Lincoln Connections

by Donna A. (Stormont) Luna, ATHS Member #545

Emporia, Kansas

My maternal ancestry includes many of the early day Catholics who migrated to Kentucky from Maryland - CISSELL, CLEMENTS, HUTCHINS, BERRY, BROWN, JARBOE, THOMAS, SPALDING, MATTINGLY, ABEL, and WALKER. These aforenamed ancestors of mine settled mainly in the area of what is now Washington, Hardin, Nelson, and Larue counties. My BROWNFIELDS and CREALS arrived prior to 1800 mainly from Pennsylvania and/or Maryland and Virginia and settled in the present LaRue County region while my CATES and CROUCH ancestors settled in present day Green and Hart counties.

Briefly, to relate my more current relationship to the area of Kentucky where the Lincoln family lived, I share the following information. Both of my maternal grandparents were born in LaRue County, Kentucky near Hodgenville shortly after the end of the Civil War. My grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Cissell, was born 31 October 1866 and passed away 31August 1929 while a resident of Wakita, Oklahoma (my hometown). He was the son of Henry A. CISSELL (1831-1898) and his second wife, Jane "Jennie" Rebecca CLEMENTS (1838-1873). Grandpa Cissell was known as Tommy or T.J. After moving to Kansas for a short time and then later making the run and obtaining land in the Cherokee Strip Land Rush on September 16, 1893 in Oklahoma, he returned to LaRue County when his father (Henry A. Cissell) was ill and prior to his death in August 1898. While back in the Hodgenville area, Grandpa married a neighborhood acquaintance, 30-year old Josephine CREAL. Joda or Jodie, as she was usually called, was born 26 July 1868 and passed away in Oklahoma on 4 April 1937. She was the daughter of Sarah SPALDING (1848-1889) and John Cates CREAL (1836-1916). Although both of my grandparents had already passed away before I was born, stories about LaRue County and the place where Abe Lincoln was born were plentiful.

There are a number of instances where my ancestors have Kentucky connections to the Lincoln family. These various connections have been broken down in the different sections that follow.

LINCOLN'S BIRTHPLACE CONNECTION

In 1828 my great-great-grandparents, Richard A. CREAL, Jr. (1801-1881) and Mary E. "Polly" CATES CREAL (1814-1892) bought the acreage which adjoined the Lincoln family's Sinking Spring farm. Later they purchased additional acreage which included the former Lincoln property. A large log cabin was built with several additions added on through the years. Their former land eventually became a part of the Lincoln Park grounds. The Creal cabin set near the current entrance to the Lincoln Memorial just off of Highway 31E, south of Hodgenville. My great-grandfather John Cates CREAL (as well as several of his siblings) was born in 1836 in this cabin just a short distance from where Abraham LINCOLN had been born in 1809.

Henry A. CISSELL, my great-grandfather who had formerly lived in the New Haven - Athertonville area, purchased some land in 1854 which also adjoined the Sinking Spring farm. Great-grandfather CISSELL was married four times and had children by three of the wives - 1) Milly BOON, 2) Jennie CLEMENTS, 3) Lucy CALDWELL FENTON, 4) Mary E. CREAL. Trying not to confuse the reader, Henry A. CISSELL's 4th wife was also the aunt of my grandmother Joda CREAL CISSELL (her aunt was married to her father-in-law). The couple's only son, John Milton CISSELL (1883-1960) therefore was my grandfather CISSELL's half brother and my grandmother CISSELL's first cousin. All of Henry A. CISSELL's children were born on the land adjoining the Lincoln Sinking Spring farm.

In the book entitled Six Generation of LaRue and Allied Families written by Otis A. Mather in 1921 under the Chapter "The LaRue Family and the Child Lincoln" (page 159) Mather wrote the following: "When Lincoln was elected President, and for more than a quarter of a century afterward, the place now known as the Lincoln Farm, on which Abraham Lincoln was born, was owned and occupied by Richard CREAL and his family."

