Lincoln's Birth

[Steve Whitlock]

I was off a year. So much for memory. Abraham Enlow was 16, not 15.

Mary Brooks Rathbone
Birth 3 May 1766
Virginia, USA
Death 1 Apr 1843 (aged 76)
Larue County, Kentucky, USA
Burial
Phillip's Fort Cemetery
Hodgenville, Larue County, Kentucky, USA
Memorial ID 59686164 · View Source

Mary (Brooks) LARUE ENLOW RATHBONE was the grandmother of Kentucky Governor John LaRue Helm.

She is credited with assisting Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln at the birth of her son, Abraham Lincoln, in 1809.

1) John LARUE m. abt. 1782 Virginia
2) Islom ENLOW m. 25 Jun 1792 Nelson Co., KY
3) Thomas RATHBONE m. 24 Mar 1819 Hardin Co., KY

Otis M MATHER is his book, "Six Generations of LaRues and Allied Families" states, that Mary "was of the family for which Brooks Station, Bullitt County, Kentucky, was named."

Family Members
Spouses

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John LaRue

1746–1792 (m. 1782)
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Isom Enlow

1767–1816 (m. 1792)
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Thomas Wells Rathbone

1779–1826 (m. 1819)

Children

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Rebecca LaRue Helm

1784–1860
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Squire LaRue

1785–1859
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Phebe LaRue LaRue

1788 – unknown
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Margaret LaRue Walters

1789–1864
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Abraham Enlow

1793–1861
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Lydia Enlow Read

1800–1856
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Elizabeth Enlow Fairleigh

1803–1867
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Abraham Enlow
Birth 26 Jan 1793
Hardin County, Kentucky, USA
Death 14 Dec 1861 (aged 68)
Larue County, Kentucky, USA
Burial
Red Hill Cemetery
Hodgenville, Larue County, Kentucky, USA
Plot Pine Tree Section
Memorial ID 12104329 · View Source

Perhaps the association of the Lincoln name with that of Abraham Enlow is more familiar than any other Lincoln story connected with persons mentioned in this book. It has often been said, and may yet be believed by some persons, that Abraham Lincoln was named for Abraham Enlow. It would certainly be somewhat extraordinary for a boy only sixteen years of age to be considered worthy of such honor in preference to the deceased grandfather of the infant. Abraham Enlow was born January 26, 1793, and died December 14, 1861, as shown by the inscription on his gravestone in Red Hill Cemetery at Hodgenville. His name and those of the other children of Isom Enlow and Mary, his wife (formerly LaRue) appear in this book following the list of the children of John LaRue (II.), the first husband of this Mary.

The most credible and probably the true story of the connection of Abraham Enlow's name with that of Abraham Lincoln concerns his mother, Mary Enlow, as well as himself. This story has long been current in the region where Lincoln was born. The writer has recently heard it in full from the lips of Mr. Robert Enlow, late Representative of LaRue County in the Kentucky General Assembly, who has resided in this county all his life and whose ancestors were among the old settlers in the community. He is a son of the late Rev. Robert Enlow, who was a son of Abraham Enlow. The story as repeated by Robert Enlow came to him through his mother and his grandmother. It is as follows: On the morning of the 12th of February, 1809, Abraham Enlow was sent from his father's home, which was located a mile east of the site of the present town of Hodgenville, to the Kirkpatrick mill, located three miles southwest of the same place. As the road then ran it passed near the Lincoln home. On the way, the boy, on horseback, with a bag of grain, met Thomas Lincoln walking. He was informed by Lincoln that he (Lincoln) was starting to get Mrs. Enlow, Abraham's mother, to come to his house to be with his wife, who was sick. The skill of Mary Enlow on such an occasion as was at hand was well known to the people of the neighborhood. In all probability there was no regular doctor of medicine nearer than Elizabethtown. The youth, Abraham, seeing the urgency of the case, suggested to Mr. Lincoln that he return home, then, taking the bag off the horse, he went back, and brought his mother to the Lincoln cabin, arriving in ample time for her to render material assistance. When the newly born boy was given the name Abraham the neighbors thought and said that it was in recognition of this act of kindness of Abraham Enlow to the father. None of these neighbors knew that Abraham was an old name in the Lincoln family.

