LINCOLN, AlmAilAm (1809-115). The six teenth President of the [Tithed States, born in Itardin County, Ky., February 12, 1S09. His ancestry has been with some difficulty traced hack to Samuel Lincoln, of Norwich, England, who emigrated to America and settled in Hing ham. Alass.. in 1638. Some of his descendants, who were Quakers, settled in Amity Township, N. and Iinrlly in Rockingham County, Va. The Virginia Lineolns are described as "reputable and well-to-do." (Inc of them, the President's grandfather, removed to Jefferson County, Ky. Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, a carpenter by trade, was ignorant and thriftless. He ma• ried Nancy Hanks, who seems to have belonged to an obscure family. but herself to have been a woman of noble character. ..\.fter several re movals in Kentucky, Thomas Lincoln went in 1816 to Indiana. At the new home his wife died after two years. when Abraham was not quite eight years old, and a year later be married AI rA. Sally (Lush) Johnson, 1V110111 he had formerly courted. All Abraham's schooling combined would probably not have made up more than one year. As he grew np, however, he had access to a few books which he read and reread—the Bible. Shakespeare, „Esop's rabic's, Robinson Crusoe. Pitgriin's Progress, a history of the Unit ed States, and Weems's Washington. He seems to have been ambitious front the outset, trying hard to learn. but much influenced by the coarse ness of his surroundings, from the externals of which he never gut quite free. He grew to be six feet four inches in height; marvelous tales are told of his strength. and much more credible ones of his laziness, skill at jesting and story telling, and popularity.
When Abraham was twenty-one his father's migratory nature impelled him to try his for tunes in Illinois, and lie settled on the north fork of the Sangamon, which empties into the TI linois. here the younger Lincoln helped to split rails and to clear and plant some fifteen acres. In 1831, with two relatives, he took a flatboat to New Orleans, whither lie had made a previous trip. Ten years later he went to New Orleans
again. These trips enabled him to see the true nature of slavery. In 1832 Lincoln was chosen captain of a company of volunteers for service in the Black Hawk War. They saw no fighting and were mustered out within five weeks, when Lin coln reenlisted as a private, serving until June Kith. TIe then returned to Sangamon, making his abode at the little mushroom town of New Salem. and, having announced his candidacy for the State Legislature, he began electioneering vigorously. With great humor and with an energy not always confining itself to strict argu ment, lie advocated pure Whig doetrine—a na tional bank, internal improvements, and a pro tective tariff. The follower of Clay was beaten by the Jacksonian Democrats, but he had gained experience and had spread his popularity. Ilis next venture was as a partner in it dry-good:, and grocery store at New Salem, hut the concern failed, the partner tied, and Lincoln tills left to settle the losses. lie paid all he owed in 1840. Having no gift for trade, he now began to read law, studied hard, and made swift headway. In May, 1833, be was appointed postmaster at New Salem, and is said to "have carried the post (Alice in his hat," for the mail came but once a week. This position lie held three years. in 1834 Lincoln's personal property was about to be sold by the sheriff to satisfy a ,judgment, when a new friend, Bolin Greene, bid in the property and gave it over to him. in 1834 lie was again a candidate for the Legislature, and was elected, running far ahead of his ticket. Ile was rather an observer than an active legislator in this session.
Lincoln's first love was unhappy. While hoarding with James Rutledge, in New Salem, he became enamored of Ann, his landlord's daughter, a well-reared girl of seventeen. She had at the time another lover, Who prOaliSed marriage, but he broke his word. Lincoln and Ann Rutledge were betrothed in 1835, but the girl fell ill, and in August she died of brain fever.