Abraham Lincoln As A Child

We all know that Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States of America, but do we know what type of days he had seen as a child?

Throughout this post, we will try to find out about this great person’s life as a child.

Birth, Family Tree, And Parents of Abraham Lincoln

Mr Lincoln was born in 1809 on February 12th.

His birthplace was Hodgenville, Kentucky.

His family tree belonged to England. One of his forefathers, named Samuel Lincoln came to America from England.

Abe was the 4th great-grandson of Samuel Lincoln.

Abraham’s father’s name was Thomas Lincoln and his mother’s name was Nancy Hanks Lincoln. 

His parents got married in 1806 on 12th June.

He was the 2nd child of Thomas and Nancy. Before him, they birth Abraham’s elder sister.

Her name was Sarah Lincoln. Abe also had a younger brother, whose name was Thomas Lincoln. Jr.

However, his younger brother died in infancy.

How He Lost Mother As A Child At Age 9?

Due to Milk Sickness, Abraham’s mother Nancy died on 5th October, the year 1818, when he was just a little kid of 9 years old.

Abraham looked quite similar to his mother Nancy.

After a year on December 2nd, 1819, his father Thomas married another woman, whose name was Sarah Bush Johnston.

Sarah Bush Johnston was a widow, who already had three children from her first husband.

She was from Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

How Was His Relationship With His Stepmother?

It is generally seen that the relationship between stepmother and children always becomes tart.

But in the case of Abraham, we can see a completely different picture.

Lincoln and his stepmother Sarah had a very good relationship.

She loved him as her own child. For this reason, he also started calling Sarah ‘mother’.

As a child, Abraham Lincoln was a little lazy type.

He didn’t like doing physical work but he loved reading books, writing poetry, and scribbling so much.

Seeing his interest in books, Sarah didn’t let him do so much work at home, contrary she inspired him to read more books.

Economic Condition And Education

During his childhood days, his family’s economic condition was very bad.

Abraham’s father did different types of small jobs like farming, carpentering, etc.

Their family lived in a small one-room log cabin.

On the other hand, Thomas Lincoln often used to get involved in land disputes.

Due to these causes, in 1816, they left Kentucky and moved to Indiana.

Abraham Lincoln’s Education As A Child

In education, he was a self-educated guy.

He loved reading books and writing poetry.

Due to having no paper pen for writing, he wrote letters in stones with coals.

But even after all these obstructions; his handwriting was no less than printed writing.

How Was His Character As A Child?

From childhood, Abraham was a person of a calm nature.

Along with this, he was also very honest and kind.

But at the same time, he knew to be firm in his decisions, most of the time he never gave up, if he believed he was right.

From childhood, he had been seeing the inhuman torture over black slaves in America.

It made him so sad. This filled his heart full of compassion for the black people.

He often used to tell his friends that whenever he would get a chance, he will completely abolish slavery in the United States.

And he did it. Even, the impact helped to finish slavery all over the world, over time. 

3 Interesting Facts About Child Abraham Lincoln?

1. When he was a teenager, he gained popularity as a strong athlete because he succeeded in defeating the leader of a ruffians group in a wrestling match.

The ruffian group’s name was ‘the Clary’s Grove Boys.

However, later in his political career, this group helped him a lot.

2. During his teenage period, he became quite skilled in using axes.

Until age 21, Lincoln gave all his earnings to his father’s hand, which he made through working outside of the home.

3. One day a neighbour gave kid Abraham a book to read for some days.

That book was at his house, but somehow a few pages got damaged.

It made him a little sad. The next day, he told the neighbour about it.

Although, the neighbour didn’t get angry; contrary, he told Abraham to keep that book with him, if he wished. 

This made the kid Abraham so happy that he even helped the neighbour for a few days on the farm.