Abraham lincolns early years

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a one-room log cabin in Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, now La Rue County in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

If older, she must have been born in North Carolina according to the Enloe legend. While written documentation proving Nancy�s whereabouts during 1804 and 1805 is lacking, there exist several oral traditions which place her in the home of Richard Berry in Washington County, Kentucky during this period, and here is precisely where we find her in June of 1806 adding credibility to those traditions.

This in itself washes away the foundation of the North Carolina claim. Those who doubt this genetic fact should take a look at the average heights of the parents of NBA basketball players.

Like many other historic Lincoln sites, this one probably doesn't match the picture in your imagination. She married Aaron Grigsby while living in Indiana with her family in 1828 (age 21) when Abe was yet 19 (or was he 24?). His mother was Nancy Hanks and his father Thomas Lincoln.

Abraham had an older sister, Sarah, and a brother, Thomas, who did not survive infancy.

The only reason to reject the 1809 birth date is that the Lincoln�s can be unequivocally placed in Kentucky and not North Carolina. If born in 1804, he would be 20 years old at the time of the writings as opposed to 15 years old (1809). This makes no sense. For more information call 270/358-3137 or write: Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, 2995 Lincoln Farm Road, Hodgenville, Kentucky 42748-9707.

Related Links
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site (National Park Service)
Lincoln Early Life Timeline (ALO)
Places Lincoln Lived (ALO)

Related Reading
Davenport, Don.

In Lincoln's Footsteps: A Historical Guide to the Lincoln Sites in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. Revised edition, Trails Books, 2002.

Gary, Ralph.

The legend that a man named Abraham Enloe fathered a boy whose mother was named Nancy Hanks may be true, but the woman clearly was not the Nancy Hanks who married Thomas Lincoln and the baby was not Abraham Lincoln who became the 16th President.

Of course, at the time the claim first appeared, its prevaricators did not know records existed in the Kentucky courthouses which would eventually surface and challenge the claim. Thomas, his father, had several reasons to move his family out of Kentucky. According to the Enloe legend, Abraham would have been two years old at the time (born 1804).

His father paid $200 for 348 acres of stony ground on the south fork of Nolin Creek. Again, this is not proof, but certainly is more consistent with the accepted birth date of 1809 rather than 1804. If born in 1804, he would have been 26 years old, five years past his age of majority.