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Number 40

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA

October, 1941

Hananiah Lincoln Family

PIONEERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FATHER AND GRANDFATHER

OF THE PRESIDENT.

Hananiah Lincoln was a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of the President. These cousins were sons of Thomas and John Lincoln, respectively, whose father was Mordecai Lincoln, Jr., born at Hingham, Massachusetts. Mordecai, Jr., was the grandson of Samuel Lincoln, the first American progenitor of President Lincoln.

There seems to have been much difficulty in spelling Hananiah's name correctly. Even the President was very much confused in his spelling of it, as he thought it was either Hannaniel, or Annanial. The immediate family also allowed it to take the form of Annanias, as it was often abbreviated "Niah." Early historians even went so far as to call this child of Thomas Lin- coln of Berks County, Pennsylvania, Hannah Lincoln, even changing the sex. Recorders in the various Kentucky courthouses have had the most trouble in spelling the name, how- ever, as it is found in all these forms :

Hannanighah, Hannaiel, Hannanial, Hanniniah, Hannia, Anniah, Niah. We are fortunate in having discovered several signatures in the pioneer's own hand and it is always spelled Han- aniah Lincoln.

The families of Hananiah and the pioneer Abraham Lincoln were very closely associated in frontier days, and inasmuch as this year marks the 125th anniversary of the removal of Abraham Lincoln's father from Ken- tucky to Indiana, it is timely to re- view some of the history of the Han- aniah Lincoln family which was part- ly responsible for this early migra- tion.

Tradition claims that after Han- aniah Lincoln resigned as a captain in the Revolutionary War on October 20, 1777, he went with Daniel Boone to the Kentucky country. The Lincolns and the Boones were close neighbors in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and there were many inter-marriages be- tween the families.

The Lincoln Kinsman

Hananiah was in Jefferson County, Kentucky, as early as January 3, 1782 when he witnessed a proraisory note. The following year he entered 890 acres of land on Cartwrights Creek and the same year entered 1000 acres of land on Beech Fork. Both of these tracts were in Nelson County. Apparently, however, he settled in Jefferson County, for he served there as a juryman in 1784 and 1785 and on May 7, 1785 we find his name as- sociated with pioneer Abraham Lin- coln in the surveying of a tract of land on Long Run in Jefferson County.

The following year after the mas- sacre of the pioneer Abraham, in the month of May 1786, it is apparent that Hananiah removed to Nelson County where he had entered the two large tracts of land. It was in Nel- son County on February 7, 1787 that Hananiah Lincoln married Sarah Jane Jeffries, daughter of Moses Jef- fries.

About five years later, in 1792, Hananiah became interested in a land development in the town of Hartford in Hardin County, which later became the county seat of Ohio County. This town was situated about 30 miles from the Ohio River.

While at Hartford, Hananiah had some difficulty in collecting a note due him by Nicholas Welsh and brought suit against him for collection. This suit was followed by another in which Hananiah charged Welsh with slan- der, which apparently was due to a misunderstanding among the women folk of the community. This case is of special interest to Lincoln students who are continually running into the purely fictitious story that a certain Enlow, Enlows, Enloe, Inlow or Inloe

family had some close associations with the parents of Abraham Lincoln.

From what can be learned from the papers in the old suit, Mrs. Hananiah Lincoln had hired Polly Inloe to make a calico dress and that Miss Inloe had appropriated some of the calico. When the case was tried. Miss Inloe testified, "I have not stolen your calico" and later said that she had only taken the shoulder straps and was to return and finish the gown the next day. Whether or not this incident in 1795 was the beginning of a slander against the Lincolns by the Enlows, it is quite apparent that it still continues, but in the modern versions it is the Lincoln family who is humiliated.

It is evident that Hananiah was not well pleased with his investments at Hartford and he only remained there about two years, then took up his abode at Elizabethtown. Here he entered 500 acres of land and estab- lished his home. It was about this time that Thomas Lincoln, the son of the pioneer Abraham Lincoln, came to live with Hananiah and his name appears on the tax book direct- ly under Hananiah's name. It is evi- dent that later Thomas Lincoln went with his relative Hananiah to Cum- berland County where Hananiah fi- nally settled and he became the first sheriff of the county. Here Hananiah's first wife, Sarah Jeffries Lincoln, passed away but the date of her death is not known, but presumably shortly after the birth of her youngest child Lucy, on April 27, 1899.

The marriage register of Cumber- land County shows that on February 14, 1801, Hananiah married Lucy Wilson. Later on he is said to have joined Boone in his Missouri expedi- tion. On Hananiah's return he settled

The Lincoln Kinsman

in Clay County, Tennessee, just across the line from Cumberland County and tradition claims that he is buried on the old Lincoln farm in Clay County, Tennessee.

