For years stories have circulated that Abraham Lincoln's birthplace, as well as another childhood home, were lost by his family over land title disputes. But books currently in print are so vague on this subject that some now wonder whether the stories were ever true.
These stories originated from Lincoln himself. Preparing for the presidential campaign of 1860 he wrote for his campaign biographer, John Locke Scripps:

Lincoln's birthplace was on a 348-acre parcel known as the "Sinking Spring" or "South Fork" Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. It is now a 116-acre public park and National Historic Site. 2

The land was originally part of 15,000 acres owned by Richard Mather. In May 1805 Mather agreed to sell the South Fork site to David Vance, on terms whereby Vance made a down payment and gave Mather a promissory note, unsecured, for the remainder of the purchase price. This note was in the amount of fifteen pounds, twelve shillings, four pence, payable within eighteen months "in good trade." When the note was paid, Mather was to give Vance a warranty deed. 3

In November 1805 Vance sold the South Fork Farm to Isaac Bush for $200. As proof of ownership Vance gave Bush a "title bond," an instrument commonly used at the time which was nothing more than a written promise to convey free of undisclosed liens or encumbrances.

The "Birthplace" National Park, near Hodgenville, Kentucky

Later, in December 1808, Bush sold South Fork to Thomas Lincoln for $200, with Lincoln taking an assignment of the title bond given by Vance to Bush. 4

Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln soon moved onto the land, and the future President was born there on February 12, 1809. 5

It is not clear when Thomas first learned there might be problems with his title. It may have been as early as 1811, when the family moved from South Fork to nearby Knob Creek. The Knob Creek land was more fertile, and better for growing corn, clover and alfalfa. It appears the family occupied the Knob Creek Farm under a lease. 6

In any case, around this time David Vance was long gone and Mather remained unpaid, so Mather looked up Lincoln.

On September 1, 1813, Mather filed suit against Vance, Bush and Lincoln to recover on the note. Since Vance was in parts unknown and was believed unable to pay, Mather asked that the court impose an equitable lien against the South Fork Farm to satisfy Vance's debt.

In his pleadings, Thomas Lincoln answered that although he was aware of the note when he purchased South Fork, he had been told only a small amount was due, he believed the balance had been subsequently paid, and if any amount remained due it should be payable in goods or "trade" as originally agreed, rather than by imposition of a lien which might require payment in cash. 7

But Thomas' legal problems weren't limited to South Fork. In late 1815, with the Mather suit pending, Thomas was served with yet another lawsuit seeking to eject him and nine of his neighbors from their farms at Knob Creek. This lawsuit was brought by heirs of a former landowner in the area, and based on claims that the 10 defendants were trespassers. 8

The South Fork lawsuit came to trial first, in September 1816. The court ruled in favor of Mather, awarding him $61.50 and costs of suit to be paid within 10 days. If not paid, the award was to be enforced as a lien against the South Fork Farm.

No one paid Mather, and on December 19, 1816, the land was sold by Commissioner Benjamin Wright "for ready money amounting to $87.74" to John Welsh. 9

By the time of this sale, and with the Knob Creek lawsuit still pending, the Lincoln family had given up on Kentucky and were en route to the wilderness of Southern Indiana. 10

In 1937 R. Gerald McMurtry wrote for the Indiana Magazine of History:

"Such difficulties with land titles naturally caused Thomas Lincoln to seek a new country, where there was no overlapping of land grants, and where real property was adequately surveyed into sections (square miles) and recorded with clear titles, once it was purchased. He decided that Indiana offered good opportunities." 12
Although he was given a judgment against Bush, there's no indication Thomas Lincoln ever recovered any part of the $200 he paid for South Fork. 13 Some biographers have written, however, that before departing Kentucky Thomas sold his disputed interest in Knob Creek for ten barrels of whiskey and $20 cash. 14

Albert Rush is Senior Vice President ­ National Counsel; Santa Ana, California.

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Footnotes
1. John Locke Scripps, Life of Abraham Lincoln, (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1961), pp. 29-30, footnote 8.

2. Many Lincoln biographers have written that the South Fork Farm comprised 300 acres in 1808. This was a mistaken belief apparently held by everyone who dealt with the property until 1837, when the metes-and-bounds legal description was surveyed by John Duncan. Duncan concluded that the parcel contained 348 acres. Acreage given here is from the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.nps.gov/ parklists/index/abli.html.

3. Albert J. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858, (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1928), 2 volumes, p. 24, vol. 1. The term "good trade" had a clear meaning in 1805, when frontier territories operated under a barter economy.

4. Louis A. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, (New York and London: The Century Co., 1926), p. 54. The information that Thomas Lincoln took a "second-hand title bond" as his proof of ownership to the South Fork Farm was provided by telephone interview with local historian Jim Larue (Larue Insurance Agency, Hodgenville), June 17, 1991. The nature and common use of title bonds at the time is discussed in Beveridge's Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858, at page 26, vol. 1. That such an instrument was probably relied upon by Thomas Lincoln is evident from court records which are reprinted verbatim in Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pages 315-316 (footnote 29).

5. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 75-93. These pages also detail Warren's painstaking research into the origins of logs used in the reconstruction of the birthplace cabin.

6. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 110-111, and 116.

7. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 113, 117, 323-328 (footnote 19).

8. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 120-121, 328-330 (footnote 24).

9. The court's decree is reprinted in Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, p. 327 (part of footnote 19).

10. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 121, and 290-291.

11. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 328-330 (footnote 24). The merits of this suit are unknown; it may have been what we would now call a "nuisance action," looking for a quick settlement.

12. R. Gerald McMurtry, "The Lincoln Migration from Kentucky to Indiana - 1816," Indiana Magazine of History, vol. xxxiii, No. 4, December 1937. Mr. McMurtry was Librarian of the Lincoln National Life Foundation at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and later Director of the Lincoln Research Library, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee.

13. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, pp. 118-119.

14. Warren, Lincoln's Parentage and Childhood, p. 116. It is noted that Warren questioned whether Lincoln received anything when he abandoned his leasehold interest in the Knob Creek Farm, saying "Its (the story's) fallacy is revealed by papers in an ejectment suit which shows that the farm went back to (landlord) Lindsey and was sold at commissioners' sale to William Bush." We don't necessarily agree that Warren's conclusion follows from the "papers" referred to. If the Knob Creek lease had value, his landlord may well have agreed to pay something to Thomas Lincoln to give it up. And, with the land's ownership in dispute Thomas may have had a legitimate question as to whom he should be paying rents.

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