The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 31

Focus Tuesday, February 13, 2001 The Pantagraph www.pantagraph.com A branch on Lincoln's tree By JAMES KEERAN Pantagraph staff FTJj 7T Tcfi frit 1 11 Yr- 4 tSi-: fc- i i -a 'ick Lincoln, who lives in Bloomington, See the connection? Dick Lincoln's great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather and Abraham (the president) Lincoln's great-great-great grandfather are the very same Mordecai Lincoln. There are a few similarities and differences perhaps worth noting between the two Lincolns, Dick and Abraham. Although he drives a Lincoln Town Car bearing "LINCOLN" license plates while the Lincoln who became president rode a horse or a buggy is the son of Abraham Lincoln. He also is the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson, not to mention second cousin eight times removed, or something like that, of Abraham Lincoln. That's three different Abraham Lincolns.

One of them got his face on.Mount Rush-; more. 'V, Those who know their Lincolniana will know immediately which one, for they know that the direct family line of the famous one, the Lincoln whose 192nd birthday was noted throughout the country Monday, faded to black with the deaths of Lincoln Isham in 1971, Mary Lincoln Beckwith in 1975 and president was the father of four sons, only one of whom lived into adulthood. Oh, there's one other thing: When he was a student at the University of Iowa, Dick Lincoln was introduced to and had his photograph taken with Ann Rutledge, a student from West Des Moines. The Abraham Lincoln who would become the president was never a student at the University of Iowa, but legend has it that he once fell in love with a young woman named Ann Rutledge when they both lived at New Salem. She, however, became ill and died, and Abraham Lincoln eventually married a woman from Kentucky named Mary Todd.

Today the whereabouts of the West Des Moines Ann is unknown to Dick Lincoln, who eventually married a woman named Audrey Kane. Now all of this the genealogy, the similarities, the differences has been only of passing concern, momentary humor and occasional pride to Dick Lincoln for most of his life. But recently, as he contemplates his future, he has found a new interest in his past. "We never talked about it a lot," he said of life in his parents' home at Norway, Iowa. Like their son, Dick Lincoln's mother and father were not much interested in their lineage until later in their lives.

Now, Dick Lincoln said, he and his sister, Mary Lincoln of Princeton, N.J., "just want to know more about him (that would be the Lincoln who became president). We're pretty proud of the family tree." And so they plan to The PantagraphSTEVE SMEDLEY Richard Lincoln examined a Lincoln family history book in his Bloomington den. pulled by a horse, Dick Lincoln is older now (70) than President Lincoln was when he died (54). Dick Lincoln (6 feet, 3 inches) is not as tall as Abraham Lincoln (6 feet, 4 inches). Dick Lincoln wears a goatee and mustache whereas the president wore no mustache and did not grow his chin whiskers until after he was elected president and before he left Springfield for Washington.

Also, the two do not bear a familial resemblance. Why, they don't even look alike. Dick Lincoln, like President Lincoln, is the father of four children, although one is a daughter and all lived into adulthood. The Robert Lincoln Beckwith in 1985. They were the great-grandchildren of the martyred president, all of whom died childless, and none of whom had a thing in the world to do with Dick Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln.

It is, perhaps, noteworthy that Abraham Lincoln, who was Dick Lincoln's father, preferred to be known as Abe Lincoln, while Abraham Lincoln, who was Dick Lincoln's second cousin eight times removed, or something like that, did not like to be called Abe, but sometimes was known as Abram Lincoln and didn't seem to mind at all. Here is how Dick Lincoln came to be the second cousin eight times removed, or something like that, of Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States most immortalized in book, song, sculpture and painting: Abe, his father, was the son of William P. Lincoln, who was the son of Oscar, the son of Edgar, son of Jedediah, son of William (another one), son of Mordecai, son of Abraham, who was the son of yet another Mordecai. Long before Dick Lincoln became even a passing thought in his parents' minds, Abraham Lincoln, who would become president, was born the son of Thomas Lincoln, who was the son of Abraham Lincoln (a different A.L. than any previously mentioned), who was a son of John Lincoln, who was a son of Mordecai (still a different Mordecai than any previously mentioned) who was a son of the Mordecai mentioned above in bold-face type.

spend some time during the next year poring over and through the Lincoln documents they own and can find in libraries to learn more about the lives and accomplishments of their ancestors, and to find out exactly which of the many branches of the Lincoln tree they occupy. Above: Lincoln looked over some family maps and documents. Right: A newspaper clipping showed Lincoln with Ann Rutledge, while they were both students at University of Iowa in 1948. 1 1 3 WC u.Q-v--V'J "rJS A family tree mapped Richard Lincoln's distant link to Abraham Lincoln..