🌾 Sarah Lincoln Grigsby: The Sister Who Shaped a President

 

Headstone for Sarah Lincoln Grigsby
Abraham Lincoln's sister
Old Pigeon cemetery in modern day Lincoln State Park, IN

Before the White House, before the debates, before the war—there was Sarah.

Born on February 10, 1807, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby was Abraham Lincoln’s older sister and one of the most important people in his early life. She was his first teacher, his closest companion, and—briefly—his neighbor as they built adult lives just miles apart in the Indiana wilderness.

📚 A Childhood of Learning and Labor

Sarah and Abraham attended subscription schools together in Kentucky, learning from teachers like Zachariah Riney and Caleb Hazel. From their mother Nancy, Sarah learned spinning, soap-making, and cooking over an open fire. But perhaps most memorably, she and Abraham listened to travelers’ tales along the Louisville–Nashville road that passed in front of their cabin—stories that stirred young imaginations and planted seeds of curiosity.

Unlike many frontier children, Sarah received a surprising amount of education. She attended multiple schools into her late teens, balancing domestic work with learning—a rare privilege for a pioneer girl.

🕯 Loss and Responsibility

In 1816, the Lincolns moved to Indiana. Two years earlier, while still in Kentucky, the family had suffered another loss: Sarah and Abraham’s infant brother, Thomas Jr., died shortly after birth. Then in 1818, tragedy struck again—Nancy Lincoln died of milk sickness, and eleven-year-old Sarah helped prepare her mother’s body for burial.

With her father grieving and her brother still a child, Sarah took on the household burdens—and cared for their orphaned cousin Dennis Hanks as well.

When Thomas Lincoln remarried, Sarah had to adjust to a new stepmother and three step-siblings. Fortunately, Sarah Bush Johnston brought warmth and relief, easing Sarah’s workload and expanding the family’s circle of affection.

💍 Marriage and Tragedy

On August 2, 1826, Sarah married Aaron Grigsby, a neighbor from Spencer County. The couple settled just two miles from the Lincoln cabin, and Abraham often visited. But tensions simmered: Lincoln reportedly believed the Grigsby family mistreated Sarah and looked down on her.

Nine months into the marriage, Sarah became pregnant. Complications during childbirth claimed both her life and that of her infant. A neighbor recalled hearing her cry out for her father—but help came too late.

Sarah died on January 20, 1828, at just twenty-one years old.

🕊 Legacy and Love

Sarah was buried with her infant in her arms at Old Pigeon Cemetery, near the Little Pigeon Baptist Church she had joined just two years earlier. Her husband Aaron was later buried beside her.

For Abraham Lincoln, the loss was profound. Their bond had been deep—“close companions,” one neighbor said, “a great deal alike in temperament.” Sarah had likely helped him learn his letters, comforted him through grief, and modeled the kindness and resilience that would become hallmarks of his character.

Her death left a scar. Lincoln blamed the Grigsby family for seeking help too late to save her and the baby. He carried the bitterness for years.

Sarah Lincoln Grigsby never lived to see her brother become president. But she helped shape the man who would. In her short life, she embodied the quiet strength of frontier women—working, learning, loving, and enduring. And in Abraham Lincoln’s heart, she remained a guiding light.

From the archives of Abraham Lincoln, Storyteller.

Mac

🎩 Here's the story about Sarah's and Abraham’s little brother, Tommy.

📚 Works Cited

Burlingame, Michael (2008) Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Volume I. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 44-46.

Donald, David Herbert (1995), Lincoln New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. pp. 33-35.