Abe Lincoln and His Ancestors by Ida Tarbell

[Gene C]

This is a re-publication of her book from 1924 originally titled "In the Footsteps of the Lincolns" That is available in Internet Archive.
https://archive.org/details/infootstepso...e+Lincolns

Not counting his parents, less than 20% of the book deals with his ancestors going as far back as 1637. Most of that was about his father's side of the family. That 20% was more interesting than I thought it would be.

Miss Tarbel actually traveled to New England, rural Virginia & Kentucky, tracing and researching his family. Not an easy task for a woman and with challenging travel conditions 100 years ago.

It's an interesting, well written book with enough new information that will keep you reading. No matter how much you know about Lincoln, you will find something new here.

There were several interesting items in this book, moving to Indiana when he was growing up, the influence of the local church, Lincoln's introduction to law, examples of Lincoln's kindness, a chapter about Ann Rutledge, popular music of the times, negative press towards Lincoln, and comments on a few books she references incuding Henry Rankin's recollections of Abraham, Edwin Earle Sparks on the Lincoln Douglas debates of 1858, and Joseph Fort Newton's book on Lincoln and Herndon. The book does not cover the Civil War years.

We know a little more about Lincoln that we did 100 years ago, but this is still a good book about Lincoln prior to his presidency. Miss Tarbell wrote her book before the infamous Wilma Francis Minor letters.

To keep this short, I'll add a few more comments in a few more days.
An older, but still a good addition to your Lincoln library.
https://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-H...462&sr=8-3