"Nancy Hanks!" "Nancy Hanks!"

[SSlater]

First off, Nancy Hanks, was Abraham Lincoln's Mother's maiden name.
Her name became a "Code Name", used by the U. S. Navy in WWII.

There is no sense asking you what it meant - it was "Classified", and only "Signalmen" knew what it meant. Also - you were not even born yet.

It was a "night vision" system for sending signals. At that time it was called "Dark Light" or "Black Light". You need special attachments on the signal light and special goggles to see the signals. Very Spooky!

It was also easy to find "Frogmen" swimming in a pitch black ocean.
Any Questions? Post them.

"Nancy Hanks!".

[RJNorton]

John, thanks for teaching us about Nancy Hanks being used as a "Code Name" employed by the United States Navy in WWII.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Nancy Hanks fill-in-the-blank trivia question:

During the time Nancy Hanks was living there was a man people rhymed about. Who was he? (he has a connection to Nancy Hanks)

"His nose is long and his hair is red,
And he goes by the name of ____________ ____________"

[RJNorton]

Hint #1: He also had a connection to Thomas Lincoln.

[RJNorton]

Hint #2: The correct answer is in Carl Sandburg's The Prairie Years.

[LincolnMan]

Jesse Head!

[RJNorton]

Brilliant, Bill! You are correct.

Jesse Head was the minister who married Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln in 1806. Quoting from Carl Sandburg:

"The Reverend Jesse Head arrived on his gray mare. He was a man they rhymed about:

His nose is long and his hair is red,
And he goes by the name of Jesse Head.

A hater of sin, he liked decency and good order and could pause in a sermon to step from the pulpit and throw out a disorderly mocker who had had a few drinks. The bride and groom stood up before him. He pronounced them man and wife and wrote for the county clerk that on June 12, 1806, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks had been joined together in the holy estate of matrimony "agreeable to the rites and ceremonies of the Methodist Episcopal Church."

Then came "the infare." One who was there remembered, "We had bear meat, venison, wild turkey and ducks, eggs wild and tame, maple sugar lumps tied on a string to bite off for coffee or whisky, syrup in big gourds, peach and honey, a sheep barbecued whole over coals of wood burned in a pit, and covered with green boughs to keep the juices in; and a race for the whisky bottle."

Bill, you win free tickets to the Lincoln Marriage Temple in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

[LincolnMan]

Thanks Roger