Stranges
Were Neighbors
Of Lincoln's Family
Lincoln Sentinel-Republican, 6 February 1997
John Bland, Lincoln, has done a little investigating on his own time concerning Abraham Lincoln and his connections to the Strange family which was early Lincoln County pioneers. Here’s his story:
John Sylvester Strange, his wife Susan Nancy Hendrickson, five children, and the Hendrickson brothers, Martin and William, came to Lincoln County in 1866.
J.S. Strange was one of the first commissioners in Lincoln County; the postmaster of Lincoln Center; and the county coroner. He was also a pioneer preacher and one of the founders of the former Congregational Christian Church.
The connection between the Strange family and the Abe Lincoln family goes back to Nelson County, Ky., in the early 1800s. Abe Lincoln’s father, Tom Lincoln, bought the Knob Creek farm in 1811, then had difficulty in getting a deed to the farm. Lincoln apparently bought the Knob Creek farm from a man who did not own it. He later lost the farm and moved to Indiana as historical records indicate.
Records in the county courthouse of Hodgenville, Ky., state the ejectment suit, Thomas Stout and others vs. Thomas Lincoln, began Sept. 15, 1815. The Tom Lincoln family and nine other families were ejected from their farms in this lawsuit, including the family of Ignatius Strange, father of John Sylvester Strange. Ignatius Strange was named a defendant in this lawsuit with his father-in-law William Ash, in a notice dated June 1816, and signed by Robert McClure.
The Strange family and the Lincoln family were neighbors in what is now LaRue County, Ky. The rest of the story must be left to the imagination. What social and business interaction occurred between the Strange and Lincoln families, we will never know. But when the Strange family came to Kansas they wanted their new county and town named after Abe Lincoln.
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