Genealogy Jottings

On this President’s Day weekend, I like to think about my connection to one American President in particular, Abraham Lincoln.

My family lived near his more than once:

1. 1650’s, Hingham, Massachusetts. My Lincoln and Dunbar ancestors settled in this community 20 miles south of Boston. The Dunbars arrived from Scotland about 1653. The President’s ancestor Mordecai Lincoln was born in Hingham just 4 years later in 1657. The population of this early town was small then, so perhaps the Dunbars and the Lincolns knew one another.
2. Early 1800’s, Nelson County, Kentucky. My Reed and Kirkham ancestors moved to Nelson County from Pennsylvania after the Revolutionary War. Nelson is the parent county for Hardin County, where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809.
3. 1829, Coles County, Illinois. My Reeds became original settlers in Coles County when they moved north and settled there in 1829. The President’s father moved the Lincoln family to the same county the following year. Although the future President was nearly grown by then, he moved along with his family, and Illinois became known as the Land of Lincoln.

Common places may not be the only link I have to President Lincoln. I believe I am related to him.

People from the English town of Hingham, Norfolk, England founded Hingham, Massachusetts. Both the President’s family and my Lincoln family were from Hingham in England.

I have not done the research myself, but I think our most recent common ancestor was Robert Lincoln, jr. (1525-1556) who lived in Hingham, Norfolk, England. He was my 12^th great-grandfather and the President’s 8^th great-grandfather. This makes us 8^th cousins, five times removed.

Some of Robert Lincoln’s descendants migrated to the New World, including both the President’s family and mine. Although the family relationship is very distant, I enjoy being able to claim it.