Nancy Hanks
Mother of Abraham Lincoln
1784 – 1818 A.D.

Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lincoln. She was a handsome young woman of lowly condition, but possessing qualities of intellect and character above the average.

In June, 1806, she married Thomas Lincoln, a carpenter by trade, and the couple settle in Hardin County, Kentucky.

From this union came three children; the oldest a daughter; the second, named Abraham, born February 12, 1809; the third a son who died in infancy.

The Lincolns were plain people and the log cabin they lived in was a true home. The father could not read or write, he was always poor, and is described as shiftless. The mother could read, but not write.

A woman of piety and excellent judgment, she left an indelible impress on her son. From her he inherited the serious temperament, brightened by the sprit of playfulness that was so prominent a trait of the man throughout his troubled career.

She died in 1818, and boy of nine deeply mourned her loss. In later years he said: “All that I am, and all that I hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

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Reference: Famous Women; An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women By Joseph Adelman. Copyright, 1926 by Ellis M. Lonow Company.