Who is this lady?

[RJNorton]

Kudos to Eva and Susan!

I have read a variety of versions of this incident cited in the hints about the back and ankle, and here is just one. I have not seen a specific date for the incident, but it most likely would be c.1820-1825.

One day Abraham's stepsister, Matilda Johnston, playfully tried to knee young Abraham in the back just as he was swinging an ax to cut down a tree. The joke backfired because it caused Abraham to fall backwards, and the ax cut a deep gash in Matilda's ankle. Abraham quickly cut his shirt into strips and tied them tight around Matilda's bleeding ankle. She was scared and crying. He did not question her; rather he realized it had been a childish prank. He picked up the young girl and carried her on his shoulder all the way from the woods to the Lincolns' cabin. Matilda wanted to tell her mother that she was cut by Abraham's ax, but not exactly how it happened, as she was embarrassed. He advised her to tell the "whole truth" about how she got injured.

Growing up, Abraham and Matilda were close. In 1865 Matilda wrote Herndon that the two "grew up together loving one another as brother and sister."

Matilda Johnston