Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2.

About this Item

Title
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2.
Author
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press
1953.
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"Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 19, 2024.

Pages

Springfield, Illinois, April, 1, 1854.

My Dear Sir: On yesterday I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 16th of March. 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 than [most prominent of] all others imprinted upon my mind and memory. I am the son of grandfather's youngest son, Thomas. I have often heard my father speak of his uncle Isaac residing at [on the] 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 [there]. I often saw Uncle Mordecai, and Uncle Josiah but once in my life; but I never resided near either of them. Uncle Mordecai died in 1831 or 2, in Hancock County, Illinois [Ill.], where he had then recently removed from Kentucky, and where his children had also removed, and still reside [live], as I understand. 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 [from] him he was living on Big Blue River, in [Hancock County] Indiana (Harrison Co., I think), and where he had [has] resided ever since before [``before'' not in sentence] the beginning of my recollection. My father (Thomas) died the 17th of January, 1851, in Coles County, Illinois [Ill.], where he had resided twenty [20] years. I am his only child. I have resided here, and here-abouts, twenty-three [23] years. I am forty-five [45] years of age, and have a wife and three children, the oldest eleven [11] years. My wife was born and raised at Lexington, Kentucky [Ky.]; and my connection with her has sometimes taken me there, where I have heard the older [old] people of her relations [relatives] speak

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of your uncle Thomas and his family. 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 [V], 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. With Col. [Colonel] Crozier,2Open page of whom you speak, I formed quite an intimate acquaintance, for a short one, while at Washington [``while at Washington'' not in sentence]; 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 [``I think'' not in sentence]. 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.

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