Lincoln family

The Lincoln family was an American family of English origins. It includes all the descendants of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. There are ten known descendants of Lincoln. The family line is believed to have been extinct since its last undisputed descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died on December 24, 1985, without any children.[nb 1]

Lincoln
Current region	Hingham, Massachusetts, Berks County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Etymology	Lincoln derives from the Welsh element lynn, meaning "lake or pool" and the Latin element colonia, meaning "colony."
Place of origin	Hingham, Norfolk, England
Founded	Arrival in the U.S.: 1637 383 years ago
Founder	Samuel Lincoln (1622–1690)
Traditions	Anglicanism / Episcopalian
Estate(s)	Mordecai Lincoln House (Springfield, Kentucky), Lincoln Home, Mary Todd Lincoln House

The Lincoln family does have other surviving relatives who share common ancestors with the former president. Two examples include actor George Clooney[1] (related to Lincoln's birth mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln) and Ben Miller, who after doing research found a genealogical link to the Lincolns.[2]

Roots in England

Samuel’s father Edward Lincoln, remained in Hingham, England, was born about 1575 and died on February 11, 1640, was buried in the graveyard of St Andrew's Church.[3][4] Edward was the only son of Richard Lincoln (buried 1620) and Elizabeth Remching. After the death of his wife, Richard married three more times.[5]

History in Massachusetts

First generation

Samuel Lincoln House, built in Hingham, Massachusetts, by his grandson on land Samuel purchased in 1649

The Lincoln family arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637, when Samuel Lincoln (1622–1690), the son of Edward Lincoln, sailed on the ship John & Dorothy from Great Yarmouth.[6] He is considered the father of the most prominent branch of Lincolns in the United States.[7]

Abraham Lincoln (seventh generation)

Lincoln and family.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was a statesman and lawyer who became the 16th president of the United States from 1861 to 1865. He was born in a one-room log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. Abraham Lincoln married Mary Ann Todd and had four children Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward Baker Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln and Tad Lincoln.[8]

Tenth generation

Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (1904-1985) was a gentleman farmer and great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln. He was the last undisputed descendant of Lincoln when his sister Mary died in 1975, having no children.[9]

Family tree and lineage

This table sets out the ancestors and descendants of President Abraham Lincoln for ten generations.

Lincoln family tree[10] (open at right)

Samuel Lincoln (1622–1690) Martha Lyford (1623–1693)[11] Mordecai Lincoln (1657–1727) Sarah Jones (1660–1702)[11] Mordecai Lincoln (1686–1736) Hannah Salter (1692–1727)[11] John Lincoln (1716–1788) Rebecca Flowers (1720–1806)[11] Abraham Lincoln (1744–1786) Bathsheba Herring (1750–1836)[11] Thomas Lincoln (1778–1851) Nancy Hanks (1784–1818) Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) Mary Todd Lincoln (1818–1882) Sarah Lincoln Grigsby (1807–1828) Aaron Grigsby (1801–1831) Thomas Lincoln, Jr. (1812–1812)[12] Robert Todd Lincoln (1843–1926) Mary Eunice Harlan (1846–1937) Edward Baker Lincoln (1846–1850) William Wallace Lincoln (1850–1862) Thomas "Tad" Lincoln III (1853–1871) Mary "Mamie" Lincoln (1869–1938) Charles Bradford Isham (1853–1919) Abraham Lincoln II (1873–1890) Jessie Harlan Lincoln (1875–1948) Warren Wallace Beckwith (1874–1955) Lincoln Isham (1892–1971)[13] Leahalma "Lea" Correa (d. 1960)[13] Mary Lincoln Beckwith (1898–1975) Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (1904–1985) Anna Marie Hoffman

See also

• Mordecai Lincoln (1771–1830) – President Lincoln's uncle on his father's side (saved Lincoln's father's life)
• Sarah Bush Lincoln (1788–1869) – President Lincoln's stepmother since he was 10, lived throughout his life
• Mary Lincoln Crume (1775–1832) – President Lincoln's aunt on his father's side
• John Hanks (1802–1889) – President Lincoln's mother's cousin, lived with Lincoln's family for four years
• Joseph Hanks (1725–1793) – theorized to be President Lincoln's great-grandfather
• Samuel Lincoln (1622?–1690) – President Lincoln's great-great-great grandfather
• Nancy Hanks Lincoln heritage – exploration of Lincoln's mother's family heritage

Notes

1. Robert's second wife did have a son, named Timothy Lincoln Beckwith, and listed Robert as the father, which would make Timothy Abraham Lincoln's great-great-grandson and only living descendant. Robert denied paternity of the child, said he had undergone a vasectomy years earlier, and a divorce court ruled that Robert was not the father.

References

1. "George Clooney is distant cousin of Abraham Lincoln". reuters.com.
2. Miller, Ben (November 23, 2015). "Ben Miller finds out an amazing fact, Series 10, Coming Home". BBC. BBC One. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
3. "St Andrew, Hingham". norfolkchurches.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
4. "GOD BLEW, AND THEY WERE SCATTERED: PETER'S PEOPLE (NEW FRONTIERS), Book 3". Retrieved 17 August 2020.
5. "GOD BLEW, AND THEY WERE SCATTERED: PETER'S PEOPLE (NEW FRONTIERS), Book 3". Retrieved 17 August 2020.
6. "Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, volume 62". 1928. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
7. Waldo Lincoln, History of the Lincoln Family: An Account of the Descendants of Samuel Lincoln of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1637–1920 (1923) ISBN 0-7884-1489-5; John George Nicolay, John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History (1890) p. 2.
8. Donald, Lincoln, p. 84.
9. "GREAT-GRANDSON`S DEATH ENDS LINCOLN FAMILY LINE". Chicago Tribune. December 26, 1985. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
10. "The Lincoln Family Tree". Lincoln Presenters. Archived from the original on February 2, 2006. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
11. Grzyb, Frank L. (January 1, 2013). Hidden History of Rhode Island and the Civil War. The History Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-62619-231-7.
12. Thomas Lincoln Jr., Abraham Lincoln's younger brother, was born in 1812 at Knob Creek Farm in Kentucky and died 3 days later, having contracted an unknown sickness. Treated by Doctor Daniel B. Potter of Elizabethtown, the baby did not survive despite his efforts to save the child.
13. Duniho, Terence L. "Descendants of Abraham Lincoln, Generation No. 3". Retrieved June 6, 2016., from New-York Tribune article "Mrs. Charles Isham Dies; Lincoln's Granddaughter", dated October 23, 1938.