Was Abraham Lincoln born in western North Carolina?
By Charles Joyner
In 1899, less than 35 years after Lincoln's assassination, James H. Cathey of Sylva wrote and published the third edition of a book, entitled "The Genesis of Lincoln," in which he endeavors to prove "an interesting fact in the story of America's most remarkable man."
Quoting interviews and letters from widely scattered sources, Cathey makes a case that Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, became pregnant as a servant girl in the home of Abraham Enloe, located on Ocona Lufta, about 14 miles from Bryson City in what is now Swain County.
Abraham Enloe fathered nine sons and seven daughters by his wife (a former Miss Egerton). The ninth and only surviving son in 1899 was Wesley M. Enloe. Wesley was 88 years old when he was interviewed by Cathey at the Enloe home — the same house on the same farm where his father and mother lived when Nancy Hanks was banished from the household and sent to Kentucky.
Wesley Enloe said in 1899: "I was born after the incident between father and Nancy Hanks. I have, however, a vivid recollection of hearing the name Nancy Hanks frequently mentioned when I was a boy. No, I never heard my father mention it; he was always silent on the subject so far as I know.. . . I have no doubt that the cause of my father's sending her to Kentucky is the one generally alleged."
Cathey interviewed Joseph A. Collins, then 56 and living in Clyde in Haywood County. Collins said he met a Judge Gilmore in 1867, who said he knew Nancy Hanks before she was married, and that she then had a child she called Abraham. "While the child was yet small," Collins quoted Judge Gilmore, "she married a man by the name of Lincoln, after which the boy was known as Abraham Lincoln."
"Years ago," Collins quoted Judge Gilmore, "on Turkey Creek in Buncombe County, N.C., I met an old gentleman whose name was Phillis Wells. Wells said he was then 90 years old. When he was a young man he traveled over the country selling tinware and buying furs, feathers and ginseng. On one occasion he called on Abraham Enloe to stay overnight, as was his custom."
Enloe went with Wells to the barn to put up the peddler's horse, Judge Gilmore said. While there, Enloe told Wells: "My wife is mad; about to tear up the place; she has not spoken to me in two weeks, and I wanted to tell you about it before you went in the house."
Wells asked, "What is the matter?" And Abraham Enloe replied, "The trouble is about Nancy Hanks, a hired girl we have living with us."
"Later a child was born to Nancy Hanks and she named him Abraham."
As Cathey reports it, Wells said he returned to the Enloe place some time later and by that time Abraham Enloe had sent Nancy Hanks to Jonathan's Creek and hired a family there to take care of her, and that later a child was born to Nancy Hanks and she named him Abraham.
An Asheville lawyer named Col. Davidson, who married into the Enloe family, and who settled Abraham Enloe's estate, related that shortly after the Civil War a man came to his office and introduced himself as a son of Nancy Enloe Thompson. The Thompson man stated that he was a Democrat and had been an Indian agent during Lincoln's administration.
"I asked," Col. Davidson said, "why Lincoln, who was a Republican, appointed a Democrat an Indian agent. Thompson replied that the President was under some great obligation to his [Thompson's] mother, and had expressed a desire to aid her in some substantial way. 'This is the way I got my appointment,' he told me."
Capt. James W. Terrell (born in Rutherford County in December 1829) recalled a conversation with a Dr. Egerton of Hendersonville, a relative of Mrs. Abraham Enloe. Dr. Egerton told him, Terrell said, that in the fall of 1860, just before the Presidential election, he had a guest in his home, a Mr. Davis, also a Rutherford County native, who had moved to Illinois in the early 1850s and had become "intimately acquainted with Abraham Lincoln."
"In a private and confidential talk," Davis is quoted as saying, Lincoln told him he was of Southern extraction, that his right name was, or ought to have been, Enloe, but that he had always gone by the name of his stepfather.
After reading Cathey's book, I picked up the Hendersonville phone book and called the first three Enloes listed. "The story is common knowledge in the family," Bryce Enloe of Edneyville told me. "I come from the same set of Enloes."
"I heard it from my grandparents," said Keith Enloe of Laurel Park. "It has been passed down from generation to generation."
