Abraham Lincoln to Jesse Lincoln, 1 April 18541
Springfield, Illinois, April 1, 1854.My Dear Sir:On yesterday I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 16th of March.2 From what you say there can be no doubt that you and I are of the same family.
The history of your family, as you give it, is precisely what I have always heard,
and partly know, of my own. As you have supposed, I am the grandson of your uncle
Abraham; and the story of his death by the Indians, and of Uncle Mordecai, then fourteen years old, killing one of the Indians, is the legend more strongly
than3 all others imprinted upon my mind and memory.4 I am the son of grandfather’s youngest son, Thomas. I have often heard my father speak of his uncle Isaac residing at5 Watauga (I think), near where the then States of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee join,— you seem now to be some hundred miles or so west of that.6 I often saw Uncle Mordecai, and Uncle Josiah but once in my life; but I never resided near either of them.7 Uncle Mordecai died in 1831 or 2[1832], in Hancock Coun-
Very truly your relative,A. Lincoln.<Page 2>
ty, Illinois, where he had then recently removed from Kentucky, and where his children had also removed, and still reside,8 as I understand.9 Whether Uncle Josiah is dead or living, I cannot tell, not having heard from him
for more than twenty years. When I last heard of him10 he was living on Big Blue River, in Indiana (Harrison Co., I think),11 and where he had resided ever since before 12 the beginning of my recollection.13My father (Thomas) died the 17th of January, 1851, in Coles County, Illinois, where he had resided twenty years. I am his only child.14 I have resided here, and hereabouts, twenty-three years. I am forty-five years
of age, and have a wife and three children, the oldest eleven years.15 My wife was born and raised at Lexington, Kentucky; and my connection with her has sometimes taken me there, where I have heard the
older16 people of her relations17 speak of your uncle Thomas and his family18. He is dead long ago, and his descendants have gone to some part of Missouri, as I recollect what I was told. When I was at Washington in 1848, I got up a correspondence with David Lincoln, residing at Sparta, Rockingham County, Virginia, who, like yourself, was a first cousin of my father; but I forget, if he informed me, which of my grandfather’s brothers was his father.19 With Col. Crozier,20 of whom you speak, I formed quite an inti-<Page 3>
mate acquaintance, for a short one, while at Washington; and when you meet him again
I will thank you to present him my respects. Your present governor, Andrew Johnson, was also at Washington while I was; and he told me of there being people of the
name of Lincoln in Carter County, I think.21 I can no longer claim to be a young man myself; but I infer that, as you are of
the same generation as my father, you are some older. I shall be very glad to hear from you again.1John G. Nicolay and John Hay published this letter in the Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. The original in Abraham Lincoln’s hand has not been located. Significant differences
from this version and the Illinois State Journal version have been noted; differences such as capitalization and minor grammar alterations
have not been noted.
The document does not contain a recipient name. Nicolay and Hay list Jesse Lincoln, and Roy P. Basler, editor of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, does the same. Interestingly, the publication of this letter in an 1883 issue of the Illinois State Journal, reprinted from the Chattanooga Times, includes a note suggesting the recipient could be named Israel: “Dr. Lincoln, of this city, a cousin of Abraham Lincoln, has in his possession a letter written to his father by his relative in 1854, which sheds some light on the illustrious statesmen’s family history. Dr. Lincoln’s father was at the time living in an upper East Tennessee county. The fame of Abraham Lincoln was becoming national at that period. Mr. Lincoln’s name was Israel, and all his relatives bore Biblical names. When the name Abraham Lincoln reached his ears he wrote him making inquiries regarding his family, feeling confident that he was a relative, and the following was the response.” The Dr. Lincoln in question was Dr. James H. Lincoln, son of Jesse and Nancy Brown Lincoln. Jesse Lincoln was the grand-uncle of Abraham Lincoln. Nicolay, Hay, and Basler inferred Jessie Lincoln as the recipient from newspaper article, which incorrectly identified James H. Lincoln’s father as Israel.
The document does not contain a recipient name. Nicolay and Hay list Jesse Lincoln, and Roy P. Basler, editor of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, does the same. Interestingly, the publication of this letter in an 1883 issue of the Illinois State Journal, reprinted from the Chattanooga Times, includes a note suggesting the recipient could be named Israel: “Dr. Lincoln, of this city, a cousin of Abraham Lincoln, has in his possession a letter written to his father by his relative in 1854, which sheds some light on the illustrious statesmen’s family history. Dr. Lincoln’s father was at the time living in an upper East Tennessee county. The fame of Abraham Lincoln was becoming national at that period. Mr. Lincoln’s name was Israel, and all his relatives bore Biblical names. When the name Abraham Lincoln reached his ears he wrote him making inquiries regarding his family, feeling confident that he was a relative, and the following was the response.” The Dr. Lincoln in question was Dr. James H. Lincoln, son of Jesse and Nancy Brown Lincoln. Jesse Lincoln was the grand-uncle of Abraham Lincoln. Nicolay, Hay, and Basler inferred Jessie Lincoln as the recipient from newspaper article, which incorrectly identified James H. Lincoln’s father as Israel.
John G. Nicolay and John Hay, eds., Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, new and enlarged ed. (New York: Francis D. Tandy, 1905), 2:180-82; Roy P. Basler,
ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 2:217-18; The Chattanooga Daily Times (TN), 24 September 1883, 4:4; Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 30 October 1883, 4:2; Waldo Lincoln, History of the Lincoln Family: An Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of
Hingham Massachusetts, 1637-1920
(Worcester, MA: Commonwealth, 1923), 204-5, 208-18, 347-48, 477.
4Lincoln’s forty-two year-old grandfather was ambushed and shot by Indians in 1786
while farming with his three sons, Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas. Mordecai, upon spotting an Indian sneaking up on Thomas, shot and killed the stranger.
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011), 21.
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011), 21.
7In the newspaper version, “I often saw Uncle Mordecai and Uncle Josiah, but never in my life lived near either
of them,” replaces “I often saw Uncle Mordecai, and Uncle Josiah but once in my life;
but I never resided near either of them.”
9Mordecai Lincoln and his wife Mary Mudd had three sons and three daughters.
Waldo Lincoln, History of the Lincoln Family: An Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of
Hingham Massachusetts, 1637-1920, 329.
11In the newspaper version, “Hancock county, Ind., I think” replaces “in Indiana (Harrison Co., I think).”
13Josiah died on September 19, 1835 in Harrison County, Indiana.
Gravestone, Blue River Church of Christ Cemetery, Depauw, IN.
14Thomas Lincoln also had a daughter, Sarah, who died in 1828, and a son, Thomas Lincoln, Jr., who died in infancy.
Waldo Lincoln, History of the Lincoln Family: An Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of
Hingham Massachusetts, 1637-1920, 342.
15Abraham and Mary Lincoln had four sons, Robert, Edward, William, and Thomas. Eddy died in 1850.
Waldo Lincoln, History of the Lincoln Family: An Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of
Hingham Massachusetts, 1637-1920, 471; David Herbert Donald, Lincoln, 153-54.
19Abraham Lincoln wrote David Lincoln on March 24, 1848. David answered on March 30, and Lincoln again responded on April 2. David Lincoln’s letter of March 30 has not been located. David Lincoln
was the son of Jacob and Dorcas Robinson Lincoln.
Waldo Lincoln, History of the Lincoln Family: An Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of
Hingham Massachusetts, 1637-1920, 207; 342-43.
Printed Transcription, 3 page(s), John G. Nicolay and John Hay, eds., Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln , new and enlarged ed. (New York: Francis D. Tandy, 1905), 2:180-82.