Reported in the Roy Hays book entitled Is the Lincoln Birthplace Cabin Authentic? can be found the following paragraph giving directions (in the spring of 1865) to Lincoln's birth place by John B. Rowbothan, an artist-journalist to William H. Herndon. "From E.T. (Elizabethtown) proceed to Hodgenville which about ten miles southeast of there - inquire the way to Rock Spring Farm owned by Mr. R.A. Creal better known as "Old Dickey Creal". The farm is about 3 miles south of Hodgenville and a good straight road. The site of Mr. L's birthplace is on this farm about 500 yards from Mr. Creal's house. It is situated on a little knoll or rising ground and is now a barley field. Some rocks indicating the site of the chimney are still there. At the edge of the field are two old pear trees planted by Thomas Lincoln - between which - was a gateway leading to the house. Mr. Creal remembers him well. Near the spot is a very romantic spring from which the farm takes its name - and where no doubt Mr. L. as a child often strayed".

Uncle John M. CISSELL married Vesta BURTON and they made their home in the Hodgenville-Buffalo area. John and Vesta were classmates according to a listing of the 1894 students at Lincoln Springs School.

John M. CISSELL was associated with the Lincoln National Park most of his life. His first job was with the Lincoln Farm Association which in 1906 had been incorporated to clear the park area for development.

He resigned his job in 1908 with the Association to work for the contracting firm that constructed the Memorial Building which houses the cabin.

Uncle John M. CISSELL helped President Theodore Roosevelt lay the cornerstone to the Memorial Building on February 12, 1909, the centennial of Lincoln's birth.

He was the park's caretaker and then was superintendent of the park from 1916-1949 when he retired.

During all the years CISSELL was connected with the Park, he was host to U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Queen Marie of Romania, and Prime Minister Lloyd George of Great Britain.

As a youth in the late 1940's I recall visiting Lincoln's Birthplace and the few relatives who still lived in the area. Being from Oklahoma and seeing the large, tobacco plant in Uncle John and Aunt Vesta's yard was quite intriguing for me.

There exists correspondence dated 1941 between John M. CISSELL and the National Park Service in Richmond, Virginia in regard to the removal of the "Old Creal Cabin" near the park entrance. Also there are pictures taken of the CREAL cabin prior to its destruction. The original photos are preserved in the National Archives in Washington D.C. Our family was first made aware of these pictures when a cousin, JoAnne GREEN DAVIS, came across them when viewing a book entitled Old Kentucky Architecture by Redford Newcomb, published in the 1980's. In 1906 great-grandpa John Cates CREAL and his brother Richard W. CREAL made affidavits concerning the location of the original Lincoln Cabin.

An old millstone which was used for the front step on the old CREAL cabin is housed in the basement of the Lincoln Memorial building. On a few occasions the park's personnel have made the stone available for CREAL family viewing. The millstone is visible in part of the existing photographs of the CREAL cabin. The photograph shows cousin Charles R. Guthrie in 1990 viewing the millstone.

SINKING SPRING NEIGHBORHOOD CONNECTION

A marriage bond was issued to Richard CREAL (Senior) and Nancy BROWNFIELD in Hardin County, Kentucky on 23 July 1796. Richard BROWNFIELD was the surety. (The couple was my great-great-great grandparents and Richard BROWNFIELD my 4-great grandfather.) Richard CREAL (CRAIL) was taxed on 112 acres and Richard BROWNFIELD for 174 acres in January 1793 in Nelson County, Kentucky. The elder Richard CREAL and his family lived about two miles eastward of the Sinking Spring farm in the vicinity of where Buffalo is now located. Richard CREAL purchased a 100-acre tract on June 1806 on the waters of Nolin, a branch of Green River, from Richard and Mary MATHER. Five shillings was the purchase price. According to Otis Mather, CREAL may have been in possession of the land under a contract or "title bond", but did not obtain legal title to the place until 1806. A 100-acre farm was listed for taxation by Creal in 1810 and it probably adjoined the land on which Thomas and Elizabeth SPARROW then lived. It would appear most likely that this CREAL family would have also known the Thomas LINCOLN family since Elizabeth was Nancy Hanks Lincoln's aunt. Dennis F. Hanks (his mother Nancy Hanks was a sister of Lucy Hanks and Elizabeth Hanks Sparrow) was raised by the Sparrows and in an autobiographical letter he wrote that he was born May 15, 1799 in Hardin County on the tributary branch of the South Fork of Nolin on the old Richard Creal farm in the old Peach Orchard in a log cabin 3 miles from "Hogins Ville". Richard CREAL died in the year 1824 and left a large family of children.

