His Life
Abraham Lincoln learned the tanner's trade and later took his brother John as his apprentice. A prominent tanner of Berks County in those days was James Boone (1709 – 1785), uncle to Daniel Boone. James Boone was a near neighbor to the Lincolns of Heister's Creek, and his daughter Anne was married to John Lincoln's half-brother. This family connection may have influenced Abraham's choice of occupation.
In 1768 Abraham's father John Lincoln purchased land in the Shenandoah Valley in the colony of Virginia. He settled his family on a 600-acre (2.4 km2) tract on Linville Creek in Augusta County (now Rockingham County). In 1773, John and Rebecca Lincoln divided their tract with their two eldest sons, Abraham and Isaac. Abraham built a house on his land, across Linville Creek from his parents' home.
Capt Abraham Lincoln married Mary Shipley in 1772. They moved to KY in 1782. His second wife was Bathsheba Herring (c. 1742 – 1836), a daughter of Alexander Herring (c. 1708–1778) and his wife Abigail Harrison (c. 1710 – c. 1780) of Linville Creek. Five children were born to Abraham: Mordecai born circa 1771, Josiah born circa 1773, Mary born circa 1775, Thomas born 1778, and Nancy born 1780.
During the American Revolutionary War, Abraham served as a captain of the Augusta County militia, and with the organization of Rockingham County in 1778, he served as a captain for that county. He was in command of sixty of his neighbors, ready to be called out by the governor of Virginia and marched where needed. Captain Lincoln's company served under General Lachlan McIntosh in the fall and winter of 1778, assisting in the construction of Fort McIntosh in Pennsylvania and Fort Laurens in Ohio.
In 1780, Abraham Lincoln sold his land on Mill Creek, and in 1781 he moved his family to Kentucky, then a district of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The family settled in Jefferson County, about twenty miles (32 km) east of the site of Louisville. The territory was still contested by Indians living across the Ohio River. For protection the settlers lived near frontier forts, called stations, to which they retreated when the alarm was given. Abraham Lincoln settled near Hughes' Station on Floyd's Fork and began clearing land, planting corn, and building a cabin. Lincoln owned at least 5,544 acres of land in the richest sections of Kentucky.
Read more about this topic: Abraham Lincoln (captain)
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