There are many family traditions and much folk lore among the de- scendants of Hananiah Lincoln which would make him a direct ancestor of the President. Some of the traditions make Hananiah the President's grand- father. The usual point of confusion is in the fact that the President's father's name was Thomas and that Hananiah had a son named Thomas, but it will be observed that these two Thomases have both been positively identified with their respective families. Hana- niah's son finally settled in Ohio and the President's father, who was about fifteen years older than Thomas, son of Hananiah, settled in Illinois.

About a dozen years ago there was considerable activity among some of the descendants of Hananiah and their friends to prove that the President was born in Cumberland County, Ken- tucky, not far from the Tennessee line. The following story referring to the agitation appeared in the Lexington, Kentucky Leader for December 9, 1928.

"What amounts to a veritable sen- sation is Cumberland County's claim that Abraham Lincoln was born in that county, and there offer to furnish irrefutable proof of the fact.

"As proof, county officials and citizens of the county produce court records that establish beyond doubt that Thomas Lincoln, father of Abra- ham, was a former official of Cumber- land County; that he was constable; that he was a land-owner; that he had engaged in litigation; that records filed in the county archives bear out

the claim that Abraham Lincoln first saw the light of day in the hills and valleys of Cumberland County.

"Backing up the challenge, citizens of Burkesville have had a sign erected in court square of that city bearing this fact: 'Where was Lincoln born? — When was he born? Thomas Lincoln was an official of this county in 1802- 04. He took up a 98-acre tract of land here in 1804, and then another 200- acre tract in 1815. See records in the clerk's office.' "

Here we have the confusion of the Thomas Lincoln, father of the Presi- dent, who undoubtedly did make the early land entry, with Thomas the son of Hananiah, who was probably the Thomas Lincoln who acquired land in Cumberland County in 1815. In 1802 the son of Hananiah could not have been more than twelve years old and hardly eligible to be appointed con- stable, but thirteen years later in 1815, he was twenty-five and undoubtedly a property holder as indicated in the deed books of Cumberland County.

We are not exactly certain just how many children Hananiah had by his first wife and we do not know that he had any children by his second wife. There seems to have been at least four sons and two daughters born to Hananiah and Sarah Jeffries, al- though it is impossible to arrange them in the order of their ages with the possible exception of Moses, who was the first born and Lucy, who was the youngest child. The names of their children, now available, are Moses, Thomas, Austin, Davis, Sarah and Lucy. Possibly there was another child by the name of John, but his identity has not been fully established as one of Hananiah's sons.

The Lincoln Kinsman

The Lincoln Kinsman

Published Monthly by

LiNCOLNIANA PUBLISHERS

Box 1110 — Fort Wayne, Ind.

B

EDITOR

Dr. Louis A. Warren,

Director, Lincoln National Life Foundation

BUSINESS MANAGER Maurice A. Cook

Annual Subscription $2.00

Single Copies -25

SUBJECTS DISCUSSED IN FORMER ISSUES OF THE LINCOLN KINSMAN 1. The Colonial Lincolns, 2. The Unknown Hanks Ancestry, 3. The Herrings of Virginia, 4. Five Shipley Sisters, 5. The Todd Family, 6. Bush Family Documents, 7. Early 19th Cen- tury Lincolns, 8. Kentucky Archives, 9. Abra- ham Lincoln's Father, 10. Hon. Robert Todd Lincoln, 11. James Wright Sparrow, 12. Uncle Mordecai Lincoln, 13. Thomas (Tad) Lincoln, 14. The Tennessee Lincolns, 15. The Lincolns of Hingham, 16. The Richard Berry Family, 17. Southern Branch of the Hankses, 18. The Lincolns of England, 19. Synopsis Life of Lin- coln, 20. Lincoln's Letters to His Wife, 21. Correspondence With Kinsmen, 22. A Hanks Family Tree, 23. New Jersey Lincolns, 24. The Pennsylvania Lincolns, 25. Nottoway River Hanks Colony, 26. Relatives of Lincoln's Wife, 27. The Lincolns' Kentucky Neighbors, 28. The Lincolns of Virginia, 29. Roanoke River Hanks Colony, 30. Lincoln's Mythical Childhood Homes, 31. The Paternity Myth, 32. The Shiftless Father Myth, 33. The Maternal Lineage Myth, 34. The Poverty Myth, 35. The Ann Rutledge Myth, 36. The Matrimony Myth, 37. The New England Hankses, 38. The Family of the Presi- dent's Uncle Mordecai, 39. The President's Uncle Josiah.

