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Photographer: Bernard Fisher
Taken: August 18, 2011
Caption: Nancy Hanks (1784 – 1818)
Additional Description: Born in the backwoods of Virginia, reared midst the primeval forests of Kentucky, died in the wilderness of Indiana. Yet, through these obscure years of toil and hardship she fulfilled a deathless destiny. Mother of Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States.

Gentle, industrious, patient, courageous, her short and simple life epitomizes the heroic virtues of pioneer women; her name will ever be an inspiration to the motherhood of every land.

Frail of body, she gave to humanity the most colossal figure of modern times. Untutored herself, she planted within his youthful breast a love of learning. Despite her narrow environment, she endowed her son with a breadth of vision that saved the Union and made a people free.

“God bless my Mother,” said Abraham Lincoln, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to her.”
Submitted: August 26, 2011, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia.
Database Locator Identification Number: p169344
File Size: 0.470 Megabytes

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