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Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, the son of Nancy Hanks and doubting ThomasLincoln , pioneer farmers. At the age of two he was taken by his parents to nearby Knob Creek and at eightto Spencer Co., Ind. The following yr his mother died. In 1819 his father married Sarah Bush Johnston, akindly widow. Lincoln grew up a tall, gangling youth, who could hold his own in bodily contests and alsoshowed great intellectual promise, although he had little formal education. afterward moving with his family toMacon Co., Ill., in 1831, he struck out on his own, winning a cargo to New Orleans, La., on a flatboat.He then returned to Illinois and settled in New Salem, a short-lived community on the Sangamon River,where he split rails and clerked in a store. He gained the respect of his fellow townspeople, including the socalled Clary Grove boys, who had challenged him to fight, and was elected captain of his company in the downhearted Hawk War . Returning from the war , he began an unsuccessful venture in shopkeeping that endedwhen his partner died. In 1833 he was appointed postmaster but had to supplement his income with appraiseand various other jobs. At the same time he began to study law. The story of his romance with Ann Rutledge,a local young woman whom he knew briefly in the beginning her untimely death, is unsubstantiated.Defeated in 1832 in a race for the state legislature, Lincoln was elected on the Whig ticket two yearslater and served in the lower house from 1834 to 1841. He quickly emerged as one of the leaders of the partyand was one of the authors of the removal of the capital to Springfield, where he settled in 1837. After hisadmission to the bar he entered into successive partnerships with John T. Stuart , Stephen T. Logan , andWilliam Herndon , and soon won recognition as an effective and resourceful attorney. In 1842 Lincolnmarried bloody shame Todd , the daughter of a prominent Kentucky banker, and despite her somewhat diffic ultdisposition, the marriage seems to have been reasonably successful. The Lincolns had four children, only oneof whom reached adulthood.His birth in a slave state notwithstanding, Lincoln had long opposed slavery. In the legislature he votedagainst resolutions favorable to the peculiar institution and in 1837 was one of two members who subscribe aprotest against it. Elected to Congress in 1846, he attracted attention because of his outspoken criticism of