Ancestry of President
Abraham Lincoln

The Mystery of Lincoln's Mother Nancy Hanks

The identity of Abraham Lincoln's mother Nancy has always been somewhat of a mystery. Even the year of her birth listed as 1784 in Abraham Lincoln's family bible is considered suspect. She died when Abraham was young and her date of death wasn't entered into his family bible until decades after the event. For over a century, historians have repeatedly made claims that they've finally solved the mystery of Lincoln's mother, and that everyone before them was wrong.

Of all the theories that have been proposed over the years, the one some historians currently consider most likely is that of James and Lucy (Shipley) Hanks being Nancy's parents. Christopher Challender Child, in the Winter 2003 issue of the New England Ancestors magazine, presents some of the pros and cons for the more popular theories and gives a good argument for why James and Lucy (Shipley) Hanks are Nancy's parents. It is this theory that FamousKin.com uses for Abraham Lincoln's ancestry charts.

The Royal Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln

Assuming the parentage of Nancy Hanks above to be correct, FamousKin.com also presents the possible royal ancestry of Abraham Lincoln through Nancy's ancestors. The key to Lincoln's royal ancestry lies with Nancy's 4th great-grandfather Capt. John Norwood who came to Virginia from England about 1650.

Harry Newman in his "To Maryland from Overseas" states the following about Capt. John Norwood:

This reference to "professional" research is what links Capt. John Norwood of Virginia to Tyringham Norwood of England. Harry Newman died shortly after publishing this account and the details regarding this 1961 research apparently has not been published. So without further research, any royal cousins or famous kin through Capt. John Norwood should be prefixed with the adjective "possible."