Page:Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, v1.djvu/44

14 family—second families, perhaps, I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks." (This, in its normal and natural sense, implies that his mother was born in a family, of course.)

All persons are aware that there is a tendency either of adulation or detraction to locate the origin of notable persons, either in the Elysium of the blest or the limbo of the infernal. In the infinite stretch and realms of the imagination, it is not allowable that a man of unique history should have other than a unique origin. (Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf; Caesar descended from Anchises and Venus; and Napoleon from Agamemnon or Achilles.) Despite all fable, Mr. Lincoln had an origin, on both the maternal and paternal line, common to mankind in general. No fact is better avouched than that Richard Berry Sr., the grandfather of the Richard Berry Jr. who became surety on Thomas Lincoln's marriage bond, was also the grandfather of Nancy Hanks. It was so thoroughly well understood in Washing- ton County, Kentucky, as never to have been questioned. It was once disputed whether Abraham Lincoln was born in Washington or Hardin County; but the fact above given was never, and is not now, in question among an entire community who were in a position to know; and if confirmation is needed, the facts that she made her home there as one of the family, that Richard Berry Jr., her cousin, became her guardian and also became surety on the marriage bond, confirm it.

Equally conclusive is the testimony of Hon. J. L. Nall, a grandson of Thomas Lincoln's sister