Nancy Hanks Lincoln Grave

Nancy Hanks Lincoln Grave. Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. On October 5, 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk sickness. This mysterious and dreaded illness was feared by pioneers because its cause was unknown. Mrs. Lincoln had nursed and comforted some of her neighbors with the disease until she became ill and eventually died., This “Pioneer Cemetery” contains Mrs. Lincoln's gravesite as well as other marked and unmarked graves of area residents from the 19th and early 20th centuries., (captions) , The white snakeroot, a shade-loving plant found throughout the Ohio River Valley, contains a poison that causes milk sickness in humans. Cows that have eaten snakeroot can transfer the poison to humans through their milk. Not until the early 20th century was the poison discovered to be from snakeroot. Today milk sickness is not a threat due to advancements in modern dairy practices., For many years after the Lincolns left Indiana, Nancy Hanks Lincoln’s grave was unmarked. In 1879, this permanent marker was erected to honor the mother of our 16th president., John Rowbotham's sketch (right) of the gravesite of Nancy Hanks Lincoln in 1865, before the permanent gravestone was set in place