Lincoln in North Hardin County
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Abraham Lincoln Remembered His Kentucky Roots
The true home of President Abraham Lincoln's family in the pioneer days of Kentucky was the Mill Creek area of Hardin County. Today this area is known as Radcliff/Ft Knox.
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Mill Creek, a tributary of the Salt River, appears labeled and correctly drawn on the first map of Kentucky published by John Filson in 1784. One of the contributors toward this map was Daniel Boone. |
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Long before the establishment of Ft Knox, local residents would converge on the old Mill Creek Baptist Church, est. 1783, for mutual protection from Indian raids. Initially located in the Lincoln Memorial/Mill Creek Cemetery overlooking Mill Creek at Ft Knox, today the congregation meets in a modern edifice on South Jones Street in Radcliff. |
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The Lincoln Memorial Cemetery gets it name from Abraham Lincoln's "Granny" Bathsheba Lincoln, the first of the family buried in that consecrated ground. Nancy Brumfield, aunt of President Abraham Lincoln, her husband William Brumfield and their daughter Mary Crume complete the three generations of Lincoln's buried side by side. When you have several generations of the same family buried together it indicates long time residence. |
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Thomas Lincoln, who was to become the father of Abraham Lincoln, was an industrious farmer and cabinet maker. In 1803, he purchased a 238 acre farm which he paid cash for and kept ownership until October 1814 The farm is located near the southern boundary of present day Radcliff/Ft Knox on Battle Training Road, approximately 2 ½ miles from Dixie Highway. |
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In early spring of 1806, Thomas Lincoln, took a flatboat loaded with produce from the West Point, Ky. boat landing to New Orleans. The trip, requiring about sixty days, was a profitable one and enabled him to make final plans for his marriage to Nancy Hanks, future mother of President Lincoln, on June 12 of that year. |
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The Lincoln Mantle showcases Thomas' talents as a craftsman, in the Lincoln Room of the Ft Knox Leader's Club. Originally constructed in 1805 for the Hardin Thomas home (aka Lincoln Heritage House), approximately 5 miles south of the Mill Creek farm, the mantle was purchased by Major William Radcliffe, for installation at Ft Knox in 1919. |
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When the Thomas Lincoln family moved on west in the autumn of 1816, Little Abe and sister Sarah probably looked out the back of the wagon waving goodbye to Granny Bathsheba and the Brumfields as they traveled over a pioneer road which passed through present day Radcliff and Vine Grove. A Kentucky historical marker is located in downtown Vine Grove. |
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