George Brownfield

https://archive.org/stream/paternityofabrah00bart2/paternityofabrah...

CHAPTER IX

GEORGE BROWNFIELD

The Brownfield story can be told very briefly, but it is im- portant. It is found only in the vicinity of Hodgenville.

When Thomas and Nancy Lincoln and little Sarah moved from Elizabethtown into that part of Hardin County which is now La Rue, in late May or early June of 1808, they did not immediately go to their own farm. The summer of 1808 was spent on the farm of George Brownfield, where Thomas Lincoln lived as a tenant, and worked as a hired laborer, partly on the farm and partly as a carpenter.

George Brownfield, and not Abraham Enlow, so this story goes, was the father of Abraham Lincoln. The Lincolns had as yet no known dealings with Enlow, and may not even have met him, not having as yet removed to the Enlow neighbor- hood.

George Brownfield had sons, who were tall men like Lin- coln, one of them, David, was a very tall man, with unusually long arms. He bore, so it is said, a striking physical resem- blance to Abraham Lincoln. None of the Enlows looked so much like Lincoln as did David Brownfield.

That is the Brownfield story, and the whole of it. We shall comment upon it later. It now takes its place in the list as one of the stories told and still believed by some people concerning the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

George Brownfield, like Isom, the father of Abraham Enlow, was an early pioneer to Hardin County, arriving there about 1794, and his descendants are numerous in and about Hodgenville. They bear a good reputation. Their ancestor, George, was born in 1773, and died near Hodgenville in 185 1. He was 36 years of age when Abraham Lincoln was born. He was a man of property, and Thomas Lincoln was in his employ when he first moved from Elizabethtown. Mr. L. B.

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70 PATERNITY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Handley, attorney for the Lincoln Farm Association, informs me that in connection with his work for that association he made careful investigation, and assured himself that Thomas Lincoln lived on the Brownfield farm on his first removal from Elizabethtown, and was living there in the summer and autumn of 1808. He does not, however, credit the report that Brown- field was Abraham Lincoln's father.

George Brownfield is buried in the old South Fork burying- ground, one of the oldest in La Rue County. It is located five miles south of Hodgenville, two and one-half miles beyond the Lincoln Farm. His tombstone bears this record :

" George Brownfield, Born Oqtober 23, 1773, Died May 2, 1851."

The spot on the Brownfield farm where the Lincoln cabin stood is known as the " plum-orchard." It was a natural growth of wild crab-apple trees. I caused it to be identified, and photographed, as I suppose for the first time. It takes its place in the rather long list of residences of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, and thus has a legitimate claim upon the in- terest of any lover of Lincoln. But for the purpose of this narrative, it is of very much greater importance than any other one spot with which we have to do. The world is interested, and properly so, in the place where Abraham Lincoln was born; but for the purposes of this inquiry the place of primary importance is that in which Thomas and Nancy Lincoln were living nine or ten months previous to his birth.

The house that stood in the " plum-orchard " is no longer standing, and the odor of the wild crab-apple blossoms is only a memory, but is fragrant as it was on the day in early summer in the year 1808 when Nancy Lincoln discovered in herself the premonitions of maternity. In May or early June of 1808 Thomas and Nancy Lincoln left the little court-house town of Elizabethtown, and took up their residence in a pole cabin in the " plum-orchard " on the farm of George Brown- field. Late in the autumn, after the crop was gathered, they removed to their own home, where in the following February

GEORGE BROWNFIELD 71

Abraham Lincoln was born. But the cabin where he was born was not that in which his unborn life began. He was conceived either in Elizabethtown or in the cabin among the apple-blossoms. We shall recur to this subject, and to the probable time, in a later chapter.

