AL and God

[RJNorton]

Ed Steers wrote an excellent article that was published in the September 1999 North & South magazine. The article was entitled "Was Lincoln a Christian? A Question of Faith." I thought it interesting that there have been four separate stories that have been floated regarding Lincoln's alleged baptism. All the stories have the common thread that the (alleged) baptism took place during the time Lincoln was President-elect.

Summarizing Ed's words: The first story appeared in 1942. In this story a minister of the Disciples of Christ (Brethren) whose name was John O'Kane told of secretly baptizing Lincoln in a creek near Springfield. This account appeared in the "Christian Evangelist" in 1942. The second account appeared in a small book written by Reverend Freeman Ankrum and was published in 1947. In this account Lincoln was baptized by a member of the German Baptist Church commonly known as the "Dunkards." In the third account, which appeared in a book in 1956, a minister, who was a member of the Church of Brethren, came to Springfield from Indiana at night and the baptism was secretly carried out in the Sangamon River. The fourth and final account appeared in Mariah Vance's Lincoln's Unknown Private Life. Vance was the Lincolns' housekeeper. The account is similar to the 3rd story only the baptism was allegedly carried out by the Reverend David Elkins. Since Elkins died in 1857 we know this account is false, and historians generally discount all of these stories.

Ed Steers concludes, "The baptism of Abraham Lincoln is one of those apocryphal stories that persists in Lincoln lore. It never happened."