A membership list of the South Fork Baptist Church in 1804 lists the following CREALS (CRAILS) and Brownfields: Jane Crail, Elizabeth Crail, Richard Crail, Harriet Crail, Eliza Crail, Gillah Crail, Catherine Crail, Gilla Crail, Squire Crail, Elender Brownfield, Polly Crail, Rachel Crail, Mary Brownfield, Elizabeth Ellen Crail and Lucinda Brownfield. The South Fork Baptist Church is located south of Lincoln Springs (as it is called today) on the banks of the South Fork of Nolin River.

KNOB CREEK CONNECTION

Among the students of Zachariah RINEY who attended the Knob Creek School during the short period when Abe LINCOLN attended were the HUTCHINS boys - John B. (18092-1897) and Thomas (1805-1879). The HUTCHINS girls - Mary Magdalene and Juliann - were older and were not students at this time. The two girls married neighborhood brothers - Henry and Robert CISSELL. These families lived in the area later referred to as Sparks Hill.

On June 14, 1822 in Nelson County, Henry CISSELL and Mary Magadelene HUTCHINS (1798-1871) were married (my great-great grandparents). Shortly afterward, Juliann HUTCHINS (1800-1875) MARRIED Robert CISSELL. These HUTCHINS were the children of Eleanor BROWN (1773-1837) AND John HUTCHINS (married 11 Jan. 1797, Nelson County).

Zachariah RINEY received a deed for a parcel of land in Nelson County in 1818 on the north bank of the Rolling Fork River and was bounded by the property of Thomas BOWLING. He was living in the area prior to that date. The farm was near the mouth of Knob Creek and Pottinger's Creek.

After John Hutchins died Eleanor married Thomas BOWLING on February 1807, a young widower with a small child. Additional Children were born. Eleanor and Thomas are buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery and presumably, so is her first husband, John HUTCHINS. The BROWNS, BOWLINGS, HUTCHINS AND CISSELLS were among the Pottinger's Creek settlement of 1785.

Although my direct line may not have attended school with Abe, their siblings did and it is certain the families were no doubt acquainted with each other.

