Lincoln's Virginia Ancestors

Marker No. KB-65
Rockingham County, VA

Marker Text: In 1768, John Lincoln moved here with his family from Pennsylvania. His eldest son, Abraham, grandfather of the president, might have remained a Virginian had his friend and distant relative, Daniel Boone not encouraged him to migrate to Kentucky by 1782. Abraham's son, Thomas Lincoln, born in Virginia (ca. in 1778), met and married Nancy Hanks in Kentucky, where the future president was born on 12 February 1809. Nearby stands the Lincoln house built about 1800 by Captain Jacob Lincoln, the President's great-uncle, near the original Lincoln homestead. Five generations of Lincolns and two family slaves are buried on the hill.

Location: Near Linville, Virginia on Virginia Route 42 (Harpine Highway) on the east side of road, next to what looks like an older section of Route 42. Erected by the Department of Historic Resources in 1997.

  Today's marker is the companion marker to A-18 (Abraham Lincoln's Father), I posted on March 10, 2012. This marker is located near where the old Lincoln homestead stood. What does remain is a Lincoln family home built around 1800 and the old Lincoln family cemetery is nearby on the hill.

  President Abraham Lincoln's grandfather, whom the future president was named, Abraham Lincoln moved with his parents, John and Rebecca Lincoln from Pennsylvania in 1768. Abraham Lincoln was born 13 May 1744 in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania. Abraham was the first child born to John and Rebecca Lincoln, who had nine children in all: Abraham born 1744, twins Hannah and Lydia born 1748, Isaac born 1750, Jacob born 1751, John born 1755, Sarah born 1757, Thomas born 1761, and Rebecca born 1767.

  Abraham Lincoln learned the tanner's trade and later took his brother John as his apprentice. A prominent tanner of Berks County in those days was James Boone (1709– 1785), uncle to Daniel Boone. James Boone was a neighbor to the Lincolns of Heister's Creek, and his daughter Anne was married to John Lincoln's half-brother. This family connection may have influenced Abraham's choice of occupation and the families relocating to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. The Boone family when Daniel Boone was 15 or 16 in 1750 had stayed for a while near the Linville Creek area on their way to North Carolina and the Lincoln family might have learned about this area of the Shenandoah Valley from the Boone family.

Marker is in front of house, photo taken looking south on Route 42.  Marker located on old section of the road, current road is four lane.  Cemetery below is to the left of the photo.

  In 1768 Abraham's father John Lincoln purchased land in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He settled his family on a 600-acre tract on Linville Creek in what was at the time Augusta County and is now Rockingham County. In 1773, John and Rebecca Lincoln divided their tract with their two eldest sons, Abraham and Isaac. Abraham built a house on his land, across Linville Creek from his parents' home.

  During the American Revolutionary War, Abraham served as a captain of the Augusta County militia, and with the organization of Rockingham County in 1778, he served as a captain for that county. He was in command of sixty of his neighbors, ready to be called out by the governor of Virginia and marched where needed. Captain Lincoln's company served under General Lachlan McIntosh in the fall and winter of 1778, assisting in the construction of Fort McIntosh in Pennsylvania and Fort Laurens in Ohio.

  In 1780, Abraham Lincoln sold his land on Mill Creek, and in 1781 he moved his family to Kentucky, then a district of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The family settled in Jefferson County, about twenty miles east of the site of Louisville. The territory was still contested by Indians living across the Ohio River. For protection the settlers lived near frontier forts, called stations, to which they retreated when the alarm was given. Abraham Lincoln settled near Hughes' Station on Floyd's Fork and began clearing land, planting corn, and building a cabin. Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln was killed by Native Americans during one of these attacks in May 1786.

Lincoln family cemetery on hill north of the house.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  Abraham Lincoln like many families in the Shenandoah Valley later moved to Kentucky and other points west for more land and new opportunities, but many stayed in this valley. Among John Lincoln's five sons only Jacob Lincoln remained in Virginia, later known as “Virginia John”. The home that remains behind this marker was built by Capt. Jacob Lincoln (1751-1822) about 1800 is reportedly about one-half of a mile from John Lincoln's the original homestead. The "Lincoln Home" reportedly remained in the Lincoln family until 1874, when it was purchased by Samuel M. Bowman, a local farmer.

  While a portion of the Lincoln family migrated to Kentucky, Lincoln's continued to live in this area of the Shenandoah Valley for several generations. When Abraham Lincoln served as President during the American Civil War, like many families in the U.S., many Lincoln's fought on both sides of the war with the portion that remained in the area supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War.

  Photos of the some of the gravestones in the Lincoln Cemetery can be found on The Historical Markers Database.

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