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The Lincoln family is an American family of English origins. It includes the fourth United States Attorney General, Levi Lincoln Sr., governors Levi Lincoln Jr. (of Massachusetts) and Enoch Lincoln (of Maine), and Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States.

There were ten known descendants of Abraham Lincoln. The president's branch of the family is believed to have been extinct since its last undisputed, legal and known descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died on December 24, 1985, without any acknowledged children.

Roots in England

Samuel Lincoln's father Edward Lincoln was born about 1575 and remained in Hingham, Norfolk, England. He died on February 11, 1640.

Edward was the only son of Richard Lincoln (buried 1620 in the graveyard of St Andrew's Church) and Elizabeth Remching. After the death of his wife, Richard married three more times. There is some debate and at the time, some contesting discussions relating to the contents of Richard's will. Richard was left an inheritance from his father who in turn had it left from his father before him. By convention, his son Edward would inherit the lands and holdings in Hingham, Norfolk, but Richard's 4th wife had instead convinced him to leave the entire proceeds of the will to her and his three youngest children. With no reason to stay, Edward's children, including Thomas 'the weaver' Lincoln and Samuel Lincoln of Hingham, Norfolk, England, made the perilous journey to the New World.

History in America

First generation

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. He is considered the patriarch of the Lincoln family in the United States.

Other Lincolns

Benjamin Lincoln (1733–1810) was a Continental Army general during the American Revolutionary War, though he is not known to have direct familial links to president Lincoln. His English ancestors were some who first settled in Hingham, beginning with Thomas Lincoln 'the cooper', who was among several Lincolns that settled in Hingham when it was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He subsequently served as the first United States Secretary of War and the second Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

Seventh generation

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was a lawyer, politician and 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. He married Mary Ann Todd and had four children: Robert, Edward, Willie, and Tad.

Eighth generation

Of Lincoln's four sons, only Robert Todd survived past the age of 18. He married Mary Eunice Harlan (1846–1937), daughter of Senator James Harlan and Ann Eliza Peck of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. They had three children, two daughters and one son:

• Mary "Mamie" Lincoln (1869–1938)
• Abraham Lincoln II (nicknamed "Jack"; 1873–1890)
• Jessie Harlan Lincoln (1875–1948)

Ninth generation

Mary "Mamie" Lincoln married Charles Bradford Isham and had one son, Lincoln Isham (1892–1971).

Jessie Harlan Lincoln married three times. She had a daughter and a son, both with her first husband, Warren Wallace Beckwith:

• Mary Lincoln Beckwith (1898–1975)
• Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (1904–1985)

Tenth generation

Lincoln Isham married Leahalma Correa. They did not have any children.

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

Notable distant relations

Former U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (née Lambert) of Arkansas is married to Steve Lincoln, a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln.

Actor George Clooney is "the half-first cousin five times removed from Lincoln", with Lincoln's mother the half-sister of Clooney's 4th great-grandmother.

Actor Tom Hanks and the former president are third cousins four times removed.

Family tree and lineage

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

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, who had undergone a vasectomy years earlier, denied paternity of the child, and a divorce court ruled that Robert was not the father.

References

1. You, Brenda (April 20, 1994). "The Real End of the Line for Abe". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
2. "St Andrew, Hingham". norfolkchurches.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
3. ^ God Blew, and They Were Scattered: Peter's People (New Frontiers), Book 3. 15 May 2008. ISBN 9781469120607. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
4. "Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, volume 62". 1928. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
5. 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.
6. "History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts". Hingham, Mass. 1893. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
7. "The Articles of Confederation". Archived from the original on November 29, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2007.
8. "Benjamin Lincoln". Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
9. Donald, Lincoln, p. 84.
10. King, C. J. (2005). Four Marys and a Jessie: The Story of the Lincoln Women. Friends of Hildene, Incorporated. pp. 70, 78. ISBN 978-0-9754917-2-0.
11. Goff, John S. (1968). Robert Todd Lincoln: a Man in His Own Right. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780598207395.
12. Burkhimer, Michael (2003). 100 Essential Lincoln Books. Cumberland House Publishing. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-58182-369-1.
13. Schwartz, Thomas F. (Autumn 2007). "A Death in the Family : Abraham Lincoln II "Jack" (1873–1890)" (PDF). For the People. Vol. 9, no. 3. Abraham Lincoln Association. pp. 1, 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
14. "Great-Grandson's Death Ends Lincoln Family Line". Chicago Tribune. December 26, 1985. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
15. Michels, Spencer (April 30, 2010). "Senate Primary Heats Up in Arkansas". PBS News. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
16. "George Clooney is distant cousin of Abraham Lincoln". Reuters. November 1, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
17. Montalti, Victoria (May 10, 2022). "11 celebrities who are related to US presidents". Business Insider. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
18. "The Lincoln Family Tree". Lincoln Presenters. Archived from the original on February 2, 2006. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
19. ^ Grzyb, Frank L. (2013). Hidden History of Rhode Island and the Civil War. The History Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-62619-231-7.
20. 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.
21. ^ 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.

External links

• Lincoln children

• Politics
• United States

• Lincoln family
• American families of English ancestry