President
Lincoln’s Mother
Born In Mineral County, WV
Mineral County, West Virginia claims
the birthplace of Nancy Hanks, mother of President Abraham Lincoln. A
court -- appointed commission in 1929 designated the site as her
birthplace and on May 6, 1933, a stone monument was placed there to
commemorate her birth. In 1782, she was born in a log cabin near the
headwater of Mikes Run, Hampshire County, Virginia, now Mineral County,
WV.
The Hanks, a migratory frontier
family, consisted of the father, Joseph, his wife, Ann, several sons and
daughter, Lucy. During the two years the Hanks lived near Doll’s Gap,
Nancy Hanks was born.
The stay of the Hanks was not
prolonged, for in March, 1784 Joseph Hanks mortgaged his land and traveled
west over the Alleghenies along the Wilderness Road into the Hills of
Kentucky.
A replica cabin is open to the
public. It is located on the Southside of New Creek Mountain near Antioch,
WV off U.S. Route 50.
