Nancy Hanks

Story of Abraham Lincoln’s Mother (1899)

A Biography by Caroline Hanks Hitchcock

Nancy Hanks, Story of Abraham Lincoln’s Mother was one of the first attempts at a full-length biography focusing on the unknown background of former President Lincoln’s beloved mother. The author, Caroline Hanks Hitchcock, a distant relative of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, attempted to paint the most accurate portrait about the life and times of this remarkable woman with help from celebrated Lincoln historian Ida Tarbell. However, due to confusion of certain material available at the time, this book does have a few errors in events concerning the background of the former President’s mother. Hitchcock was also credited in debunking many accepted myths that circulated about the background of Lincoln that had been published previously.