THE OLD RICHARD BERRY CABIN
THE LINCOLN MARRIAGE CABIN CONNECTIONS

The cabin known as the "Lincoln Marriage Cabin" was presented in 1911, by its owners, William A. CLEMENTS, of Springfield, Kentucky, and Walter L. CLEMENTS of South Bend, Indiana, to the Harrodsburg Historical Society. The reverse side of the picture postcard shown here reads: Thomas LINCOLN and Nancy HANKS, parents of Abraham LINCOLN, were married in this cabin, June 12, 1806 by Rev. Jesse HEAD. The cabin has since been moved to Harrodsburg, at Fort Harrod, which is an exact reproduction of the first settlement in Kentucky. The cabin was often referred to as the Richard Berry cabin. The dedication of the Lincoln Marriage Temple took place June 12, 1931 at Pioneer Memorial Park in Harrodsburg. These previous owners' names are inscribed on a plaque which has been placed at the Lincoln Marriage Temple acknowledging their gift. The named CLEMENTS were father and son. William Athanasius CLEMENTS passed away in Washington County, Kentucky on 7 October 1935. He is buried at St. Rose Catholic Cemetery near Springfield. One of his surviving siblings was J.W.S. CLEMENTS of Louisville who has done extensive research on the CLEMENTS and SPALDING families from which I also descend. My great-great-great grandparents were Samuel CLEMENTS and Eleanor BERRY who migrated from Maryland in 1816 and remained in Nelson County, Kentucky as tenants on the old Rowan farm (My Old Kentucky Home) until around 1820 when they settled in the Cartwright Creek area of Washington County, Kentucky. They were members of St. Rose Catholic Church and both are buried in the church cemetery. Eleanor was buried 29 March 1843 and Samuel died in 1847 . Samuel and Eleanor CLEMENTS were parents of seven children. Their oldest son, Walter CLEMENTS, first married Henrietta "Hettie" WIGHT and had three sons - George, Henry, and James Rosemond CLEMENTS. After Hettie's death Walter married Elizabeth RYAN and they had ten children. The William A. CLEMENTS (1860-1935) who donated the cabin was a son of James Rosemond and Elizabeth SPALDING CLEMENTS, and therefore was a great-grandson of Samuel and Eleanor BERRY CLEMENTS. I descend from Samuel and Eleanor's second son, Samuel CLEMENTS, who married Susan THOMAS on 29 October 1832 at St. Rose Catholic Church near Springfield, Kentucky. Samuel and Susan's daughter Jennie CLEMENTS CISSELL is my great-grandmother. She would have been a first cousin of William A. CLEMENTS' father, James Rosemond CLEMENTS. It is probable that I would also have a connection on the SPALDING line through William A. CLEMENTS' mother (Elizabeth SPALDING CLEMENTS) with another set of my great-great grandparents - Thomas SPALDING (1819-1892) and Ann NALLEY (1824-1890) of Nelson and Larue counties.

There is also a connection on my BERRY line with the Richard BERRY in whose cabin the Lincoln marriage took place. Our closest common ancestor would be Jeremiah BERRY I (1712-1796), the father of Richard BERRY, Sr. who died in 1798 in Washington County. According to my research Richard BERRY, Sr. was a brother of my great-great-great grandmother's (Eleanor BERRY CLEMENTS) grandfather - Jeremiah BERRY II (1732-1780). Richard Berry, Jr., who signed the marriage bond as Nancy HANKS guardian, would be Eleanor BERRY CLEMENTS first cousin once removed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It's been interesting and rewarding reviewing my accumulated collections in order to gather our Lincoln connections. Thanks for providing the opportunity to share my story with fellow Ancestral Trails Historical Society members and other readers. Long live the memories of Abraham Lincoln.

Credit should be given to the following individuals (cousins and siblings) who have aided and shared with me their research of our CREAL, CISSELL, CLEMENTS, THOMAS, BROWNFIELD, BROWN, and HUTCHINS ancestry:

    Mary K. (Creal) Hurt of South Carolina - Creal & Brownfield lines
    JoAnne (Green) Davis of Oklahoma - Cissell & Creal lines
    Joanne (Domnick) Sullivan of Oklahoma - Clements & Thomas lines
    Mary U. Connors of South Carolina - Hutchins & Brown lines
    Janet (Stormont) Coulter of Kansas - all above
    J.D. Stormont of Oklahoma - all above

REFERENCES:

Hodgenville Newspaper, March 31, 1960
Hardin County Kentucky Marriages 1793-1809 by Mary Jo Jones, page 6
The Mather Papers (1995 edition) by Otis M. Mather, page 15
The Lineage of Lincoln by William E. Barton, Publisher: The Boos-Merrill Co. 1929, Ch. IX, page 213
Bishops and Priests of the Diocese of Bardstown by Fr. John A. Lyon
Printed article by Roger H. Futrell entitled: Zachariah Riney: Lincoln's Schoolmaster
Nelson County Will of John Hutchins - Sept. 11, 1806 - Appraised Jan. 12, 1807
Nelson County Will of Thomas Bowling leaves estate to eight named children - April 1838 - Oct. 1838
Filson Club Historical Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3, July 1931
Obituary in the Springfield Sun, October 1935
St. Rose Catholic Church registry
Origins of Clements-Spalding and Allied Families of Maryland and Kentucky by J.W.S. Clements, published 1928