"Abraham Lincoln was the son of Nancy Hanks by Abraham Enloe...the story has been in circulation in North Carolina since the earliest times, and it has found many believers in Kentucky and Illinois." - Publications of the Southern History Association, 1904
In 1899, James Cathey published "The Genesis of Lincoln: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction," an account of the parentage of Abraham Lincoln. His little book struck a popular chord and passed through three editions.
The purpose of Cathey's book is to prove that Abraham Lincoln was the son of Nancy Hanks by Abraham Enloe, of Swain county, N. C.; that the father for the sake of domestic peace sent the girl before the birth of her child to some of his relations in Kentucky; that the mother married there, and that the son took the name of his putative father.
The evidence used is the tradition universal in western North Carolina, testified to by many respectable persons and accepted by members of the Enloe family, and a fancied resemblance between some of the Enloes, whose pictures are published, and Lincoln. The evidence produced shows that the story has been in circulation in North Carolina since the earliest times, and that it has found many believers in Kentucky and Illinois.
About the Author
James Harrison Cathey (1866-1929), was a North Carolina state legislator and author of historical works. His research shed further light on some enigmatic statements found in William H. Herndon's original (and suppressed) manuscript and Ward Lamon's Life of Lincoln regarding the paternity of the sixteenth United States President. His work was used as the basis for James Caswell Coggins' own contributions to the subject: Abraham Lincoln: A North Carolinian (1926) and The Eugenics of President Abraham Lincoln (1940). Cathey passed away on September 1, 1929 in Jackson, North Carolina.
Cathey's "The Genesis Of Lincoln" has been cited in the following works:
• Abraham Enloe of Western North Carolina: The Natural Father of Abraham Lincoln, Don Norris - 2008
• The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, Thomas J. Dilorenzo - 2009
• Terra Incognita: An Annotated Bibliography of the Great Smoky, Anne Bridges, Russell Clement, Ken Wise - 2014
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, Steven B. Smith - 2012
• The War of Northern Aggression in Western North Carolina, Derrick Shipman, Jim Howell - 2002
• Lincoln: A Biography, Ronald C. White - 2009
• Lincoln Legends. Edward Steers - 2007
• The Thomas Wolfe Review, 2003
• Carolina Comments, 2009
• She-Rain: A Story of Hope, Michael Cogdill - 2010
• The Tarheel Lincoln: North Carolina Origins of "honest" Abe Lincoln, Jerry A. Goodnight, Richard Eller - 2003
• Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era, David Herbert Donald - 2001
• Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power, Richard Carwardine - 2007
• The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln: Was He the Son of Thomas Lincoln? William Eleazar Barton - 1920
• These Storied Mountains, John Parris - 1972
• Lincoln the Hoosier: Abraham Lincoln's Life in Indiana, Charles Garrett Vannest - 1928
