Chapter One

"An Extra Good Boy"

Was Abraham Lincoln really born in a log cabin?

When Abraham was born at home, on February 12, 1809, home was a one-room log cabin only eighteen feet long. His father, Thomas Lincoln, had built the cabin from trees he had cleared from his land -- three hundred acres on the south fork of Nolin Creek, near Hodgenville, Kentucky. The gaps between the logs were filled with mud and straw. The floor was pounded dirt. There was one door with a leather hinge and one window with no glass, as well as a stone fireplace. The chimney was made of sticks coated with clay, to keep it from catching fire. What were Abraham's parents like?

Lincoln's ancestors had come to Kentucky from Virginia, following the famous pioneer Daniel Boone, a distant relative. When Thomas Lincoln was only six, he saw an Indian kill his father, who'd been clearing a field. Thomas's older brother then shot and killed the Indian; otherwise Thomas might have been killed or kidnapped.

By his early teens, Thomas was on his own, earning his way in the world rather than going to school. Though he never learned to read very well and could barely write his own name, Thomas earned a living as a carpenter, framing houses and making furniture and coffins. Between carpentry jobs he took any work he could find -- laboring on farms, fighting Indians, guarding prisoners at the small stone jailhouse where his friend was the jailer.

Thomas Lincoln was known as a fun-loving man who was the best storyteller around. In 1806 he married Nancy Hanks. Known for her kindness, cheerfulness, and hard work, she was also a deeply religious woman who valued education. By the time their first child, Sarah, was born in 1807, Thomas Lincoln had saved enough money to buy his own property. The family eventually moved to Sinking Spring Farm, where Abraham Lincoln was born.

How many states were united when Abraham was born?

In 1809, when Lincoln was born, Thomas Jefferson was president and there were only seventeen states in the Union. Ohio had been the latest state admitted, back in 1803. Kentucky, where the Lincolns were living, had been a state since 1792.

But in 1803 President Jefferson had made the Louisiana Purchase, buying a huge swath of the middle of the continent from France. So, although there were no states west of the Mississippi at the time of Lincoln's birth, the nation was growing.

What was life like for young Abraham Lincoln?

When Abraham was two years old, his family moved a few miles to another farm called Knob Creek Farm. It was one of many moves they would make. A year later Nancy Lincoln gave birth to another boy, named Thomas for his father. But he died within a few days. In those times many babies died in childbirth or soon after they were born, because the conditions were so hard. There were few doctors around, very little medicine was available, and people did not understand the importance of keeping clean.

Childhood on an American farm had not changed much since the days of the Pilgrims. There was work to be done, even by the youngest children. Boys took care of the animals and fields. Girls helped their mothers cook, clean, sew, and keep house. Almost everything that was used was made from scratch. There weren't many "store-bought" goods.

There were few neighbors and simple pastimes, such as fishing and swimming in summer. Of course, there was no television or radio or computers. Not even toys from stores.

You were expected to mind your manners and respect your elders. You'd get a whack with a switch when you didn't behave.

American Voices

"My earliest recollection is of the Knob Creek place. I remember that old home very well. Our farm was composed of three fields surrounded by high hills and deep gorges. Sometimes when there came a big rain, the water would come down through the gorges and spread all over the farm. The last thing I remember of doing there was one Saturday afternoon; the other boys planted the corn in what we called the big field; it contained seven acres -- and I dropped the pumpkin seeds. I dropped two seeds every other hill and every other row. The next Sunday morning there came a big rain in the hills; it did not rain a drop in the valley, but the water coming through the gorges washed ground, corn, pumpkin seeds and all clear off the field."

-- Abraham Lincoln, recalling his childhood

What is a "blab" school?

There were no public schools on the frontier in Lincoln's day. Children on isolated farms were taught to read at home by their parents. If there were enough families in a settlement, the parents might chip in to hire a teacher, who would hold classes in a simple one-room schoolhouse. Children of all ages would sit together and learn to read and "cipher," or do arithmetic. They all spoke out loud, or "blabbed," at the same time. That's why it was called a blab school. The idea was that if the students were talking, they wouldn't be daydreaming!

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Excerpted from Don't Know Much about Abraham Lincoln by Kenneth C. Davis
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