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Abraham Lincoln’s Cousin’s Memories Of Growing Up With The 16th President
Even as an old man, Dennis Hanks had fond and extensive recollections of his famous relative
There are few, if any, Presidents in the history of the United States who were more memorable or impactful than Abraham Lincoln. The 16th holder of the office, he stood out for his extreme pragmatism and guidance of the country through the Civil War. However, he came from very humble origins, which were recalled in detail by one of his cousins many years after the passing of their relative.
Jessie Palmer Weber, Secretary and Librarian of the Illinois State Historical Society, was also the daughter of General John M. Palmer, the former U.S. Senator and Illinois governor. She wrote a paper on the life of Lincoln, which she presented at a local woman’s club. In an article appearing in the February 10, 1908 issue of the Freeport, Illinois The Daily Journal, she cited an 1889 interview with Dennis Hanks, a cousin of the former President, who had strong recollections of his famous relative despite being 90 years old at the time.
Hanks, who was 10 years older than Lincoln, remembered the future President’s birth (in 1809) and the circumstances of his parents:
“Tom and Nancy lived on a farm about two miles from us when Abe was born. I recollect one cold cold day in February Tom’s coming over to our house and saying kind of slow, ‘Nancy’s got a boy baby.’ I cut and run the full two miles to see my cousin. Mother came over and washed him out a yellow flannel petticoat and put it on him, and cooked some wild berries with honey for Nancy, slicked things up some, and then went home; and that’s all the nussen either of them got.”
When asked about the economic circumstances of the Lincolns, Hanks was quick to answer:
“Poor. All of us were poor, but the Lincolns were poorer than anybody.”
Nancy Lincoln died in 1818. The following year, Thomas traveled to Kentucky by himself with a singular purpose, according to Hanks. That was to fetch himself a new wife (Sarah):
“We all knowed what Tom went for, but we did not think he would have any luck; he was known to be so shiftless and such a poor…
