the youngest son, Thomas. The oldest
son, Mordecai, quickly obtained a gun and killed the Indian, thus
avenging his father and rescuing his little brother.
This boy Thomas was father of the president. He has been called by some
writers shiftless and densely ignorant. But he seems to have been more
a creature of circumstances. There were no schools, and he,
consequently, did not go to school. There was no steady employment, and
consequently he had no steady employment. It is difficult to see how he
could have done better. He could shoot and keep the family supplied
with wild game. He did odd jobs as opportunity opened and "just
growed."
But he had force enough to learn to read and write after his marriage.
He had the roving disposition which is, and always has been, a trait of
pioneers. But this must be interpreted by the fact that he was
optimistic rather than pessimistic. He removed to Indiana because, to
him, Indiana was the most glorious place in the whole world. He later
removed to Illinois because that was more glorious yet.
He certainly showed good taste in the selection of his wives, and what
is equally to the purpose, was able to persuade them to share his
humble lot. He had an unfailing stock of good nature, was expert in
telling a humorous story, was perfectly at home in the woods, a fair
carpenter and a good farmer; and in short was as agreeable a companion
as one would find in a day's journey. He would not have been at home in
a library, but he was at home in the forest.
In 1806 he married Nancy Hanks, a young woman from Virginia, who became
the mother of the president. Doubtless there are many women among the
obscure who are as true and loyal as she was, but whose life is not
brought into publicity. Still, without either comparing or contrasting
her with others, we may attest our admiration of this one as a "woman
nobly planned." In the midst of her household cares, which were neither
few nor light, she had the courage to undertake to teach her husband to
read and write. She also gave her children a start in learning. Of her
the president, nearly half a century after her death, said to Seward,
with tears,--"All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother--
blessings on her memory."
Mr. Lincoln himself never manifested much interest in his genealogy. At
one time he did give out a brief statement concerning his ancestors
because it seemed to be demanded by the exegencies of the campaign. But
at another time, when questioned by Mr. J. L. Scripps, editor of the
Chicago _Tribune_, he answered: "Why, Scripps, it is a great piece of
folly to attempt to make anything out of me or my early life. It can
all be condensed into a single sentence, and that sentence you will
find in Gray's Elegy:
'The short and simple annals of the poor.'
That's my life, and that's all you or any one else can make out of it."
In all this he was neither proud nor depreciative of his people. He was
simply modest. Nor did he ever outgrow his sympathy with the common
people.
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