February 2012
Nancy Hanks Lincoln Tales
Three mysterious envelopes mailed from New
York arrived at The Fort in December of 2011. The address was penned in simple
printing with no return labels or signatures on the letters. Inside were
details of someone’s remembered story of how their family might be related to
the kin of President Abraham Lincoln. The first letter was written in large
cursive letters in a conversational style, as if they were relating the tale to
us.
A few days later another letter arrived with
a listing of family names, obviously copied from someone’s notebook and in a
different handwriting. The last letter to arrive within the same week was a
detailed account of information gleened from a publication called The Lincoln
Kinsman.
With no signatures or identifying marks on
any of the letters or envelopes, the purpose of them was a little puzzling.
Usually folks write to us asking for help in research, but this correspondence
seemed like someone’s effort just to share this information in hopes that it
would be the answer to a long lost mystery.
The writer
related that a relative named Newton Dodson had done much research on the topic
of Nancy Hanks Lincoln years ago and had many old letters to verify his
findings. The whereabouts of those letters was unknown to the writer and that
tidbit seemed to point to the hope that someone in our area would know of this
research and be able to link it all together in some way. The letter writer
claims that Newton had written everything down for relatives in 1955. Also some
of Newton’s sisters and brothers are buried in Lexington area along with Matilda
Berry, mother of the letter writer.
We have a file on Nancy Hanks Lincoln in our
cabinet, so we will keep this information in that file folder in case someone,
somewhere, someday, might have more links to this mystery.
Here is some of the information we received:
Lincoln Source: The Lincoln Kinsman #37 Fort Wayne,
Indiana July 194?
p. 2 J.H. Barrett prepared campaign biography of
Lincoln. He said, “Mr. Lincoln stated to me in 1861 his mother was born in Va.,
came to Ky. with some of her relatives, but not her parents, but gave no other
clues.”
Henry C Whitney, close associate of Mr.
Lincoln, puts forth this theory: “Nancy Hanks Lincoln’s father died in Va.—wife
and daughter came to Ky. when widow married Henry Sparrow for second husband.
Hanks families intermarried in Bedford and
Campbell Co, Va. Later lived in Beech Fork, Washington Co, Ky Community
consisted of Hanks, Shipley, Berry, Mitchell, McCord on Little Falling River, a
branch of Roanoke River. Hanks family lived on small tributary called Half
Creek.
p. 3 1746 Lunenburg Co, Va. List of people living in
Lunenburg Co from Little Roanoke up the Fork—names included Richard Berry and
Robert Shipley. Also name of John Berry, also connected with Hanks family
history in Va.
p. 6 Mary Mitchell, widow of Daniel, Bedford Co. Va.
moved to Ward Co. Ky. About 1790 a caravan was attacked by Indians and
daughter-in-law, Naomi Shipley Mitchell, wife of Robert Mitchell, was murdered.
It was Mary Mitchell’s granddaughter who was captured by Indians, and after
return, became a playmate of her cousin, Nancy Hanks.
p. 7 On March 16, 1780 Richard Berry of Charlotte Co
Va sold a tract of land to Richard Gaines. Probable that this is the Richard
Berry with whom Nancy Hanks made her home in Ky. As Richard entered land in Ky.
about this time and moved there about 1781 or 1782.
8 years later in 1788 Abraham Hanks sold land
in Charlotte Co. Va. James Hanks was a witness.
p. 8 Abraham Hanks and James Hanks Jr. land on Half Creek
near meeting house….witnessed by James Hanks and others, June 5, 1795.
Conclusion states “whether or not Nancy Hanks went with her mother direct to Ky.
or whether one or both of them went via N. C. not fully determined, but they
were in Ky. apparently by 1786.
Source: Lincoln Kinsman #16—Fort Wayne, Ind. Oct 1939
Richard Berry Family:
Richard Berry of VA. Settled in
Ky. Luish Co, later Mercer Co, Ky. here he settled when first coming to Ky.
Oldest son John Berry occupied property.
Richard and Rachel Berry had 8 children,
including Sarah, John, Joanna, Rachel, Richard Jr., Francis, James, Edward.
John died 1795.
Joanna, oldest daughter, married James
Brumfield, Brumfield’s 3rd child, Tom Brumfield, married Ann Lincoln,
sister of Thomas Lincoln, father of the president.
Richard Jr. who married Polly Ewing became
guardian of Nancy Hanks.
In Richard and Rachel Shipley Berry home, room
was made for Lucy Hanks. She married a man whose name she took while in Va. and
Nancy Hanks, mother of President Lincoln was the offspring. It is likely Nancy
Hanks Lincoln lived with her Uncle and Aunt Berry or other members of the Berry
family during early Ky residence and up to the time of her marriage. Richard
Berry’s wife Rachel was a Shipley, daughter of Robert Shipley, before her
marriage and a sister of Lucy Shipley Hanks, grandmother of the president.
P7 After widow Lucy Hanks married Henry Sparrow in
1790, it is thought Nancy remained with her Aunt Rachel.
Richard Berry Jr. oldest son of pioneer Richard
Berry was guardian of Nancy.
Obituary printed in Missouri in 1913 was
eulogized in an obituary. “Richard Berry was a man of considerable wealth and
while a resident of Ky. reared Nancy Hanks.”
Nancy Hanks Lincoln married
Thomas Lincoln June 12, 1806 in home of Francis Berry (brother of Richard
Berry). Richard Berry was Nancy Hanks’s guardian.
The mystery letters led us to investigate the
files we have on Nancy Hanks Lincoln a little closer. The largest article was
from a 1972 Pantagraph relating the story of how a family named Lawrence had
recently purchased the farm where the Hanks family lived in Virginia when Lucy
Hanks became the mother of Nancy Hanks. The state had erected a marker on the
site in the 1920’s and the Lawrence family in 1972 had moved in a log cabin
across the road from the marker. They planned to make the remote farm into a
camp ground for tents and RV camping.
To find out if the Nancy Hanks Park and
Recreational Area was still a going venture in Mineral County, West Virginia we looked it up
on the internet. It showed a map to the remote location and described the
narrow roads that led to the site. Today all that remains is the marker and the
old cabin. Considering that Nancy Hanks Lincoln died in 1818, when her son
Abraham Lincoln was just a boy of 9, that much was probably a lucky find.
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Nancy Hanks was born on February 5, 1784, in Hampshire County, Virginia
in a log cabin along Mike's Run at the foot of New Creek Mountain in
what is now Mineral County, West Virginia. Nancy grew up to marry Thomas
Lincoln. One of Nancy and Thomas's sons, Abraham Lincoln, became the
16th President of the United States. The site of Nancy's birth has been
marked by the Nancy Hanks Association, which placed a simple stone
monument to mark the spot in 1933. Near the monument is a reconstructed
log cabin, like the one in which Nancy Hanks was born.
The site is well off the beaten path. To find it, follow the signs which
point off U.S. 220, just a few miles south of the Maryland/West Virginia
state line in northeastern West Virginia. You will take a narrow,
winding road through the mountains for more than six miles to find the
memorial on a dead end one lane road, in a beautiful remote rural area.
On one side of the road is the stone monument with a brass plaque, and
on the other is the log cabin. When I was there the cabin was open,
however the site is unattended and there are no interpretative displays.
I
found it moving to stand alone in this in this quiet, out-of-the-way
spot and contemplate the life of the remarkable woman who gave birth to
one of America’s most controversial leaders, Abraham Lincoln.
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It’s always a surprise where the letters we
get at The Fort lead us. And that, after all, is what keeps it all so interesting!
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