Lincoln, Davis and Booth: Family Secrets

[RJNorton]

Gene, Dennis Hanks told William Herndon, "Lincolns mother learned him to read the Bible —study it & the stories in it and all that was moraly & affectionate it it, repeating it to Abe & his sister when very young. Lincoln was often & much moved by the stories. This Bible was bought in Philadelphia about 1801."

Regarding whom Lincoln's father was please see Chapter 2 of forum member Dr. Ed Steers' book titled Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated with Our Greatest President. Ed concludes this chapter by writing, "Like so many of the myths associated with Lincoln, the myth of his illegitimate birth refuses to die in spite of the facts." William E. Barton devoted an entire book to this subject and concluded that was no question that Thomas Lincoln was Abraham Lincoln's real father. David Herbert Donald wrote that the theories of Thomas Lincoln not being the real father "have long ago been 'exploded by professional research." It is "utterly groundless" according to Donald.