"Abraham Enloe was my great-great grandfather," said Robert Enloe of Big Willow community. "I've heard the story all my life. I know it is true."
Was Abraham Lincoln the son of a western North Carolina farmer? You be the judge.
About the Author
Charles Joyner is a Carolina Country correspondent living in Hendersonville.-
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Comments (116)
I enjoyed your article.
Kim
Kim Shuler |
September 06, 2017 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
November 27, 2020 |
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Robert Purkey |
April 02, 2022 |
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Laura VonKampen |
December 27, 2017 |
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Bob Dean |
October 20, 2020 |
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Deborah Keller |
October 21, 2020 |
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It is on kindle,Amazon, and Nook.
Deborah Keller |
October 21, 2020 |
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Leslie |
August 21, 2021 |
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Ludy Wilkie |
July 18, 2018 |
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Deborah Keller |
September 27, 2018 |
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Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
July 01, 2019 |
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Shana |
July 01, 2019 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
November 27, 2020 |
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Cheryl Enlow Beckwith |
August 22, 2019 |
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Sandra Enloe-Burger |
January 01, 2020 |
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Im also a great grandson of Enoch Enloe. Just wondering why you ended up in California. My father is L.A. Enloe which came from NC when he young to Texas. He had a sister that moved to California named Ruth. Just wondering if she is related to you.
Leon Enloe |
August 26, 2021 |
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Kenny Goode |
August 25, 2019 |
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Sandra Enloe-Burger |
January 01, 2020 |
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Kenny Goode |
January 01, 2020 |
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While there another visitor came in and explained that she is an Enloe and DNA connected her to Lincoln. She also shared photographs of a relative that had striking characteristics to the president.
Miss Becky the museum hostess took information from this person.
Pat |
November 30, 2019 |
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In 11th grade connected to a half sister from my dad that I never lnew about. She and I became fairly close...considering she was 8 yrs older and we didn't grow up together.
She came to me one day and said she did an ancestry genealogy and that we are kin to Abraham Lincoln through his half brother Wesley Enloe. So believe the "old folk" tales guys....if you're lucky enough to hear it!!
Jessica Stoyle |
January 28, 2020 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
April 04, 2020 |
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Sonya Foster |
April 09, 2020 |
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Robbins
Robbins Bobbitt |
October 27, 2020 |
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MONIQUE DURRETT |
October 27, 2020 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
August 29, 2021 |
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Sharon Watts |
May 09, 2020 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
August 29, 2021 |
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Cindy Hohmann |
May 10, 2020 |
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My 4th great grandfather was Abraham Enloe. Can you please tell me what town he is buried in? And, I would like to hear your stories . His daughter, Nancy was my 3nd great grandmother and our family stories relate that she and her husband Thomas Thompson took Nancy Hanks and young Abraham to Tom Lincoln in Kentucky.
Jerry McCaw |
August 31, 2020 |
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Marji Hill |
October 21, 2021 |
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I M the Great Great Great Granddaughter of Abraham Enloe. Can you tell me the town he is buried in? I’m planning a trip there soon
Sincerely
Leessa Black
High Point NC
Leessa Black |
July 02, 2021 |
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Kim |
September 28, 2023 |
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becky williamson |
May 23, 2020 |
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MONIQUE DURRETT |
May 31, 2020 |
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Stephen |
December 03, 2021 |
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Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
June 01, 2020 |
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My 4th great grandfather was Abraham Enloe. How can I get a copy of your play?
I am interested in knowing what encouraged you to write the play and how you researched the factual data.
Jerry McCaw |
August 31, 2020 |
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I gave a box full of copies of my research notes to the Bostic, NC Lincoln museum. I worked in Rutherford County, NC as a news reporter, later a schoolteacher, and knew the play would be popular there..
Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
September 01, 2020 |
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Cindy Beam |
October 09, 2020 |
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David Ward Jones |
June 04, 2020 |
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Barbara Pendleton |
July 25, 2020 |
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Sincerely
Leessa Black
High Point NC
Leessa Black |
July 02, 2021 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
October 21, 2021 |
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I wondered where the height originated from in our family.
MONIQUE DURRETT |
June 05, 2020 |
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Pat |
June 05, 2020 |
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MONIQUE DURRETT |
June 06, 2020 |
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Kim Jordan |
July 03, 2020 |
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The book was “The Genesis of Lincoln” by James H Cathey
I am the 3rd great granddaughter of Abraham Enloe. You wrote a paper that no one believes. Thanks for sharing.
Sincerely
Leessa Black
High Point NC
Leessa Black |
July 02, 2021 |
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Cynthia |
July 13, 2020 |
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MONIQUE DURRETT |
July 13, 2020 |
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Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
July 26, 2020 |
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Ernest Thompson |
August 05, 2020 |
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Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
September 01, 2020 |
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Thank you for responding to my contact.
In the book " The Genesis of Lincoln" Mr. Cathey states that my Great, great, great Grandmother Nancy and g.g.g. grandfather Thomas delivered Nancy Hanks and young Abraham to Tom Lincoln. This was the story told in my family.
Maybe the grand folks used the delivery to elope. The story we heard is that Abraham Enloe paid Tom Lincoln to marry Nancy. Our stories say that Tom's abuse of Nancy and young Abe centered around his alcoholism and the fight did occur when Abraham Enloe went to Kentucky
to confront Tom Lincoln. Our tales say that my grandmother did visit Nancy over the years and her son was given the BIA post by The President even though he was a Democrat.
How can I access a copy of your play?
Thanks again for helping m find out more about the Enloe connection.
Jerry McCaw |
September 01, 2020 |
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Send an e-mail to ludy@shelby.net
Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
September 29, 2020 |
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Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
January 04, 2022 |
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https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuo.ark:/13960/t3zs2n82d&view=1up&seq=9&skin=2021
Robbins Warrington Bobbitt |
January 15, 2022 |
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The "Government" won't allow the DNA test the same way the Government did not try Jefferson Davis for Treason!
Bob Dean |
October 30, 2020 |
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Leessa Black |
December 06, 2021 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
December 10, 2021 |
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https://youtu.be/725uVeybQdg
Robbins Warrington Bobbitt |
January 15, 2022 |
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Please stay connected with me
Sincerely
Leessa Black
High Point NC
Leessa Black |
July 02, 2021 |
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Ernest Thompson |
July 02, 2021 |
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Robbins
Robbins Bobbitt |
October 21, 2021 |
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Jerry McCaw |
August 31, 2020 |
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Dave |
February 15, 2022 |
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M |
October 30, 2022 |
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Kim |
September 01, 2020 |
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Brantley Enloe |
September 27, 2020 |
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Bob Dean |
October 15, 2020 |
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Cindy Beam |
October 16, 2020 |
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Ludy Wilkie
Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
October 16, 2020 |
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Joan Mancuso |
October 20, 2020 |
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It’s true really.
Leessa Black
High Point NC
Leessa Black |
July 02, 2021 |
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Bob Dean |
October 20, 2020 |
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Bob Dean |
November 24, 2020 |
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Barbra Devins |
January 23, 2021 |
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Cindy Beam |
January 24, 2021 |
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Bob Dean |
January 25, 2021 |
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Mary bowen |
October 19, 2021 |
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Dennis deakin |
July 19, 2023 |
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Sarah Egerton was related to British royalty (queen Victoria) so by marriage so was Abraham (enloe)Lincoln which is why the genealogy has been covered up using all royal related people.
It is also why Abraham Lincoln was killed and John Wilkes booth and the claimed conspirators were framed for the assassination using all royalty related judges and witnesses.
Dennis deakin |
September 29, 2023 |
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MR.BOONE |
October 01, 2023 |
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The proof as you call it is the bigger picture itself that those judging hare not only a part of but are those that have hidden the evidence by proving others to be guilty using royal witnesses.
The proof you are looking for is that those seeking the proof (judges) are the assailants and for example they will not test the DNA of John Wilkes Booth Vertibrae nor will they test the DNA of the blood on such as the chair or pillow or any part of Lincoln’s blood that they have in their controll to be tested which cannot be determined to the non left Lincoln family but could be tested with the Enloe Family.
The proof is the bigger picture ! It should not be the case that those 100% involved with every aspect are royal related and includes every location. The guilty people are the judges that determine whether the truth can be determined. They too have created the false history.
Dennis deakin |
October 04, 2023 |
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Dennis deakin |
October 04, 2023 |
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Scarlett Imhoff |
January 15, 2022 |
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Kim |
September 28, 2023 |
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Ludy Marvin Wilkie |
February 15, 2022 |
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Isaac Enloe |
May 22, 2022 |
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Kim |
September 28, 2023 |
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That was my great great great grandparents’ homestead
Isaac Enloe |
October 04, 2023 |
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James Ritchie |
July 04, 2022 |
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Robbins Bobbitt |
July 07, 2022 |
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Jess |
July 15, 2022 |
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Kim |
September 28, 2023 |
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Lauri |
June 13, 2023 |
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MR.BOONE |
August 25, 2023 |
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Robbins W Bobbitt |
August 29, 2023 |
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Ernest Thompson | August 05, 2020
Ernest Thompson |
August 30, 2023 |
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Deborah Keller |
August 31, 2023 |
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MR.BOONE |
September 03, 2023 |
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Dennis deakin |
October 04, 2023 |
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Matthew R Morgan |
September 01, 2023 |
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James B. Ritchie |
September 18, 2023 |
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married Betty Todd Lincoln his totally unrelated "step" sister.
James B. Ritchie |
September 18, 2023 |
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James B. Ritchie |
September 18, 2023 |
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Kim |
September 28, 2023 |
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James B. Ritchie |
October 04, 2023 |
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Queen Victorias daughters husbands grandmother was an Egerton.
It is not that simple, genealogically the royal family would intermarry over centuries and the Egerton were no different. Kings and Queens would also have multiple mistresses and lovers they were only human. The fact that Enloe and Egerton were married meant that regardless of infidelity they were royalty related.
It was vitally important that Abraham Lincoln’s genealogy was not only hidden but hidden using Royal relations so that nobody would then associate the assassination of Abraham Lincoln with royalty let alone even look or question the official story of the assassination.
All of the politicians witnesses and judges around the assassination were also Royal relations and the claimed conspirators and John Wilkes Booth proved to be the assailants to ensure the question of royalty would never be seen. John Wilkes Booth was neither at Fords theatre nor were the conspirators hung, guilty.
Abraham Enloe Lincoln was German royalty the actual assassins was of the Scottish Stuart royalty. Alternative assailant either way be intertwined with Lincoln’s genealogy or the assassination.The world could not be allowed to associate royalty involvement because quite simple England had been banished from America at independence. Queen Victorias empire which covered 1/3 of the world was established by intermarriage of her children so Abraham enloe Lincoln was so born. The British empire started before queen Victoria and mistresses of kings were involved. Elizabeth brunton was the aunt of Laura Keene and brunton was an actress who became countess Craven who after being a the kings mistress then married Lord Craven, who owned the land of the Carolina’s in the last bastion of England in America then called Craven county. After independence there were 200 established royal related families still living in America and who were compliant to the British royal families. Generational breeding for the future was common practice of royalty to command the British empire and Abraham enloe Lincoln was so born for the purpose.
Those British families and the English government interchanged from the Scottish royals to the English and indeed German royals which was queen Victoria. Britain was having its own civil wars and differing kings and queen royalties and associated families were beheaded ,their lands taken and they banished to America.
The real killer of the German royalty related Abraham Enloe Lincoln was killed from the box below facilitated by Laura Keene ,John Thompson ford and James Johnson Gifford and indeed the family of Edwin Stanton ,the confederate Todd’s and the family of Frances Adeline Seward wife of William h Seward also claimed to have been attacked which he was not. James tanner the Stanton stenographer was a relation of Edwin Stanton’s family and Frances Adeline Stewart and the British royals.
James Tanner wrote the history which was to be taught as fact and also wrote the transcription words of the conspirators trial.
Edwin Stanton was related to the same royalty as Lincoln but his wife was not.
