Legends That Libel Lincoln

[Gene C]

One of the "myths" pointed out in this book is the alleged poor character of Thomas Lincoln.

The author points out this is an untrue characterization of Lincoln's father, quoting from Louis Warren's, the Lincoln Kinsman

I didn't locate the exact article quoted in "Legends that Libel Lincoln", but below is from a different article by Louis Warren in the Lincoln Kinsman regarding Herndon

"The Source of the Myth
There can be no question about the origin of the "shiftless father" fable, as it can be traced directly to William
Herndon. It is closely aligned with the paternity myth, and its primary objective is to present the putative
father of the President in such an ignominious roll that the observer will immediately draw the conclusion
that there could be no real kinship between Thomas and Abraham Lincoln.

It is always a delicate task to as- scribe motives for the abuse heaped
upon an individual, but there can be no mistake about the reason why
Herndon gave Thomas Lincoln such a bad reputation. Herndon urged
Weik on many occasions to start the President down just as low as possible
to make the contrast between his early surroundings and White
House atmosphere stand out in bold relief. He wanted Lincoln to "rise from the ashes,"
so his first offering on the sacrificial altar was Lincoln's own mother whom he portrayed as a fallen woman,
then he sacrificed the father of the President whom he characterized as "embodied listlessness."

https://archive.org/stream/lincolnkinsma...1/mode/2up