The Berrys & Nancy Hanks (Mother of Abraham Lincoln)

Date: After 1790 to after 1806
Location: Kentucky
Surnames/tags: Berry Hanks Lincoln

Contents 1 The Berry Family & Nancy Hanks (Mother of Abraham Lincoln) 1.1 Berry and Lincoln settlement at Beechland 1.2 Lucy Hanks legal issues 1.3 After Joseph Hanks dies in 1793 1.4 After Richard Berry, Sr. dies in 1798 1.5 When Nancy married Thomas Lincoln 1.6 Summary 1.7 Unknown family of well bred farmer 2 Sources & Acknowledgements

The Berry Family & Nancy Hanks (Mother of Abraham Lincoln)

There are some areas where there seems to be a clear intersection of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hank's lives with the Berrys:

• Beechland property for the Lincoln's home was purchased from Richard Berry, Sr. and Thomas was a neighbor of the Berry family
• John Berry witnessed the signature of Lucy Hank's marriage bond to Henry Sparrow
• Nancy Hanks lived in her young adulthood at one or more Berry households prior to her marriage to Thomas Lincoln
• Richard Berry, Jr. signed the Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks marriage bond as "guardian"

What is not clear, and what is disputed by contemporary historians, is whether or not Nancy Hanks is of Shipley ancestry and whether she lived with the Berrys during her childhood. Two key sources of information about Nancy Hanks living with the Berrys as a child are 1) Sarah Mitchell, who lived with Richard Berry, Sr. and Rachel Shipley Berry after 1785, and 2) Robert Mitchell Berry, son of Richard Berry, Jr., who says that Nancy Hanks lived with Richard Berry, Jr.

Berry and Lincoln settlement at Beechland

The Berry family in Nancy Hank's history lived in Beechland, north of Springfield. The neighborhood was a piece of land created by a horseshoe bend in the Beech Fork River. Richard Berry, Sr. had settled in the area and in 1781 or 1782 sold a 100 acre piece of his property along a creek known now as Lincoln Run to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln reputedly built a cabin for the Lincoln family before his death in May, 1786.

Richard Berry, Sr.'s brother, Francis, was also an early settler in the Beechland neighborhood.

Lucy Hanks legal issues

The Mercer County community brought charges against Lucy Hanks for "fornication" in November, 1789. John Berry of Doctor's Fork of the Chaplin River (near Perrysville), son of Rachel Shipley and Richard Berry, was on the Grand Jury. A few days before a 1790 court date, Henry Sparrow initiated a marriage bond for Lucy Hanks and himself. John Berry and Robert Mitchell (first cousin to John Berry, son of Rachel and Richard Berry) witnessed Lucy's signature to the bond.

After Joseph Hanks dies in 1793

According to Louis Warren, whose research has been lauded but his findings have been disputed by modern historians, particularly "his interpretation of facts": Nancy Hanks came to live with the Rachel Shipley and Richard Berry family after her mother married (after 1790). During her time with the Berrys she befriended neighbor Thomas Lincoln. She later [unspecified time] came to live with the Richard Berry, Jr. family.

Warren further states that: In 1795 sixteen year old Sarah Mitchell was sent to live with her maternal aunt Rachel Shipley Berry. She was freed from Native Americans who she lived with since her mother Naomi Shipley Mitchell was killed at an ambush at a place called Defeated. According to Troy Cowan, her father Robert Mitchell drowned trying to rescue his daughter in 1790. Nancy Hanks was also living with the Berrys by 1795 and the girls believed they were first cousins and became quite close, and are also believed to have named daughters after each other. In 1800 Sarah married and moved away.

According to the Nancy Hanks Lincoln biography written by the Briggs, Nancy did not live with the Berrys while Rachel and Richard's sons Edward and Francis were still at home, but after Richard and John were married.

After Richard Berry, Sr. dies in 1798

According to Troy Cowan (some of whose findings are suspect), Nancy went to work for the Berrys in 1800, two years after the death of Richard Berry, Sr. and following the marriage of Richard and Rachel Berry's daughter Sarah. Aside from being a seamstress, Nancy also wove her own fabric. When Nancy was 20 years of age (about 1804), Rachel Berry died and Nancy then worked for Francis and Elizabeth Berry. In addition to sewing, she also took care of the couple's three children. She had a bit of a reputation for being familiar with boys. During this period of time Thomas was picking up work from the Sparrow, Berry and Bush families.

Francis Berry was married two years after his father's death, likely in 1800. Author Dan Davenport claims that Nancy Hanks lived at the Francis Berry house when she was courted by Thomas Lincoln.

The 1913 obituary for 95 year old Robert Mitchell Berry states that Richard Berry, Jr. raised Nancy Hanks and signed her marriage bond. Robert Mitchell Berry was Richard Berry, Jr.'s son. Born in 1769, Richard Berry, Jr. was 15 years older than Nancy.

When Nancy married Thomas Lincoln

On June 12, 1806, Hanks married Thomas Lincoln at the home of Richard Berry in Beechland by Reverend Jesse Head. Nancy was brought to the home to work as a seamstress by her friend Polly Ewing Berry, the wife of Richard Berry Jr. since October 10, 1794. Polly was a friend of Nancy's from Mercer County, Kentucky and Richard Berry, Jr. was a good friend of Thomas Lincoln.

Nancy's marriage bond was signed by Richard Berry, Jr. who identified himself as her guardian. Per Louis Warren, "The title had no legal significance, Berry having never been so appointed, and Nancy Hanks was then of age. But of him to call himself 'guardian' was a courtesy customary under such circumstances" [no father able to sign the marriage bond].

According to author Ralph Gary, one theory is that upon moving to Washington County, Kentucky, Lucy and Nancy lived at Beech Fork with relatives Rachel Shipley Berry and Richard Berry. He further stated that Rachel was considered by some to be one of Lucy's sisters. The National Park Service states in their summary of Nancy Hanks life that Richard Berry is an uncle of Nancy's. This fits with the theory that Rachael Shipley is a relative of Lucy Shipley who married a Hanks.

Summary

This information, though, is not present in recent, solid historical books about Nancy Hanks. Perhaps a sign that the Berrys did not consider Nancy a daughter, in Richard Berry's will he mentions a daughter Sarah [Mitchell], but not Nancy.

Published information about Nancy's mother being Lucy Shipley and her father being James Hanks is contrary to the theory that Nancy was illegitimate and that Lucy was born into the Hanks family, as was published by William E. Barton in the "Life of Abraham Lincoln" and Michael Burkhimer in "100 Essential Lincoln Books". John M. Hay and John George Nicolay, authors of "Abraham Lincoln" asserted that Berry was a connection of Lincoln's. In his book, Doug Wead stated that Rachel was working for Richard Berry as a seamstress.

Unknown family of well bred farmer

Abraham's law partner William Herndon reported that Abraham told him that Nancy's father was "a well-bred Virginia farmer or planter."

Lincoln is also quoted as saying: "I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be."

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Sources & Acknowledgements

• Profile started by J. McClary, June 13, 2014
• Information taken from a portion of "Nancy Hanks Lincoln heritage" article on wikipedia.org