Moses Jewries Lincoln

The son of Hananiah, Moses Jeff- ries Lincoln, was born in Washington County, Kentucky, on December 22, 1787. When about thirty years of age, he moved to Preble County, Ohio, where he married Elizabeth Craw- ford, daughter of James and Martha Crawford, who lived at Eaton, Ohio. Thirty-five years later in 1831 he moved his family to Warren County, Indiana, where he died on September 19, 1866. His wife died January 24, 1866. Moses and his wife are buried in the West Lebanon Cemetery. Tra-

dition claims that Abraham Lincoln once visited these kinsmen who lived just a short distance from the Illinois State line and but a few miles from Danville where Lincoln was often in court while traveling the circuit.

The 1830 census shows Moses Lin- coln and family to have been living in Warren County, Indiana, at that time. The ages of the members of the family are noted as follows: two boys under five, two boys between five and ten, one man between forty and fifty, one girl between five and ten, one girl between ten and fifteen and one woman between thirty and forty.

The children of Moses and Eliza- beth Lincoln are here given in the order of their birth with the birth dates: Sarah Jane, June 23, 1817; John Crawford, Nov. 20, 1819; James Harvey, Feb. 12, 1823; Martha Ellen, Feb. 27, 1825; William Washington, Sept. 10, 1827; David Shankland, Feb. 7, 1829; Mary Ann, Feb. 10, 1831; Lucinda Caroline, Feb. 27, 1833; Elizabeth Ruth, Mar. 2, 1835.

John married Caroline Purviance, daughter of Azar Purviance and later moved to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. He died at Lawrenceburg and is buried there. There is said to have been a striking resemblance between John Lincoln and President Lincoln. One of John's sons, Frank Lincoln, mar- ried Addie Sweaney and they also re- sided at Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

It will be observed that James Harvey Lincoln was born on Febru- ary 12, 1823, President Lincoln's fourteenth birthday. He married Elizabeth James on December 9, 1847. James died on July 26, 1904. There were three children born to James and Elizabeth Lincoln: Zach-

The Lincoln Kinsman

ary Taylor Lincoln, who married Mil- dred Florence Cloyd, James Wallace Lincoln, who married OUie Ammer- man, and a daughter, Ella May Lin- coln.

Mrs. Clara Crawford Smith of Wil- liamsport, Indiana, has done con- siderable research work on this branch of the family, several of the descendants still remaining in War- ren County, Indiana. She was one of the committee which planned the placing of a marker at State Line, In- diana, at the point where her kins- man, Abraham Lincoln, made a speech in 1861 on his way to be in- augurated" President.

Thomas Lincoln

Thomas Lincoln, son of Hananiah Lincoln, married a Miss Gee, a daugh- ter of Jesse Gee, a neighbor of Han- aniah Lincoln in Cumberland County. Thomas migrated with his brother, Moses, to Preble County, Ohio, about 1816 and here he and his wife raised a large family. There were six sons and three daughters born to them: John, Thomas, James, Moses, Jesse, Ananias, Sarah, Susie, and Martha. There are several members of this family who still remain in Ohio. Mrs. A. A. Brewer of Connersville, In- diana, although a descendant of Moses Lincoln collected some avail- able information about the Thomas Lincoln family.

Austin Lincoln

On April 6, 1860, Abraham Lin- coln replied to a letter written by Richard V. B. Lincoln and in the con- cluding paragraph stated, "I remem- ber long ago seeing Austin Lincoln and Davis Lincoln, said to be sons of Hananiah Lincoln, who was said to

have been a cousin of my grand- father." The President was correct in these relationships.

We are now quite sure that Austin Lincoln was responsible more or less for Thomas Lincoln's settling where he did in Indiana. The father of the President took up his abode not far from where Austin Lincoln was living at the time Thomas migrated from Kentucky into the Hoosier state. In- asmuch as Thomas and Austin had been friends for many years and for a time lived under the same roof, it is not strange that he would choose a homesite not far from his Lincoln cousins. Austin Lincoln moved to Perry County, Indiana, some time previous to June 1815, as he was serving on a Spencer County jury during that month. This was more than a year and a half before Thomas Lincoln's family arrived.

