Lincoln's birthday

[Steve]

(01-18-2017 03:27 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  That's interesting - I've never noticed nor recall having read. I wonder why. Was she a preemie (in case - how likely was survival in those days at the frontier?) or was it what we call a "praline wedding" (bride containing a sweet filling)? Or simply a misremembered date of birth or "typo"?

The simplest explanation is that the date is wrong, but is it the correct explanation? And if Sarah's birth date is correct there's all manner of theory-crafting to be done on what could've happened with no real answer possible now.

I noticed that Roger mentioned in another comment thread that this Bible dates from 1841, if that's correct (I get confused by all the different Lincoln Bibles sometimes), then Thomas would've had to have another Bible for Lincoln to read as a kid. Lincoln could've copied the dates from that Bible. There's one problem with that theory. If Thomas was recording births and deaths contemporaneosly, why isn't the infant Thomas' birth and death included in the record Lincoln wrote?

Burlingame in his biography of Lincoln gives Thomas Lincoln's birth as "around 1776". I've seen the c.1776 date on the web as well. I don't know what their reasoning is but it would mean the date in the Bible is wrong. But I don't think the accuracy of Thomas or Nancy's births would necessarily mean that Abraham and Sarah's births would be wrong.