My Long, Long Lost Cousin

It would have made a perfect French Country blog post
if I'd discovered some interesting French person in my genealogy research. 

But nope. English and Irish through and through. 

Still, I found some fascinating folk in my family tree including one really big surprise.

Here's an old photo from a family reunion in the 1920's. Rather a glum lot, isn't it?

My father is in the second row from the bottom, second from the right. 

The "bowl" haircut was definitely in.

It's thrilling when you start looking at your family's roots, 

to see who fought in what war and on what side! 

But it gets downright amazing when you can trace your relatives back 

to before this country was a country.

I started this journey when the TV show, "Who Do You Think You Are," first aired. 

I was hooked after the first episode.

My sister and I signed onto Ancestry.com and went to work.

My phone would ring and she would shout, "Guess what I found!" 

or I would call her in Ohio and yell, "You aren't going to believe this!"

It was one of my phone calls to her that started out that way and ended with "I don't believe it!"

I still wonder if it's true.

I was skimming through some online records, tracing my known relatives back to the 1700s 

when a familiar name popped up.

Here's a photo of this person's boyhood home. Can you guess whose house it is?

Now, are you ready to see my famous relative?

Drum roll please  . . . . .

It's . . . Abraham Lincoln!!!

What???

That's what I said!
Yes indeedy, that's what the records showed.
(Sorry for the poor quality of the picture below taken from the computer.)

My father's surname is Shipley and I was able to trace my lineage back to a woman named
Nancy Hanks (yep, seems I might be related to Tom Hanks too!)
You can see Nancy's mother, Lucy Shipley Hanks, at the bottom of the chart above.

But I digress.
Here's a picture of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, Abraham's mother.

And here's a picture of me.
Imagine me gaunt and dour-looking instead of perky and wearing a cowboy hat.
See the family resemblance? Yeah, me neither. Well, maybe a little bit.

Anyway, Nancy's mother, Lucy Shipley, was a direct descendant of our
original Shipley family that settled in Maryland in 1668. 

Nancy married a man named Thomas Lincoln and their son was Abraham. 

As in President Abraham Lincoln!!!

.
I was born in southeastern Ohio; Lincoln was born just down the road in Kentucky.
Lincoln's mother's line can be traced to Robert Shipley. Same as mine.
Hmmm.

Now, I realize there is all kinds of controversy about this relationship. 

(She was definitely the president's mother
but some say Nancy was from a different Shipley line;
others claim there's no proof of her birth to Lucy Shipley Hanks, etc. etc.).

But I like to think it's true. 

Hey, if it's on the Internet, it must be true. Right?

So, on Lincoln's birthday Feb. 12, I feel proud that maybe, just maybe, 

he's a long lost cousin.

And I say, "Happy Birthday Mr. President."

P.S.  Only 43 days til Spring!!!

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