text: He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk, to its namesake, Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638.The family then migrated west, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.Lincoln was also a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia; his paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln and wife Bathsheba (née Herring) moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Kentucky.The captain was killed in an Indian raid in 1786.His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, Abraham's father, witnessed the attack.Thomas then worked at odd jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee before the family settled in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s.Lincoln's mother Nancy Lincoln is widely assumed to be the daughter of Lucy Hanks.Thomas and Nancy married on June 12, 1806, in Washington County, and moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky.They had three children: Sarah, Abraham, and Thomas, who died as an infant.Thomas Lincoln bought or leased farms in Kentucky before losing all but of his land in court disputes over property titles.In 1816, the family moved to Indiana where the land surveys and titles were more reliable.Indiana was a "free" (non-slaveholding) territory, and they settled in an "unbroken forest" in Hurricane Township, Perry County, Indiana.In 1860, Lincoln noted that the family's move to Indiana was "partly on account of slavery", but mainly due to land title difficulties.In Kentucky and Indiana, Thomas worked as a farmer, cabinetmaker, and carpenter.At various times, he owned farms, livestock, and town lots, paid taxes, sat on juries, appraised estates, and served on county patrols.Thomas and Nancy were members of a Separate Baptists church, which forbade alcohol, dancing, and slavery.Overcoming financial challenges, Thomas in 1827 obtained clear title to in Indiana, an area which became the Little Pigeon Creek Community.