Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln on November 8, 1863, photo by Alexander Gardner

Date of Birth: February 12, 1809

Place of Birth: Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky, U.S.

Date of Death: April 15, 1865

Place of Death: Petersen House, Washington, D.C., U.S.

Ethnicity: English, more distant Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, possibly small amounts of Irish and Dutch, possibly other

Abraham Lincoln was an American politician, statesman, and lawyer. As a member of the Republican Party, and then, for one year, the National Union, he served as the 16th President of the United States, from March 4, 1861 to April 15, 1865. He was elected to the position in 1860 and 1864. He was the first Republican Party President. As a member of the Whig Party, he was previously a Member of the Illinois House of Representatives, from 1834 to 1842, and a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois, from March 4, 1847 to March 3, 1849.

President Lincoln was the son of Nancy (Hanks) and Thomas Lincoln. He was married to Mary Todd Lincoln, with whom he had four children. He had English ancestry, along with a smaller amount of Scots-Irish/Northern Irish roots. He may have also had more distant Irish forebears, and Dutch ancestry.

President Lincoln’s paternal grandfather was Abraham Lincoln (the son of John Lincoln and Rebecca Flowers/Flower). President Lincoln’s grandfather Abraham was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania. John was the son of Mordecai Lincoln, Jr. and Hannah Salter. Rebecca was the daughter of Enoch Flowers and Rebecca Barnard/Bernard, whose father was born in Kingston, Wiltshire, England.

President Lincoln’s paternal grandmother was Bathsheba Herring (the daughter of Alexander Herring and Abigail Harrison). Bathsheba was born in Virginia. Alexander was the son of Alexander Herring, who may have been of Dutch descent, and of Margaret. Abigail was the daughter of Isaiah Harrison, who was from Chester, Cheshire, England, and of Abigail, possibly Smith.

The identity of President Lincoln’s biological maternal grandfather remains undetermined. He has not been clearly identified, neither during President Lincoln’s lifetime nor by historians or researchers since.

President Lincoln’s maternal grandmother was Lucy Hanks (the daughter of Joseph Hanks and Ann “Nanny”/”Nancy” Lee). Lucy was born in Virginia, likely in Richmond County. Joseph was the son of John Hanks and Catherine. Ann was the daughter of William Lee, who had Scots-Irish/Northern Irish ancestry.

President Lincoln’s mother was the half-sister of Mary Ann “Polly” Sparrow, who was the maternal great-great-great-great-grandmother of actor George Clooney (they were both the daughters of Lucy Hanks). This makes President Lincoln and George Clooney half-first cousins, five times removed. President Lincoln is also a third cousin, four times removed, of actor Tom Hanks. President Lincoln’s maternal great-great-grandparents, John Hanks and Catherine, were also the paternal six times great-grandparents of Tom Hanks.

Sources: Genealogies of President Lincoln – http://www.geni.com
http://famouskin.com
http://www.wikitree.com

DNA testing of President Lincoln’s matrilineal line – https://www.familytreedna.com

29 Responses

  1. cwm85 says:

    Why do some people claim he was black? I don’t see it in this picture and if he was his ancestry had to be low.

  2. strawberry20 says:

    i thought he had some welsh instead of dutch. cuz i red in wikipedia he was purely english but had ancestor coming from wales

  3. Gogoboots says:

    Actually looking at this argument I researched this through geni.com and Abraham Lincoln has a very, very, very, very, very, etc remote African ancestor. Lincoln is a descendant of Alexander Lindsay of Crawford who had a 45th time great grandfather named Quintus Marcius Barea, Proconsul of the Africa Province born in the year 28.

  4. Petrarca says:

    There is a legend that he has some crypto-jew background, but who knows for certain.

    • follers says:

      How can there be a “legend”? His ancestry is very well documented, except for his maternal grandfather, but none of the possible candidates for that title were Jewish. And there’s no such thing as a “Crypto-Jew”.

  5. follers says:

    I removed the African thing for being comically absurd. Neither of the two sources cite any evidence or name any ancestors. One of them stated: “His mother was from an Ethiopian Tribe and his father was an African American.”

    • Joeytwo2 says:

      Well you claim I didn’t name the ancestors but I clearly stated that the information was unverified! Which in other words made the idea quite clear that I didn’t believe the likeliness of him having African roots but instead I want to point out the fact that many other sources were making this claim. If I sourced the one that stated the idea that his father was an African American than I posted the wrong page but I don’t see this as, “Comically absurd.”

      • follers says:

        What is the evidence that he had African ancestry? What was the name of his last African-American ancestor? Or his last “unverified” African-American ancestor?

        • Joeytwo2 says:

          “Unverified” not haven been confirmed, substantiated, or proven to be true. As I tried explaining in my last comment and in the post it wasn’t proven to be true, on the other hand I wanted to share a claim that people have been making. I didn’t believe it was true so unlike the other ethnicities I announced “Unverified.” If I shouldn’t mention the claims pages are making okay I won’t…

    • ashash says:

      One of them stated: “His mother was from an Ethiopian Tribe and his father was an African American.”

      lol …

      • follers says:

        Well, yes, interracial marriage was illegal in Kentucky at the time, so Lincoln’s parents could only marry within their own black race.

        • bearboy says:

          1. How is an Ethiopian marrying an African American considered interracial marriage? 2. Of course interracial marriage was illegal in Kentucky but nothing stopped slave owners from having children with their slaves. 3. As crazy that those sources are there is nothing disproving the remote African ancestry of European American’s even within European countries.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            @bearboy

            Quote( How is an Ethiopian marrying an African American considered interracial marriage?)

            That’s a good question, especially back then

            Quote( Of course interracial marriage was illegal in Kentucky but nothing stopped slave owners from having children with their slaves.

            True again, Slave owner, their friends and children, and even Priests and other members of church were known to dip into that well.

            Quote(As crazy that those sources are there is nothing disproving the remote African ancestry of European American’s even within European countries.)

            True again ,There was well know member of the confederate congress(I ‘ll get his name later), who openly flaunted his black mistress around in public, instead of behind closes doors like the rest of them did. He was angered from the dirty looks he got, and stood up in the middle of a meeting and stated to the members( There’s not one of you, that don’t have some N-word blood in you, don’t have me to start giving names

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