Two of the nearest neighbors of Thomas Lincoln in the year 1809 were Conrad Walters. Jr., and Jacob Keith. Conrad Walters' wife was Margaret LaRue (11. D), a daughter of Mary Enlow (formerly LaRue), who, as has been indicated, was the chief attendant on Nancy Hanks Lincoln at the time of the birth of her son Abraham. Jacob Keith's wife was Rebecca Hodgen (VI. F), a daughter of Robert and Sarah Hodgen, consequently a cousin of Margaret Walters. They were both young women in 1809, but both had children at that time. According to reports, much stronger than tradition, both these younger women, Margaret Walters and Rebecca Keith, were in the Lincoln home on the day when Abraham was born. At present it may seem strange that so many visitors should be present at such a time. Conditions, as well as customs, have changed. Services required in times of illness which are now performed by trained nurses and "hired help" a hundred years ago were regarded by our Kentucky forefathers as the duties of neighbors, neglect of which was just cause for reproach.

Evidence, in the form of affidavits, as to the presence of both Rebecca Keith and Margaret Walters in the home of Thomas Lincoln on February 12, 1809, was gathered several years ago, at the time when citizens of Washington County were claiming that Abraham Lincoln was born in that county and not in the county of LaRue. In addition to these affidavits, the writer has had verbal statements to the same effect from credible persons. As to Rebecca Keith, her grandson, Mr. William Dale Keith, (VI. F c 5), of Buffalo, Kentucky, who is one of the best citizens of LaRue County, and who was old enough to perform his full duty as a soldier for the Union in the Civil War, recently informed the writer that his father {who was born in 1807 and died in 1881) told him that his (the father's) mother, this Rebecca, had often said that she was at the home of her neighbor, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, on the day of the birth of her son, Abraham. The Keith home was only three-quarters of a mile from the Lincoln cabin.

As may be seen in the sketch of Margaret Walters (II. D), she was the youngest child of John LaRue (II.) and Mary, his wife, who was afterward Mary Enlow. Margaret was born in 1789, married Conrad Walters, Jr., September 11, 1804, and settled on South Fork Creek, about a mile south of the Lincoln Farm, where she (continued to live until her death, which occurred October 26, 1864. When Lincoln was elected President, and for more than a quarter of a century afterward, the place now known as the Lincoln Farm, on which Abraham Lincoln was born, was owned and occupied by Richard Creal and his family. His son, Hon. R. W. Creal. the present Judge of the LaRue County Court, now (in 1921) considerably more than seventy years of age, informs the writer that some time about the beginning of the Civil War, Margaret Walters, then an old woman and using a crutch as she walked, spent a day with his mother's family in the Creal house, which yet stands near the entrance of the Lincoln Farm While there that day, Margaret Walters, with the informant, R. W. Creal, who was then a boy, went back to the Lincoln spring, and she pointed out to him the exact site of the Lincoln cabin (which had been previously removed to another farm near by), and told him that she was in the cabin on the day that Abraham Lincoln was born. No one who knew Margaret would question her veracity.

It will be noted that neither of these women seems to say what was the occasion of her presence at the Lincoln home on February 12, 1809, or whether they were there before or after the birth of the child. We may assume that at least one of them stayed with Mrs. Lincoln while Thomas Lincoln was absent to secure the services of Mary Enlow.

These are the principal stories or traditions that have come down with reference to the connection of any members of the LaRue family with the Lincolns while the latter lived on South Fork.

Otis M. Mather, Six Generations of LaRues and Allied Families (Louisville, KY: C. T. Dearing Printing Co., Inc., 1921), pp. 155-160.
Family Members
Parents

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Isom Enlow

1767–1816
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Mary Brooks Rathbone

1766–1843

Spouse

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Jane Vernon Enlow

1793–1859

Siblings

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Lydia Enlow Read

1800–1856
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Elizabeth Enlow Fairleigh

1803–1867

Half Siblings

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Rebecca LaRue Helm

1784–1860
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Squire LaRue

1785–1859
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Phebe LaRue LaRue

1788 – unknown
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Margaret LaRue Walters

1789–1864

Children

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Isham Enlow

1819–1867
Anthony Vernon Enlow

1823–1867
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Robert M. Enlows

1827–1869
Robert M. Enlow

1827–1869
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Mary Elizabeth Enlow Kennedy

1828–1897
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Malvina Enlow Wallace

1831–1911
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Abraham Enlows

1833–1888
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Note in the Mary (Brooks) Larue-Enlow-Rathbone memorial among her children are Margaret (Larue) Walters and Abraham Enlow as half-siblings.
The variation shown above that young Enlow went to get his mother, rather than his half-sister, seems predominantly among the Enlow clan; however, given the other, more credible sources that say it was Margaret "Peggy" Walters who was brought to deliver Abe, I tend to believe that account. The other account does say that Margaret was there as well, and it is true that Mary was more experienced as a midwife, but she may have been busy elsewhere at the time.

I'm including a newspaper article, shown with the memorial, which credits the older woman for bringing Abe into the world. While there may be some debate for that, there seems no real debate to the fact "the boy" was Abraham Enlow b: 1793.