Abraham Lincoln was born in what is now known as Hodgenville, Kentucky in 1809, at that time there was no town just a rural county.  He was named after his grandfather who was killed by indians in 1786 while clearing a field.  He lived in Kentucky until his father was forced off his land by a legal dispute.  They moved to Spencer County, Indiana in 1816 partly due to slavery and their legal issues in Kentucky.  In 1818 at age 9, his mother (Nancy Hanks Lincoln) died of “Milk Sickness” at age 34.  Milk Sickness was common and those who ate meat, milk or other dairy products from a cow that fed on “White Snakeroot,” which contains tremetol, a poison.  His father soon married Sarah Bush Johnston who raised the Lincoln children as her own.  In comparing Lincoln to her own son, she said, “Both were good boys, but I must say — both now being dead that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or ever expect to see.”  His sister died in 1828 during childbirth.  Abe loved and respected her calling her his Angel Mother.

His formal education lasted only a year and a half.  He was self-educated, studying every book he could find.  He often walked many miles just to borrow a book.  The Bible, Shakespere, anything of history or poetry was quickly mastered.  Many thought him to be a loafer because he did not like to hunt, or fish, and dreaded farming.  But he was a skilled axeman and an excellent wrestler.  Standing 6’4″ he was a giant in his day and was proud of his stature.  His friends said of him “He read so much – was so studious – took so little physical exercise – was so laborious in his studies, and that he became so thin and were afraid that he would craze himself.” – Henry McHenry

In 1830 after more land title battles in Indiana, his father moved the family to Macon County, Illinois (just west of Decatur) and after a brutal winter that almost claimed their lives they moved south to Coles County, Illinois (my birthplace).  In 1831 and ready to strike out on his own Lincoln and two life long friends met in Springfield to take a load of goods down to New Orleans starting on the Sangamon River.  While in New Orleans Lincoln saw his first slave auction that left a life long impression on him to his final day.

Continue reading The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln→