Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of the president, was born in 1744 to John and Rebecca Lincoln in Berks County, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Rockingham County, Virginia where they prospered as farmers. During the American Revolution, Abraham was a militia captain. Sometime before 1780, Lincoln married Bersheba Herring and is thought to have moved westward in 1782 with his family, including three sons (Mordecai, Josiah and Thomas) and two daughters (Mary and Ann). They settled near Hughes Station in Jefferson County, about twenty miles east of Louisville. In May 1786, while planting corn about a half mile from the station, Abraham and his three sons were attacked by Indians. Abraham was killed instantly. Thirteen-year-old Josiah ran to the station for help, fifteen-year-old Mordecai rushed into an unoccupied cabin, and ten-year-old Thomas remained by his father's side. When an Indian approached Abraham's body and Thomas, Mordecai shot him. Men from the station then drove away the remainder of the Indians. Under Virginia's laws of primogeniture, Mordecai inherited his father's estate and left Thomas Lincoln, the president's father, destitute.

Lowell H. Harrison, Lincoln of Kentucky (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000).