established a military supremacy over it and also introduced their own manners and customs, locating colonies, founding cities and leaving the impress of their civilization upon the lives and character of the native inhabitants.

Among their many prosperous colonies was one which they called Lin Colonia, located in the fertile country between the River Humber and the Wash. This old Roman colony has developed into a prosperous county, the largest, save one, in England. But its name, Lincoln, is to-day the only reminder of its

ancient founders.

While it is easy to ascertain the origin of the name, it is impossible to trace the lineage of the modern Lincoln family back to it. Yet it is certain that the great war President was descended from one of the sturdy, Lincolnshire families, who have done so much to develop the English character of to-day.

In 1638, or thereabouts, one Samuel Lincoln emigrated with his family from the county of Norfolk, Eng., to Massachusetts, where he settled in the little town of Hingham. From this pioneer settler in the new world the various Lincoln families, scattered over the country, are probably descended. These early Lincolns were a devout people and earnest students of the Bible. For a number of generations their children were named after some of the Old Testament heroes, many of them bearing such names as Mordecai, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Samuel's eldest son, Mordecai, removed to New Jersey and thence to Pennsylvania, where he accumulated a large property. Upon his death one of his sons, John, received, as his share of the inheritance,

an estate in Virginia, to which he removed, where he developed into a prosperous planter, and was blessed with a large family of children.

At this time but little was known of the imperial domain which stretched out in an unbroken wilderness of prairies, forests and mountains from the Alleghanies to the Pacific. A few venturous pioneers had entered the wilderness, where attracted by the fertility of the soil and the boundless resources of the country, they had formed small settlements. The lives they led were laborious and full of danger, for they were compelled to contend not only with want. and hardship, but also with the savages who roamed about in large numbers.

The career of Daniel Boone had just begun in Kentucky, and it is probable that he was a personal friend of the Lincolns, and that, induced by his glowing descriptions of that land of promise, Abraham, John's eldest son, with his wife and five children, decided to emigrate to a place where it was possible to obtain a great estate for a nominal price. He soon selected a location in Mercer County, and pre-empted a claim, afterwards, at various times, securing possession of tracts of land, which amounted in all to 1,800 acres. He thus obtained a splendid estate, which, with its fertile valleys and thickly wooded hill-sides, would have enriched his descendants could they have retained possession of it.

The labor of clearing the land and rendering it fit for cultivation was great. A heavy growth of trees, obstructed by dense undergrowth, covered much of the ground, all of which must be cut away and burned, and the land thoroughly worked before seed

could be sown and harvest gathered. Nor were these natural difficulties the only ones that assailed the pioneers. The blue grass regions were among the most highly prized hunting-grounds of the Indians, and different tribes were continually contending for their possession. Hence they regarded the whites with savage hatred, who were striving to dispossess them of their lands.

The settlers were thus compelled to be constantly upon the alert. The rifle and the spade were inseparable companions, where every stump might conceal a savage foe, or every unwary move bring a tomahawk hurtling through the air, thrown with unerring aim. Courage and persistence of purpose alone could enable men to overcome such difficulties and labor on in the almost hopeless attempt to convert the wilderness into productive farms and prosperous communities. Many men were overwhelmed by their discouraging surroundings, and, not possessing the requisite means to return to their former homes, settled back into a wretched existence, doing just enough to keep the wolf, real and figurative, from the door, fretting and repining throughout their miserable lives at the fate that had brought so much evil upon them. This class increased in numbers with increasing population, and came to bear about the same relation to society, as the "poor whites" of later days. Into this class of unfortunates many of the descendants of the well-to-do Lincoln family relapsed.

Aside from a number of wandering hunters and trappers, but few people had entered the country up to this time; but now a migratory instinct seemed to seize the families along the borders, and large num

bers entered" the dark and bloody grounds," to settle there permanently. Yet the settlements were widely separated, and communication was difficult between them.

The Lincolns built a rude log-cabin in the midst of a clearing, upon or near the site of the present city of Louisville, and began their exhaustive labors of taming the wilderness and gaining a living from it. A few years afterwards, while at work with his sons a short distance from the house, Mr. Lincoln was shot and instantly killed by an Indian, who had been hidden in the bushes. When Mordecai, the eldest son, saw his father fall, he ran to the house, seized his rifle, and shot the Indian while he was attempting to scalp the dead man, aiming at a medal on his breast. Thus the head of the family was taken away, and the boys were compelled to take the burden of the farm and family upon their own shoulders.

The youngest, Thomas, was a lad of seven when his father was murdered, and barely escaped capture at the hands of the Indians at that time. He grew up into a typical hunter, poor and thriftless, yet brave, good-natured and honest. He is said to have been an inveterate talker and to have been accustomed to embellish his conversation with numerous stories and anecdotes, which always gained him an appreciative audience, whenever he entered the frontier settlements.

He partially learned the carpenter's trade, and sometimes worked at it, but never continued long in any occupation or place. He was noted for his physical strength, and though not anxious to exhibit it, when aroused, he was capable of performing almost

incredible feats. At one time he is said to have "thrashed the bully of Breckenridge County in three minutes, and come off without a scratch."

Many of the great Lincoln's prominent traits of character may be traced to this lazy, good-natured Hercules of the Kentucky backwoods.

At the age of twenty-eight, he was married to Nancy Hanks, a tall and beautiful brunette. She was ambitious and proud, but her spirit was soon broken by the hardships she was compelled to endure, and her strength undermined by unceasing toil. They settled first in Elizabethtown, in a small rudely built house, where the young husband hoped to earn a living by working at his trade. He found this a difficult task and soon removed to a little farm in La Rue County, which he had bought on credit, agreeing to pay for it in instalments. The struggle that the young couple had entered upon, was a hard one. The land was rocky and barren, both difficult to cultivate and unproductive, hardly yielding sufficient to supply their immediate wants, and leaving no margin to assist in raising the debt.

Mrs. Lincoln proved to be an efficient helper to her inefficient husband. When her housework was done, she worked at his side with hoe or axe till sunset, or shouldered a gun and entered the forest in search of game to add to their scanty stock of provisions. She was able to read and write, an unusual accomplishment among the pioneer families, but she lacked both time and means to gratify her taste in this direction, so that they became almost forgotten accomplishments. Yet her taste made their little log-cabin, with its rude furnishings, far more attractive than the