I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents
were born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families,
perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a
family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and
others in Macon County, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham
Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky about
1781 or 1782, where a year or two later he was killed by the Indians,
not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in
the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from
Berks County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New
England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a
similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi,
Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like.
My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he
grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what
is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new
home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild
region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods.
There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no
qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin',
and cipherin'" to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to
understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked
upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for
education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still,
somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that
was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now
have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time
under the pressure of necessity.
I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At
twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got to New Salem,
at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year
as a sort of clerk in a store.
Then came the Black Hawk War; and I was elected a captain of
volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had
since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the
same year (1832), and was beaten--the only time I ever have been beaten
by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was
elected to the legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. During
this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield
to practise it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of
Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854,
both inclusive, practised law more assiduously than ever before.
Always a Whig in politics; and generally on the Whig electoral tickets,
making active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics when the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done
since then is pretty well known.
If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said
I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean, in flesh, weighing
on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with
coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected.