Thomas Lincoln proposed to Nancy Hanks in this house, originally located on Beech Creek about one mile from here. At the time, Nancy was living with her cousin, Francis Berry, and his family.

Lucy Shipley Hanks and her daughter, Nancy, emigrated to Kentucky from Virginia after the death of Nancy's father, James Hanks. Mother and daughter moved into the home of Lucy's sister, Rachel Shipley Berry, and her husband, Richard Berry, Sr. Lucy eventually remarried and moved to Boyle County, Kentucky. Nancy remained in the Berry borne until Rachel's death and then moved to the home of her cousin, Francis Berry.

Thomas Lincoln was also a relation of the Betty family and it was probably through them that he met Nancy Hanks. Thomas was a respected carpenter and cabinet maker. While not wealthy, he owned land in Hardin County, Kentucky, as well as town lots in the county seat of Elizabethtown. Thomas Lincoln courted, wooed and won Nancy Hanks in this house. Tradition holds that Thomas proposed to Nancy in the parlor, in front of the hearth. Nancy accepted the proposal and the couple were married on June 12, 1806.

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Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail

1809 Abraham Lincoln born at Sinking Spring farm, in present-day Larue County, Kentucky.
1816 Lincoln family moved from Kentucky.
1841 Abraham Lincoln visited his friend Joshua Speed at Farmington, the Speed family plantation, in Louisville, Kentucky.
1842 Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd of Lexington, Kentucky.
1847 The Lincoln family visited Lexington, Kentucky, en route to Abraham's only term in Congress.
1860 Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States in November.
1865 Abraham Lincoln assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.

www.kylincolntrail.com www.heritage.ky.gov www.kylincolntrail.org www.history.ky.gov www.transportation.ky.gov
A project of the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission produced by the Kentucky Heritage Council in partnership with the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

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Show me all markers in:  Springfield, KY  |  Washington County  |  40069  |  Kentucky  |  United States of America

The Lincoln Cabin
The Lincolns Move West
The Nancy Hanks Memorial
Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln
The Marriage of Nancy & Thomas Lincoln
Lincoln Homestead State Park
Lincoln Homestead State Park
Lincoln Cabin
The Inheritance of Mordecai Lincoln
Grundy Plantation / Felix Grundy

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