Thomas Lincoln's Grave

Thomas Lincoln, father of the sixteenth President, died in 1851 and was buried in what was then called the Gordon Burial Ground, now known as the Thomas Lincoln Cemetery. As was common in many rural cemeteries, his grave was probably first marked only by a simple rock, though Abraham Lincoln's nephew, John J. Hall, later told a Lincoln biographer that during his last visit in January of 1861 Abraham carved the initials "T L" onto a board and placed it on the grave. No permanent marker could be placed until money was raised by local friends and by Thomas' grandson, Robert Todd Lincoln, and those donations led to the erection of a tombstone in 1880. The current grave marker was later installed by the Illinois Lions Club after the original was chipped away over the years by souvenir hunters.

Illinois · United States