Sarah Lincoln Grigsby


Sarah Lincoln Grigsby was the older sister of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and cared for him when they were young.

Early life

Sarah Lincoln was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln in 1807. After their mother's death in 1818, Sarah was in charge of taking care of the house, her brother Abraham and their cousin Dennis Hanks, who was living with them. Thomas remarried in 1819 to Sarah Bush Johnston, and then brought wife Sarah home to be a stepmother to children, Sarah, Abe, and cousin, Dennis.

Marriage and family

In August 1826, Sarah Lincoln married Aaron Grigsby. She died on January 20, 1828 while giving birth to a stillborn boy, subsequently named George. Her brother Abraham blamed the death of his sister on the failure of Grigsby to send for a doctor. She was buried in a small cemetery next to the Little Pigeon Baptist Church, a Primitive Baptist Church attended by the Lincoln family and where her father Thomas was a trustee. The church and Sarah's grave site are located within what was the Little Pigeon Creek Community and is now Lincoln State Park in Indiana.