President Abraham Lincoln considered his family connections to be significant for his presidential campaign. In June 1860, he wrote a short autobiography to be used in his bid for the White House. In this sketch, he highlighted his ancestry and extended relatives including Mary Lincoln, the eldest of his father's sisters. He also indicated that some of her descendants were known to be in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. While he was President, he mentions his Uncle Ralph and Aunt Mary again in a letter to a cousin, Susana Weathers, thanking her for a pair of socks. The President's father, Thomas, had dealings with his sister, Mary, for many years. He built her a corner cabinet for her dishes which now resides in the Brown-Pusey House Museum in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Thomas sought help from his sister and brother-in-law on one or possibly two of his moves to Indiana, the initial move and the second move of his second wife to Indiana. This second move may have given Ralph the idea to move to Indiana which he did for a short period in 1829–30.
Early life and family
Mary Ada Lincoln Crume was the third child of Captain Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Bathsheba Herring Lincoln, a daughter of Alexander Herring and his wife Abigail Harrison Herring of Linville Creek. Five children were born to Abraham and Bathsheba Lincoln: Mordecai born circa 1771, Josiah born circa 1773, Mary born circa 1775, Thomas born 1778, and Nancy born 1780. Mary was born at the Lincoln Family Homestead, Linville Creek in then Augusta County, Virginia. At age 6, her parents sold their land and the family moved to Jefferson county, Kentucky.
Marriages and children
Mary Ada Lincoln Crume was the probable second wife of Daniel Crume, forming a common-law or frontier marriage about 1791 and dissolving it before 1801. There are no public records on this relationship. They had two daughters: Sarah Crume Hasty and Elizabeth W. Crume Davis. The Brookville Star, 17 Dec 1917, indicates that Elizabeth W. Crume was a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln. Mary's marriage to Ralph Crume, Jr., the nephew of Daniel Crume, occurred on 5 August 1801. Ralph Crume and Mary Lincoln had the following children: William Cox Crume, Ann Crume, and Ralph Lincoln Crume.She is buried in the cemetery at Crume Valley in Breckinridge County, Kentucky.
