Preponderance of the Evidence in a Civil Trial

[David Lockmiller]

I quoted Herndon in my post #16 on this thread:

[Lincoln] said, among other things, that she [Lincoln's mother] was the illegitimate daughter of Lucy Hanks and a well-bred Virginia farmer or planter; and he argued that from this last source came his power of analysis, his logic, his activity, his ambition, and all the qualities that distinguished him from the other members and descendants of the Hanks family. His theory in discussing the matter of hereditary traits had been, that, for certain reasons, illegitimate children are oftentimes sturdier and brighter than those born in lawful wedlock; and in his case, he believed that his better nature and finer qualities came from this broad-minded, unknown Virginian. The revelation-painful as it was-called up the recollection of his mother, and, as the buggy jolted over the road, he added ruefully, "God bless my mother; all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her," and immediately lapsed into silence.

I now present another theory on: How to positively identify the prominent “Virginia farmer or planter” who was the maternal grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln.

Nancy Hanks Lincoln was born on February 5, 1784 in Hampshire County, Virginia, now Mineral County, West Virginia. (Source: Wikipedia – “Nancy Hanks”.) As Lincoln stated to Herndon, the birth of Lincoln’s mother was a matter of seduction and apparently accompanied by bad faith promises. So, it would stand to reason that the sexual encounter(s) that led to the birth of Nancy Hanks Lincoln was not merely a “one-night stand” or even a single event.

Steve wrote on March 25:

Billy, I’ll tell you something, but keep it a secret while I live. My mother was a bastard, was the daughter of a nobleman, so called, of Virginia. My mother’s mother was poor and credulous, and she was shamefully taken advantage of by the man.

The population was much smaller in the state of Virginia in the year 1784 when Nancy Hanks Lincoln was born in Hampshire County, Virginia. According to the Census of 1790, the population in the entire state of Virginia was 691,737. Thus, the number of prominent “Virginia farmers or planters” in a much smaller county geographic area within the state (for example, Hampshire County, Virginia) should yield a very small number of possibilities.

Information source: 1790 Census: Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790

The First Census of the United States (1790) comprised an enumeration of the inhabitants of the present states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

A complete set of the schedules for each state, with a summary for the counties, and in many cases for towns, was filed in the State Department, but unfortunately they are not now complete, the returns for the states of Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia having been destroyed when the British burned the Capitol at Washington during the War of 1812.

In response to repeated requests from patriotic societies and persons interested in genealogy, or desirous of studying the early history of the United States, Congress added to the sundry civil appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1907 and, when those funds were insufficient, provided for the continuance of authority to publish these important records with the urgent deficiency bill, approved February 15, 1908.

As the Federal census schedules of the state of Virginia for 1790 are missing, the lists of the state enumerations made in 1792, 1783, 1784, and 1785 have been substituted and, while not complete, they will, undoubtedly, prove of great value.

Heads of Households – Hampshire County (at pages 69-72).

This referenced Census Table for Hampshire County, Virginia lists four columns of information labeled as 1) Name of Head of Family, 2) White souls, 3) Dwellings, and 4) Other buildings.

The Heads of Family listings for Hampshire County – 1784 totals approximately 1,200 individual listings (3 full pages; 4 columns to a page; approximate 100 names of head of household to a column).

A prominent banker might own his bank building in addition to a dwelling. On the other hand, a prominent Virginia planter or farmer might own five or more individual farms with both an existing building for an occupant farmer family and a barn for livestock and equipment storage. Mr. Abraham Hite lists himself as the Head of Household for 8 White souls (which may consist of a wife and six children). But the census figures also show that he owned at the time a dwelling and 15 other buildings, which is the highest number in “other buildings” category for all of Hampshire County, Virginia. I could find only two other individuals listing for the county as many as 10 "other buildings" and so they too may be suspect.

I would be willing to bet $5 (one “Abraham Lincoln”) for a $1 million return that Abraham Hite is both the father of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and the paternal grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln.

There must be Abraham Hite legal documents and records regarding land transfers and wills (which would be very helpful to identify sons, daughters, and other family members in order to create a family tree coming down to the present day). And, I believe that it was a well-practiced tradition of the time to use the front pages of the family Bible to record the family tree as it progresses from one generation to the next generation with the Bible itself being passed down within the family tree through the generations.

Could not the present generation direct line descendants of Abraham Hite be identified in this manner and then be genetically tested in some manner to confirm the identity of Abraham Hite as the father of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and the maternal grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln?