From ashes, greatness

Two hundred and ten years ago — February 12, 1809 — a son was born to Nancy and Thomas Lincoln in Kentucky. No one would remember this if his name hadn’t been Abraham, and he hadn’t become America’s revered sixteenth President.

It is likely Nancy Hanks was the daughter of an unmarried mother—a detail covered by the fact she was adopted by her aunt and uncle and known as Nancy Sparrow.

Thomas was uneducated. He and his brothers were planting a cornfield with their father — who was establishing a farm in the forest — when they were attacked by Indians. At 8 years old, he saw his father killed. His older brother inherited the land. Thomas ended up in a life of struggle just to survive.

Nancy is believed to have died from “milk sickness” when Abraham was nine years old. At the time settlers did not understand a native plant called white snakeroot contained a toxin that was passed through the milk or meat of a cow who had ingested it. Her young son whittled the pegs that held the planks of her coffin together.

It was Abraham’s mother — a “mild yet strong personality” — who taught him to read, using the Bible. He said, “All that I am or hope ever to be I get from my mother.”

He and his father did not get along. Thomas’s eyesight began to fail and he became dependent on his son for the “farming, hoeing, grubbing, making fences” to keep the family going. He also hired him out to local farmers and kept the money, as the law allowed. Abraham’s adolescence was one of “hard labor and great privation.”

His father would “cane, slap, or knock Abraham down for minor infractions.” He did not understand his son’s longing for education. Abraham wanted out as soon as he could. His father was not invited to his wedding and he chose not to attend his father’s funeral. But there was some loyalty there — he named his fourth son Thomas.

How did these childhood influences affect Lincoln’s decisions as president? One can ponder that at length. But it took a certain kind of man — a determined, persevering man — to lead our country through a civil war. An impassioned man to fight the good fight to abolish enslavement of human beings.

These United States carries his imprint in our very name.

Abraham Lincoln — out of the ashes, greatness.