"Thomas Lincoln Sr. was the father of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Unlike some of his ancestors, Thomas could not write. He struggled to make a successful living for his family and faced difficult challenges in Kentucky real estate boundary and title disputes, the early death of his first wife, and the integration of his second wife's family into his own family, before making his final home in Illinois." Wikipedia
"Abraham Lincoln's father was Thomas Lincoln, who was born on January 6, 1778, in Virginia. He was a farmer and carpenter, and his relationship with Abraham was often strained, particularly due to differences in education and beliefs."
"Thomas Lincoln, seventh generation of Lincolns in America. His grandfather, after whom Abraham was named, moved from Virginia to Kentucky in the early 1780s to seek fortune. One day Abraham and his three sons, Mordecai, Josiah and Thomas were planting corn when they were attacked by Indians, Abraham was killed. As it was customary, his oldest son, Mordecai, inherited his father’s assets. He ran away with all the money leaving the rest of the family destitute."
"As a young man Thomas had to work hard and eventually saved enough money to buy his first farm in Hardin County, Kentucky. In 1806 he married Nancy Hanks, and they built their first house in Elizabethtown. The following year they had their first daughter, Sarah. In 1809 the couple bought a 300 acre farm called Sinking Spring Farm and built a small one-room log cabin. Here is where Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809."
"Thomas was active in community and church affairs in Hardin County. He served as a jury member, a petitioner for a road, and as a guard for county prisoners. He could read a little, was a skilled carpenter, and was a property owner."
"However, like dozens of others, Thomas fell victim to Kentucky’s chaotic land laws. On three separate occasions, defective titles caused him to lose his farm. Discouraged by these setbacks, he decided to move his family to Indiana where the land ordinance of 1785 ensured that land once purchased and paid for was retained. Abraham Lincoln claimed many years later that his father’s move from Kentucky to Indiana was “partly on account of slavery, but chiefly on account of the difficulty of land titles in Kentucky.”
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