Thomas Lincoln

[L Verge]

Wonder what the Ruthven Deane Collection is that is referred to as the collection containing this photo?

I doubt very seriously that this is THE Thomas Lincoln that sired Abraham Lincoln. Ed Steers of this forum has done extensive Lincoln genealogy on the Lincolns. Wish he would chime in.

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I think this may give us a clue: Ruthven Deane (20 August 1851, Cambridgeport – 20 March 1934, Chicago) was an American ornithologist, noted as a founding member of the American Ornithologists' Union[1] and for his collection of photographic portraits of ornithologists and naturalists.[2]

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 AOU and later
3 References
4 External links
Early life[edit]
From an early age, Deane was an enthusiastic amateur ornithologist. As a schoolboy he was a close friend to William Brewster and Daniel French and went on field trips with those two and other boys. At about 18 years of age, he obtained employment in Boston at Dana Bros., a company that imported sugar and molasses from the West Indies. The Boston Fire of 1872 caused him to find employment in the insurance business, where he continued until 1880, when he moved to Chicago to join his brother Charles E. Deane in the wholesale grocery firm of Deane Bros. and Lincoln.

Note the last word in that quote from Wikipedia. Want to bet that Thomas Lincoln was the Lincoln in the grocery firm of Deane Bros. and Lincoln? Some sloppy assumption elevated him to Abraham Lincoln's father, I bet...