NANCY HANKS LINCOLN DIES OF MILK SICKNESS
Little Pigeon Creek, Indiana (JFK+50) On October 5, 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln*, mother of future POTUS Abraham Lincoln, died of the milk sickness** in the Little Pigeon Creek settlement of Spencer County, Indiana.
Abraham Lincoln, who was 9 years old at the time, helped his father build his mother's coffin by whittling the wooden pegs that held the planks together.
William Herndon wrote the following description of Mrs. Lincoln...
"She was slenderly built. Her skin was dark, hair dark brown, eyes gray & small. She was in disposition amiable & generally cheerful.
*Nancy Hanks Lincoln (1784-1818) was born in Hampshire County, West Virginia & married Thomas Lincoln in 1806. Their children were Sarah, Abraham, & Thomas Jr.
**Milk Sickness is poisoning by milk from cows that have eaten white snakeroot, a shade-loving plant found in Illinois, Indiana & Ohio. It is also known as puking fever, sick stomach, the slows & the trembles. Symptoms include loss of appetite, listlessness, weakness, vomiting, & severe constipation.
SOURCE
"Mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln Dies of Milk Sickness," www.worldhistoryproject.org/
Nancy Hanks Lincoln Gravestone
National Park Service
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