Austin Lincoln was married about 1806 or 1807 but we do not know the name of his first wife. He is thought to have had three children by this marriage, two sons — David and Jesse, also a daughter, Lucinda. Upon the death of his first wife some time before 1818 he married as his second wife, Levitia Conner. Austin Lincoln died about 1825 or 1826 whereupon his wife Levitia married James Hargrave on June 21, 1828. Two children were born to Austin and Levitia Lincoln, James born Jan- uary 26, 1821, and Henry, date of birth unknown. These two sons of Austin, James and Henry, moved to Warwick County, Indiana and estab- lished a tannery there. Their half sister, Lucinda Lincoln, married John Montgomery in Warwick County on August 25, 1835. James married Ema- line King in 1846.

The Lincoln Kinsman

About 1851 James and his family moved to Illinois and five years later migrated to Missouri. In 1866 he es- tablished his home in Texas where he died July 3, 1893. There are many descendants of Austin Lincoln in Texas and H. N. Lincoln at Dallas, a grandson of Austin Lincoln, has col- lected some notations about the fam- ily.

Davis Lincoln

It is not known just when Davis Lincoln moved to Spencer County, Indiana, but he must have been there shortly after the Lincolns arrived, as he is found entering land in 1821 in Spencer County. In 1823 he was serv- ing as a justice of the peace in the county and apparently was a man of some influence. He had married Abi- gail Campbell before leaving Tennes- see for Indiana and although we do not have positive evidence about the number of children in his family, the records of Spencer County would imply that they were Hananiah, Aus- tin, Robert J., Ellender, Nancy, Sarah, Armarintha and Lucy.

Hananiah, the son of Davis, mar- ried Adelia Sanders on December 27, 1834. Austin, another son, married Catherine McGuffey December 23, 1837 and died not far from Troy, In- diana. Robert J. married Christina Williams on November 26, 1836. Ellender married Jesse McGuffey on December 19, 1830. Nancy Lincoln married Josiah Bunn on February 15, 1827. Sarah who was born May 12, 1820, married Frances Armstrong on November 18, 1839, and moved to Jackson County, Tennessee, and lived there from 1847 to 1863.

Davis Lincoln was said to have died at Natchez, Louisiana, near New

Orleans in a cholera epidemic. Sev- eral of his descendants are still living in the proximity of the mill on Anderson River, which was operated by him and later by his son, Austin, Jr.

It seems that nearly every Lincoln story, from the time the grandfather of the President was massacred by the Indians, until the President himself died by the hand of an assassin, in- cludes a tragedy. This story of the Hananiah Lincoln family is no excep- tion. The two youngest daughters, Armarintha or Martha, and Lucy, have evidently been confused by members of the Hananiah Lincoln family as they have set down certain traditions about these two girls, so we are not able to learn just which one was held indirectly responsible for the reputed haunting of the old Lincoln mill. It appears to have been Armarintha. Some members of the family claim that Lucy was not married in 1847 when she moved to Kentucky, but a Warrick County marriage record re- veals that a Lucinda Lincoln married John Montgomery on August 25, 1835, and, in 1840, a Lucy Mills who had undoubtedly been a Lucy Lincoln signed her name to a deed. There is a possibility that Lucy Lincoln may have been married twice before 1847.

Armarintha was in love with a young man by the name of Wilson. His attentions were not looked upon with pleasure by Austin Lincoln, Jr., a brother with whom the girl was then living. Wilson continued to keep com- pany with her, however. One day he visited the Lincoln Mill with the in- tention of making a further appeal for the hand of Armarintha, to whom he had become engaged, when a fierce

The Lincoln Kinsman

struggle occurred between the mill owner and his sister's suitor. That eve- ning the dead body of Austin Lincoln, Jr., was found on the stairs leading to the second story of the mill. Wilson fled the country taking a boat down the Ohio and Armarintha is said to have disappeared at some later date. The presumption is that she met Wil- son and that they were married. Of one fact we are certain that on De- cember 5, 1840, Armarintha was still single as she was a party to a sale of some land in Spencer County which she had evidently inherited.

Hananiah Lincoln, who was named for his grandfather, the pioneer, was probably the oldest son of Davis Lin- coln. His name is often found on Per- ry County records. The vital statistics of Indiana reveal that he was born in 1811 and died in March 1860 of win- ter fever, after an illness of eight days. Hananiah and Adelia Lincoln had eight children: Davis, John A., Thomas, Frances, Charity, Miranda, Addison, and Jane.

E. S. Lincoln, a son of Thomas (born 1832, died 1906) at one time edited The Cannelton Enquirer at Cannelton, Perry County, Indiana, but now lives in South Bend.

Sarah Lincoln

Sarah Lincoln, daughter of Han- aniah, married George Peterman and there were three children born of this marriage: Martha, Melinda and Re- becca. Martha married Riley J. Up- ton, Melinda married Joel Brown and Rebecca married James B. McMillen. Descendants of these children are to be found in Cumberland County, Kentucky and Clay County, Tennes- see. Miss Jennie Armstrong, of Thompkinsville, Kentucky, a descend-

ant of Austin Lincoln, has gathered some information about the descend- ants of Sarah Lincoln Peterman.