ID: I20009

Name: George BROWNFIELD

Sex: M

Birth: 23 OCT 1773 in Fayette Co, PA

Death: 2 NOV 1851 in Buffalo, Larue Co, KY

Burial: South Fork Baptist Cem, LaRue Co, KY

Note:

Head of household age 26-44 in 1810 census in Hardin County, KY with 1 female 26-44, 1 female 16-25 (second wife Catherine), & 3 females under 10 (Eliza, Eleanor, ?). [Calvin seems to be missing from census]

Head of household age 26-44 in 1820 census living in Hardin County, KY with 1 female 26-44 (wife Catherine), 1 female 16-25 (Eleanor), 1 female 10-14 (Eliza), 4 males & 3 females under 10 (Calvin, Lucinda, Empson, Jefferson, Kitty Ann, Mary, John).

Head of household age 40-49 in 1830 census living in Hardin County, KY with 2 females & 1 male 20-29 (Nancy, Eleanor, Calvin), 2 males & 1 female 15-19 (Lucinda, Empson, Jefferson), 1 male & 2 females 10-14 (Kitty Ann, Mary, John), 2 males 5-9 (J Harvey, Edmond), 1 male & 1 female under 5 (Martha, William) .

Head of household age 50-59 in 1840 census living in Hardin County, KY with 1 female 40-49 (Nancy), 3 males & 3 females 20-29 (John, Mary, Kitty Ann, Jefferson, Empson, Lucinda), 1 male 15-19 (Edmund), 1 male & 1 female 10-14 (Martha, J Harvey), 2 males 5-9 (George, William), 1 male & 1 female under 5 (Sarah, David).

Age 66 in 1850 census living in Hamiltons Precinct, LaRue County, KY as a farmer with 3rd wife & 10 children.

1

Father: Empson BROWNFIELD b: ABT 1742 in Virginia

Mother: Charity ASHCRAFT

Marriage 1 Nelly ASHCRAFT

Married: 5 MAR 1803 in Hardin Co, KY

Children

Eleanor BROWNFIELD b: ABT 1804 in Kentucky

Eliza BROWNFIELD b: 27 OCT 1807

Marriage 2 Catherine HUSS b: 14 MAR 1787 in Pennsylvania

Married: 21 DEC 1807 in Hardin Co, KY

Children

Calvin BROWNFIELD b: 9 NOV 1809 in Kentucky

Lucinda BROWNFIELD b: 4 MAY 1811 in Kentucky

Empson BROWNFIELD b: 22 FEB 1813 in Kentucky

Jefferson BROWNFIELD b: ABT 1815 in Kentucky

Kitty Ann BROWNFIELD b: 17 OCT 1816 in Kentucky

Mary BROWNFIELD b: 28 OCT 1818

John BROWNFIELD b: 4 MAR 1820 in Hardin Co, KY

Edmund BROWNFIELD b: 29 DEC 1822

Marriage 3 Nancy WALSH b: 15 AUG 1800 in Kentucky

Married: 15 MAY 1826 in Hardin Co, KY

Children

J Harvey BROWNFIELD b: 22 FEB 1827 in Kentucky

Martha BROWNFIELD b: ABT 1829 in Kentucky

William BROWNFIELD b: ABT 1830 in Kentucky

George BROWNFIELD b: 5 OCT 1834 in Kentucky

David S BROWNFIELD b: ABT 1838 in Kentucky

Sarah E BROWNFIELD b: ABT 1840 in Kentucky

Sources:

1810 census for KY, Hardin Co, Elizabethtown, p 290

1820 census for KY, Hardin Co, Little York, p 22

1830 census for KY, Hardin Co, p 357

first & 2nd marriages from Kentucky Marriages to 1850 at Ancestry.com

birth, death from worldconnect.rootsweb.com, database ":730387"

23 Aug 1850 census for KY, Larue Co, Hamiltons Twp, p 432B

3rd marriage from http://www.hccoky.org/recordsearch/search.asp

birth date, death date, burial from http://www.interment.net/data/us/ky/larue/south%5Ffork.htm

1840 census for KY, Hardin Co, p 82)