Lincoln and religion

[RJNorton]

Was Abraham Lincoln ever baptized? Yesterday I was reading a 1999 article Ed Steers wrote about Lincoln and faith in North & South magazine. Ed mentions that stories of Lincoln's alleged secret baptism emerged during the 20th century.

Ed discusses four stories that have circulated concerning Lincoln's alleged baptism. The first one 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 "Drunkards." 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. As with the other accounts, the baptism allegedly took place between Lincoln's election in November 1860 and departure for Washington in February 1861. Since Elkins died in 1857 we know this account is false, and historians generally discount all of these stories.

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