Abraham Lincoln Research Paper

Abraham Lincoln’s parents played an integral role in the development of one of the most legendary presidents. His mother was supportive, his father, dedicated. Nancy Hanks (Born on February 5, 1784, in Hampshire County, West Virginia) is Abraham Lincoln’s mother. Her past is a little cloudy, but it is recorded that Nancy's mother is Lucinda Lucy Shipley Hanks. Nothing is certain about Nancy's father. However, he was said to be James Hanks. Little is known of Nancy's early life, but as a child Nancy was taken by her mother Lucinda into Kentucky. Young Nancy went off to live with her mother's sister, Rachel Shipley Berry and her husband, in Beechland, Kentucky. As Nancy grew up, she became skilled in the art of needlework, and became an excellent

Nancy sometimes lived briefly with the families she was sewing for, who were primarily the upper-class. Her services were in demand throughout the surrounding counties. During the time Nancy was working as a seamstress she met Thomas Lincoln, a carpenter. A romance developed, and the two decided to be married. Thomas Lincoln (Born January 6, 1778, in Rockingham County, Virginia), Abraham Lincoln’s father, was the son of Bathsheba and Abraham Lincoln (Sr.), and was the fourth of their five children. Thomas’s older siblings were Mordecai, Josiah, and Mary, and the youngest, Nancy. Thomas was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, but in the early 1780's the family moved to Jefferson County in Kentucky. There, his father was killed by Native Americans in the spring of 1786. In 1802 Thomas moved to Hardin County, Kentucky (After working for his uncle in Tennessee for a few years), where he would buy some land, and eventually get married to Nancy Hanks on June 12, 1806. The newlywed Lincolns moved to Elizabethtown, and joined the Little Mount Separate Baptist

The first was Sarah, Born February 10, 1807, in Elizabethtown. Second, Abraham (Jr.), born February 12, 1809, who was named after his grandfather Abraham Sr.. Young Abe was born in Sinking Spring Farm on Nolin Creek, where the Lincolns had moved after birthing their first child. Then Thomas (Their youngest, who died in infancy), was born into their family on Knob Creek in Hardin County, Kentucky, which they had moved to in 1811. Abraham had little formal schooling, learning much by reading and repeating what he had learned from others. Abraham and his sister Sarah began their education in Kentucky, where they attended a subscription school about two miles north of their home. Sadly, classes were held only a few months during the year, so Abraham spent his formative years, from the age of 7 to 21, on the family farm. In the crisp autumn of 1816 the family moved to Little Pigeon Creek Southern Indiana. But tragedy befell their house, and in 1818, when Abraham was only 9, Nancy Hanks Lincoln passed away from milk sickness at the age of 34. In the next year Thomas went back to his hometown, and proposed to Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow whom he had known for many years. On December 2, 1819, the two were married. Soon the couple traveled back to Indiana, along with Sarah's three children from a previous marriage: Elizabeth (thirteen), Matilda (ten), and John D. (nine). Sarah was twelve, and Abraham ten. In 1824, Abraham (Now 15, and called 'Abe' by