Preponderance of the Evidence in a Civil Trial

[David Lockmiller]

(04-06-2020 03:37 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(04-06-2020 01:49 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Regarding the importance of Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in Abraham Lincoln’s life, two quite similar versions of the direct conversation that Herndon had with Lincoln on this topic have already been posted on this thread. I thought the addition of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s research and opinion on this topic, and her related insights, in the book “Team of Rivals” at pages 47-49, would be a fitting and important post to make at this time. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s words read as follows.

The traces of Nancy Lincoln in history are few and fragmentary. A childhood friend and neighbor of Lincoln’s, Nathaniel Grigsby, reported that Mrs. Lincoln, “was a woman Know(n) for the Extraordinary Strength of her mind among the family and all who knew her: she was superior to her husband in Every way. She was a brilliant woman.” Nancy’s first cousin Dennis Hanks, a childhood friend of Abraham’s, recalled that Mrs. Lincoln “read the good Bible to [Abe] – taught him to read and to spell – taught him sweetness & benevolence as well.” She was described as “beyond all doubt an intellectual woman”; said to possess “Remarkable” perception; to be “very smart” and “naturally Strong minded.”

I do not know how reliable this is, but Nancy Hanks may have been good at wrestling, too. In a book titled "Reminiscences of the early bench and bar of Illinois" (published in 1879) Usher F. Linder wrote:

"Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin county (now La' Rue), within ten miles of the place where I first saw the light, and a little over a month ahead of me. His mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Hanks, was said to be a very strong-minded woman, and one of the most athletic women in Kentucky. In a fair wrestle, she could throw most of the men who ever put her powers to the test. A reliable gentleman told me he heard the late Jack Thomas, clerk of the Grayson Court, say he had frequently wrestled with her, and she invariably laid him on his back. Lincoln himself was a man of great physical powers a perfect type of sinews and muscles wrapped around enormous bones."

Roger, I had read this also in Burlingame's book, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Volume One, page 11 and the passage was prefaced by a quote from Herndon.

According to Herndon, the "reputation of Mrs. Lincoln is that she was a bold -- reckless -- daredevil kind of woman, stepping to the very verge of propriety." (Footnote: Herndon to Jesse Weik, Springfield, Jan. 19, 1886.) Nancy Hank's wayward behavior may have inspired the story that in a "fair wrestle, she could throw most of the men who ever put her powers to the test." Jack Thomas, clerk of the Grayson County Court, alleged that "he had frequently wrestled with her, and she invariably laid him on his back."

(Burlingame referenced your same source at page 39 regarding Nancy Hanks' wrestling prowess.)