Discovering YOU Magazine April 2018 Issue | Page 27

FEATURE ARTICLE

they get married in 1826 along with their best friends, Sarah Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s sister) and her new husband Aaron Grigsby, who also are married in that same year and month. Joseph and Lydia are my 3rd great-grandfather and grandmother. Joseph and Lydia along with Sarah Lincoln and Aaron Grigsby all got married at the Little Pigeon Baptist Church on different days probably being the best man and the maid of honor at each other's weddings.

If you were to study the genealogy of my 3rd great-grandmother’s family, you would find that Lydia Hall’s father and mother were non-other than Levi Hall and his wife, Nancy Hanks which traveled with Abraham Lincoln’s family and lived in their log cabin for a few years. The history books also show that Lydia’s mother, Nancy Hanks-Hall had the same first and last name as Abraham Lincoln’s mother. My 3rd great grandmother, Lydia is a direct connection to the Hanks family and ultimately the Lincoln family. Lydia’s mother, Nancy Hanks-Hall is the Aunt to Abraham Lincoln’s mother of the same name. They are Aunt and Niece. This is how I’m related to the 16th president, through my 3rd Great-Grandmother Lydia Hall’s mother.

Anyway, both Nancys were said to be inseparable according to some. If you go to the Abraham Lincoln boyhood home in Lincoln City, Indiana, they have the grave of Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks interred there with a tombstone. If you were to get a map of the people interred there you would find that Lydia’s mother, Nancy Hanks-Hall and her father, Levi Hall are both interred at the foot of Abraham Lincoln’s mother’s grave. That’s how inseparable these two Nancys were both in life, and also in death.

While doing this genealogy, I found that the Lynch farm was in close proximity to the Lincoln farm. When they preserved the birthplace home of President Abraham Lincoln, they made it into a national historic site. The Lynch family farm is now part of that historic area where Abraham Lincoln was born.

One other thing to mention is the Hollywood actor Tom Hanks is also related to Abraham Lincoln. Both Tom Hanks and I share the same 5th generation connections to two different Hank brothers from long ago. One brother’s line leads to me, while the other brother’s line leads to Tom Hanks, the actor.

In concluding; when the Lincoln family left Hodgenville, Kentucky, they then moved to Spencer County, Indiana. The Lynch families also left Kentucky and settled near the Lincoln family once again. In 1827 a year after Joseph Lynch and Lydia Hall got married, Joseph’s brother, Dillion Lynch also marries into the Abraham Lincoln family. He marries a girl named Sophia Hanks who was living in Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin at the time. Sophia Hanks is the niece to Abraham Lincoln’s mother, being her Aunt. I hope you enjoyed this story.

The yellow box to the left is Abraham Lincoln’s genealogy chart, but if you were to look to the 2nd box on the top right it shows my 3rd great grandfather Joseph Lynch and his wife Lydia Hanks. You may need to get a magnify glass.