Lucy Lincoln

Descendants of the other children seem to have known little about this daughter of Hananiah, but inasmuch as she must have been an infant when her mother died, it is possible she was taken into the home of some of the Jeffries family. She was born April 27, 1799 and married Johnathan Hills in Hardin County on October 4, 1817.

Jonathan and Lucy Lincoln Hills named their first son, William Jeff- ries, apparently after his mother's surname Jeffries. The first daughter was named Sarah, after her mother's given name. This should be fairly good proof that Lucy was the daughter of Sarah Jeffries Lincoln. The names of the other children were John, Mar- garet, Lena, James, Charles, Eliza- beth, Mary Priscilla, Malvina, Eliza Rebecca, Lucy Jane and Martha.

The editor of the Kinsman was well acquainted with Lucy Jane (Lincoln) Lasley, whose daughter Eliza Lasley, then living at Elizabethtown, where her mother died, made available the names of Lucy's children from the family records.

Hananiah Lincoln Chronology

1756, Born at Exeter, Penn.

Son of Thomas and Elizabeth Da- vis Lincoln.

1775, Sergeant in Capt.

George Naylis' company.

1776, Oct. 4. Commissioned First Lieut, in Col. Wm. Thompson's regiment.

1777, May 20. Promoted to Captain. 1777, Oct. 17. Resigned from army. 1782, Jan. 2. Signs note payable to

Enos Atwater.

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The Lincoln Kinsman

1783, Jan. 17. 897 acres of land on Kentucky River entered for him by Daniel Boone.

1783, Sept. 13. Enters 890 acres of land in Nelson County.

1783, Dec. 8. Enters 1000 acres of land in Nelson County.

1784, Serves on jury in Jef- ferson County, Kentucky.

1785, Apr. 22. 1000 acres of land in Kentucky surveyed for him by Boone.

1785, May 7. Chain carrier in survey for Pioneer A. Lincoln, Jefferson County.

1785, Oct. 4, 5, 6, 7. On jury in Jef- ferson County.

1786, July 25. Enters land in Nelson County, Kentucky.

1787, Feb. 7. Married Sarah Jane Jeffries in Nelson County.

1787, Dec. 22. First child, Moses Jeff- ries Lincoln, born.

1788, May 16, 17. Jury service in Nelson County.

1788, Aug. 14. Jury service in Nel- son County.

1788, Sept. 10. Recommended by Nel- son County Court as Captain of Militia in the first battalion.

1789, Mar. 11. Appointed by Gover- nor as Captain in 1st Kentucky regiment.

1791, Mar. 10. Suit filed against him for collection on note.

1791, Sept. 14. Judgment against him in note case.

1792, Apr. 13. Acquired land from Gabriel Madison in Hartford, now county seat of Ohio County.

1793, May ,10. Assigned bond in Hartford by Nicholas Walsh.

1793, Oct. 3. Note endorsed to him.

1794, Oct. 8. Deeds 2 lots in Hartford to Robert Mosley.

1795, May 5. Associated with Moses Jeffries in defense of suit on note, at Bardstown, Nelson County.

1795, June 5. Brings suit against Walsh for collection of note.

1795, July 28. Commissioned to view road in Hardin County.

1795, Oct. 27. Appointed appraiser of William Stuart's estate in Har- din County.

1795, . Lists 4000 acres of

land on Hardin County tax book, also 1 horse and 11 cattle.

1796, Feb. 23. Charged three shillings and nine pence for witness service in Hardin County.

1796, . Lists 4000 acres of land

on Hardin County tax book, also 1 horse and 11 cattle.

1796, Oct. 22— Sold 1000 acres of land to Nathaniel Ewing and 3000 acres to John Murphy, both tracts in Clark County, Kentucky.

1797, June 24. Received note for 31 pounds cash and 34 pounds trade from Henry Ewing.

1797, Aug. 27. Lists 1512 acres of land and 4 horses.

1797, Oct. 16. Deposition in lawsuit taken at Bardstown, Nelson County.

1798, Nov. 3. Signs note with Enoch Berry payable to Rogers.

1798, Dec. 10. Brought suit against Ewing for collection of note.

1799, Apr. 27. Youngest daughter, Lucy, born.

1799, July — Commissioned as the first sheriff of Cumberland County, Kentucky.

1801, Feb. 14. Married Lucy Wilson in Cumberland County.

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