Route of Lincolns

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Historical Marker #858 in Hardin County identifies the path that Abraham Lincoln's family traveled during their migration to Indiana.

In 1816, the Lincoln family moved from present-day Larue County, Kentucky, to southern Indiana. Abraham Lincoln recounted the reason for this move north of the Ohio River in a short autobiographical sketch for Chicago Times editor John Locke Scripps, stating:

"From this place [Knob Creek] he removed to what is now Spencer county Indiana, in the autumn of 1816, A [braham] then being in his [eighth] year. This removal was partly on account of slavery; but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land titles in Ky."

Challenges to land titles were a regular occurrence in the early years of Kentucky, and the experience of Thomas Lincoln was no exception. The departure of the Lincoln family from Kentucky was not uncommon, as many more Kentucky families continued westward to the newly organized states of Indiana (1816) and Illinois (1818). The approximate route the Lincolns traveled is marked by Kentucky Historical Highway Markers in present-day Hardin, Breckinridge, and Hancock counties.