William H Seward worked alongside Lincoln but his wife’s family was the Stuart royals who had been banished from their lands in Scotland now again to have their lands taken by not adhering to the Union.
Abraham Lincoln’s policies of taking lands from those not loyal to the north, benefitted him greatly through the purchase of government bonds enriched by those taken lands. Lincoln’s finances were finalized after the assassination by judge David Davis who had Learned his law alongside Edwin Stanton. Salmon Portland chase also related dealt with lincolns finances whilst he was living. By rightly freeing slaves Lincoln also armed the slaves as soldiers against the same masters of whom the richest of which were assossiated with the slave owning Stuart kings prior to the German royalty.
Another royal was John Amor Bingham of the conspirators trial who on his deathbed told his doctor that if the people knew what really occurred it would have have destroyed the republic. The reason being that either side of the American government were British royalty be it the German royal Abraham Enloe Lincoln or their Scottish royal British civil war opponent who were the confederate presidents.
The only person John armor Bingham told was Edwin Stanton who subsequently committed suicide because he had led the jury and the murder of the conspirators having been fed information by his Stuart associated family.
Those Stuart’s were the Binghams family of lady Diana Spencer. Of the Spencer Churchill and Hannibal hamlins family who facilitated the house in acushnet to be purchased by Laura keen, the deeds of which were being processed 3 weeks before the assassination. Keenes own health was deteriorating and she need to supply for her family.
Laura keenes first husband was the godson of Queen Victorias favorite naval commander the Duke of Wellington.
After the assassination Laura keenes daughter married another royal relation Albert Rawson who was trained in law by William h Seward. Lawson however became an artist and made his money by painting royal portraits most famously being those of Queen Victoria and her her husband the German Prince Albert again whose daughter then intermarried as previously said with the Egertons.
History of the assassination and the genealogy of Abraham enloe Lincoln because the assassination was carried out by the American Stuart related royalty, killing Abraham Lincoln he being the British civil war enemy of the Stuart’s in America by the German royals now in charge of England, so either way the American government were British royalty related north and south.
So neither side are going to allow the proof of either Lincoln’s genealogy because it will point to all of the participants of the trial judges and witnesses and politicians that then set up and hung innocent people.
Relations of Doctor Mudd had the same problems of his guilt and the same murdering government will not test the vertebrae of the claimed john Wilkes Booth which would prove that it was not he, as history proports.
Abraham Lincoln was shot from the box below by the lifting of a floor hatch resting the poor ballistic derringer ( derringer was the husband of Mary Lincoln aunt) on the provided chair ensuring the exact projection of the bullet in his brain. The history taught by the killing government that of a single bullet derringer has been calculated to have a 1 in 100 chance of entering Lincoln’s head in the manner the bullet did and not only does history teach this ridiculous fete but Booth also expected to get away with it having a horse available.
The real killer of Abraham enloe Lincoln merely walked out of the box below rode away and exchange his horse alongside the north canal in Washington on his way back to Kentucky. Whist troops were sent south on a predetermined escape route including the Surratt house which had been visited to and reported by contraband smugglers and used to be Booths escape.
This escape route I have, as do I have the man who held the horse of the real killer who was a relation to the Stuart royalty . That man holding the horse was Benjamin Maddox. Whose story is also available and was released from point lookout prison in November 1864 with his family paying Lincoln 1600 dollars for his release.
Dennis deakin |
September 28, 2023 |
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MR.BOONE |
October 01, 2023 |
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Dennis deakin |
October 04, 2023 |
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Some of the Houston stayed and moved from Delaware to South Carolina then upt North Carolina then on to Ohio. They too are connected to the Todd’s Enloes rathbones and Harris families.
Dennis deakin |
October 04, 2023 |
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When John armor Bingham a judge of the conspirators trial told Edwin Stanton of a secret if known by the Americans were known it would have destroyed the republic. That secret was the royal involvement ocontrolling the American government to which Stanton’s wife was a prominent member. Stanton thus committed suicide in the knowledge that he had promoted the death of the innocent conspirators.
Dennis deakin |
October 04, 2023 |
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Deborah Keller |
October 04, 2023 |
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MONIQUE DURRETT |
August 29, 2021 |
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