Feb. 12, 1809 - Abraham Lincoln is born in a one room log cabin on Nolan Creek in Kentucky.

1811 - In Spring, the Lincoln family moves to a 230 acre farm on Knob Creek ten miles from Sinking Spring.

Lincolns Memorial Building

1815 - Young Abraham attends a log school house.

1817 - In February, Abraham, age 7, shoots a wild turkey but suffers great remorse and never hunts game again.

Abraham Lincoln grew up on a farm with many animals. His first pet was a pig. He like to feed it acorns. He also had a dog named "Honey" because it was yellowish in color.

Lincoln Family

In Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln had four sons: Robert, Edward, William, and Thomas. Only Robert lived to be an adult. The other three boys died before they reached their nineteenth birthday. Because there were no antibiotics and people did not know about germs, viruses, and other things that caused illness, it was common for children to die.

 The Lincoln family had cats, a cow, chickens, a horse, and a dog named Fido. The cow grazed on an empty lot behind the Lincoln home and provided fresh milk for the family.

The Lincoln White House had many pets including cats, goats, ponies, Jip the dog and a turkey. The boys taught Jip tricks. One visitor to the white House recalled that Jip "barks & stands up straight on his hind feet & holds his fore feet up." Willie and Tad would hitch Nanko the goat to a wagon. When Tad went on a trip with his mother, Abraham Lincoln telegraphed them the following message: "Tell Tad the goats and father are very well--especially the goats." The Lincolns were given a live turkey before Christmas to be killed for Christmas dinner. Tad cried and asked his father to write out a presidential pardon to spare the turkey's life. President Lincoln agreed with Tad and let the turkey become a White House pet.