Happy Mother’s Day to all!

[LincolnMan]

Celebrating mothers everywhere past present and future. Our heartfelt thanks go out to you all for that you do!

[RJNorton]

I second Bill.

[Gene C]

"All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother"

https://www.scott.af.mil/News/Commentari...el-mother/

[RJNorton]

Gene, I am curious about the word "angel" in that particular quote. This quote was reported in the biography of Lincoln that was written by William Herndon. Herndon reported that Lincoln said of his mother, "God bless my mother; all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her." According to Herndon, Lincoln made this comment while the two men were out riding the circuit c.1850.

I wonder if authors (I've seen the 'angel mother' in many books) add the word "angel" to embellish Herndon's quote? Or is there another source where Herndon himself adds the word "angel?"

[Gene C]

This is from Batleby.com - https://www.bartleby.com/73/1225.html

QUOTATION: All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to ABRAHAM LINCOLN.—Josiah G. Holland, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 23 (1866), and George Alfred Townsend, The Real Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 6 (1867). According to the latter, Lincoln made this remark to his law partner, William Herndon.

Lincoln’s natural mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died when he was nine years old and his father remarried the following year. His stepmother, Sarah Bush (Johnston) Lincoln, was loved and respected by Lincoln throughout her life, as evidenced in the many biographical studies of Lincoln. Benjamin P. Thomas says in Abraham Lincoln, p. 12 (1952): “The boy Abraham adored her. Recollection of his own mother dimmed. And in later years he called this woman, who filled her place so well, ‘my angel mother.’”

The Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases, ed. Burton Stevenson, p. 1627 (1965), comments that the remark referred to Lincoln’s stepmother. But the biographers of Lincoln’s natural mother claim the remark referred to her: Caroline Hanks Hitchcock, Nancy Hanks, p. 105 (1899) and Charles Ludwig, Nancy Hanks: Mother of Lincoln, p. 84 (1965).
SUBJECTS: Mothers
WORKS: Abraham Lincoln Collection

I have read one author state the "angel mother" was a way to differentiate from his mother who had died and had gone to heaven when Lincoln was 9, from his stepmother, who he also adored, who was still living at the time.

[RJNorton]

Thanks for this information, Gene. I am still not clear as to a possible source for Holland, Townsend, and Thomas for adding the word "angel" to the quote as reported by Herndon. Was Lincoln's quote purposely altered to try to show which mother he was referring to? Herndon didn't include the word "angel" in the quote, but the attribution is still to him. I guess I am missing something.