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(More customer reviews)The authors set forth the premise that Abraham Enloe, a prosperous Western North Carolina landowner, was the biological father of Abraham Lincoln, rather than Thomas Lincoln as the history books would have it. From childhood to very early adulthood, Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln's mother, was a bond servant in the Enloe home. The authors quote many sworn, witnessed statements of well-respected citizens and Enloe relatives interviewed in the 1800s. These people remembered the scandal of Nancy Hanks, Abraham Enloe and their illegitimate son, Abraham. Even the pastor performing Tom Lincoln's marriage to Nancy Hanks remembered seeing young Abraham at the wedding in 1806, precluding the official story line that Abraham Lincoln was born three years after the Lincoln - Hanks marriage. Additionally, the authors point out abundant inconsistencies which make the official Kentucky birth story impossible. At least 4 other books and numerous magazine and newspaper articles were written about this subject in the late 1800s and early 1900s, many quoted extensively by the authors.
If prior to reading this book, I had never heard this version of Lincoln's birth and early life, I would believe it because of the authors' painstaking research. However, I have heard this story all my life because my great, great, great grandfather was Abraham Enloe. During her early childhood, my grandmother lived with Abraham Enloe's legitimate son, Wesley (her grandfather and Abraham Lincoln's look-alike half-brother) in the house on the Oconaluftee River where much of the story takes place. It was she who passed the story to me.
Abraham Lincoln's parentage does not change his achievements or his tremendous legacy to this country. He overcame poverty, lack of formal schooling, child abuse, the loss of his mother, and many other difficulties to become one of our greatest presidents. If you add to this list the stigma of illegitimacy, it just gives us more insight into the strength and determination of this incredible man's character.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Tarheel Lincoln
As one of our greatest presidents, the very atmosphere that surrounds the legacy of Abraham Lincoln borders on legend.To some, even the mere suggestion that Abraham Lincoln was born anywhere other than where traditionalhistory books tell us might seem absurd.However, there is much about the 16th president we still do not know, even though countless books on him have been written.Among the mysteries of the man are his beginnings, which include persistent stories of his illegitimate birth in North Carolina,and the evidence that suggests Thomas Lincoln was given a ready-made family."The Tarheel Lincoln" explores the past of Abraham Lincoln, analyzing the likelihood of his actual birth to Nancy Hanks and a prosperous mountaineer.The story has traveled through the Appalachian hills for almost 200 years now, and despite vehement denials by those who had much to lose in the revelation, it remains a topic of lively speculation.Examining this possibility provides some satisfying answers to much of the mystery that surrounds his background, birth and early childhood.For example, Abraham's striking physical, emotional and intellectual differences from Tom Lincoln, his promotion of North Carolina Democrats during his administration and his guarded approach to the circumstances of his own birth are all brought into better perspective after asking the question, "Was Abraham Lincoln a Tarheel?"The quest for Lincoln's origins is a fascinating adventure, filled with interesting historical individuals who played parts in this drama, either to clarify or cloud the true story of where a wily politician who became president, and left an indelible mark on the United States, got his start.
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