The Lincoln Move to the Frontier

The Lincoln family first came to America in the seventeenth century and originally settled in the Massachusetts Bay colony before moving through the colonies to present-day New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Thomas Lincoln, father of future president Abraham Lincoln, was born on January 7, 1778, in Rockingham County, Virginia, to Captain Abraham and Bathsheba Lincoln. He was the youngest of three sons and the fourth of five children. Captain Abraham Lincoln secured multiple Virginia land-office treasury warrants in 1780 and 1782 to claim, secure, and improve land in any Virginia county. As many Virginia families moved west to present-day Kentucky during the late 1770s and 1780s, the Lincoln family migrated from eastern Virginia to Jefferson County, Virginia, in 1782, likely using Cumberland Gap and the Wilderness Road. In May 1786, Captain Abraham was killed by Native Americans in present-day Jefferson County while working the land with his sons Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas.

Harrodsburg, Kentucky · United States