The Fascinating Facts, Fiction, and Frustrations of Family History and My Obsessive Desire to Possess Them All.

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Did the Rays know the Lincolns?

 

Perusing old newspapers I came across this gem in the obituary of Thomas Jefferson Ray (my husband 1st cousin, 3x removed).  Thomas was born 13 Aug 1862 and died 9 May 1955, living his entire life in Warren County, Illinois.[1]

… Susan Ray [Thomas’s grandmother] was the daughter of Andrew Ray, a wealthy farmer owning a large tract of land adjoining land owned by Abraham Lincoln, Edmonson County, Ky., near what is now Asphalt, Ky…

Being from Illinois, having a Lincoln connection is exciting.  So I set out to document this – Did Susan know Abe?  Were there interactions between the families?  Obsession set in.

According to the National Park Service, Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809 but moved to Indiana in 1816 when he was still a child.[2]  First stumbling block.  Too young to own land himself, perhaps the land was owned by his father, Thomas Lincoln.

Genealogists recognize that county borders changed many times in the early of a state.  Counties began large and gradually birthed new counties as the population grew.  Lincoln’s birthplace is located near Hodgenville, Kentucky.[3]    In 1810 that was within Hardin County. 

Here is Thomas Lincoln’s 1810 census recorded in Hardin County: [4]

This is Abraham’s first census, being denoted by the ‘tick mark’ in column 1.

On 26 Oct 1803 Thomas Lincoln bought 238 acres from Dr. John Slator.[5]  They sold that land to Charles Milton on 27 Oct 1814 and bought 50 acres along Otter Creek from Thomas Howey.[6]    None of these deeds mention the land being adjoining to anyone named Ray.  Second stumbling block.

Edmonson County, Kentucky was not created until 1825 from Grayson, Hart, and Warren counties.[7]   Andrew Ray was in Warren County in 1810.  This is his census record: [8]

Andrew was born about 1760 in Albemarle, VA and died 15 Aug 1835 in Edmonson, KY.[9]    On 1 Apr 1820 Andrew sold his 200 acre original farm to his son, Thomas.[10]  This deed does not mention any of the adjoining landowners. 

So the deeds themselves do not provide any evidence of the Ray and Lincoln families being neighbors.  Let’s check the maps.

This is a county map of Kentucky showing the existing counties in 1810:  Hardin County is highlighted in yellow, Warren in green.  There is some adjoining property.[11]

So there is a sliver of hope of the obituary story being true.

However, Hogenville, Kentucky is now within LaRue County.  LaRue was created in 1843 from Hardin County.  Here is the updated Kentucky County map from 1844:  Lincoln’s homestead in LaRue is highlighted in yellow, Edmonson County, where the Rays lived, is in green.[12]

The areas are no longer adjoining.

So were the Lincolns and Rays neighbors in Kentucky?



[1] “Thomas J Ray”, Abingdon Argus (Abingdon, Illinois), 19 May 1955, page 3.

[4] 1810 U. S. Census, Hardin, Kentucky, population schedule, Elizabethtown, p. 299, line 6, Thos Lincoln; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Jul 2021), 1810 United States Federal Census> Kentucky> Hardin> Elizabethtown; citing NARA microfilm publication M252, roll 6.

[5] Hardin, Tennessee, Deed Book B:253, Thomas Lincoln from John Slator; digital image, Family History Library (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog : accessed 22 Jul 2021), Kentucky > Hardin > Land and Property> Deeds, v. A-B 1793-1804,  FHL 008402414, image 544.

[6] Hardin, Tennessee, Deed Book E:193, Thomas Lincoln to Charles Milton; digital image, Family History Library (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog : accessed 22 Jul 2021), Kentucky > Hardin > Land and Property> Deeds, v. E-F 1813-1819,  FHL 008142686, image 110.  Also Hardin, Tennessee, Deed Book E:195, Thomas Lincoln from Thomas Howey; digital image, Family History Library (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog : accessed 22 Jul 2021), Kentucky > Hardin > Land and Property> Deeds, v. E-F 1813-1819,  FHL 008142686, image 111. 

[8] 1810 U. S. Census, Warren, Kentucky, population schedule, p. 254, line 41, Andrew Ray; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Jul 2021), 1810 United States Federal Census> Kentucky> Warren>; citing NARA microfilm publication M252, roll 8.

[10] Warren, Tennessee, Deed Book 9:283, Andrew Ray to Thomas Ray; digital image, Family History Library (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog : accessed 22 Jul 2021), Kentucky > Warren > Land and Property> Vols. 9-10 1818-1823,  FHL 008192662, image 164. 

[11] https://www.mapofus.org/ selecting Kentucky in 1810.

[12] https://www.mapofus.org/ selecting Kentucky in 1844.