Abraham Lincoln to Jesse Lincoln, 1 April 18541
“Springfield, Ill., April 1, 1854.My Dear SirOn 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, Abra[ham], and the story of his death by the Indians, and of Uncle Mordecai, then fourteen fourteen years old, killing one of the Indians, is the legend most prominent of3 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 on the5 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 there6. I often saw Uncle Mordecai and Uncle Josiah, but never in my life lived near either of them.7 Uncle Mordecai died in 1831 or 1832 in Hancock county, Ill., where he had then recently removed from Kentucky, and where his children had also removed, and still live8, 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 from him10 he was living on Big Blue river, Hancock county, Ind.11, I think, and where he has resided ever since the beginning12 of my recollection.13 My father, Thomas, died the 17th of January, 1851, in Coles county, Ill., where he had resided 20 years. I am his only child.14 I have resided here and hereabouts 23 years. I am 45 years of age, and have a wife and three children, the oldest 11 years.15 My wife was born and raised at Lexington, Ky., and my connection with her has sometimes takes me there, where I have heard the old16 people of her relatives17 speak of your Uncle Thomas and 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, 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 Colonel Crosier,20 of whom you speak, I formed quite an intimate acquaintance for a short one, and when
you meet him again I would 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 county21. 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.
Very truly your relative.A. Lincoln.”1The Illinois State Journal published this letter, reprinted from the Chattanooga Times, in its October 30, 1883 edition. The original in Abraham Lincoln’s hand has not
been located. John G. Nicolay and John Hay also published a version of this letter in the Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. Significant differences from this version and the John G. Nicolay and John Hay
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 text immediately preceding this letter in the
Illinois State Journal suggests 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 Native Americans
in 1786 while farming with his three sons, Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas. Mordecai, upon spotting a Native American 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 Nicolay-Hay version, “I often saw Uncle Mordecai, and Uncle Josiah but once in my life; but I never
resided near either of them,” replaces “I often saw Uncle Mordecai and Uncle Josiah,
but never in my life lived 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 Nicolay-Hay version, “in Indiana (Harrison Co., I think),” replaces “Hancock county, Ind., I think,”
13Josiah died 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 24 March 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.
Copy of Printed Transcription, 1 page(s), Illinois State Journal, (Springfield), 30 October 1883, 4:2-3.