Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in his home in Kentucky. He was given the same name as his grandfather and did not have a middle name. Abraham's parents were Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. He had two other brothers. They were Sarah Grigsby and Thomas Jr, but Thomas Jr. died when he was just a child. When Abraham was 8 years old, his mother Nancy died of milk sickness at the age of 34. His father remarried Sarah Bush Lincoln. He had already had 3 children. Giovanni, Matilde and Elisabetta. Abraham really liked Sarah. Abraham's father, Thomas, was very against slavery. Abraham was a very intelligent man, but he was only educated for a total of 18 months. He was home-schooled by his stepmother Sarah. She taught him to read and write. He read when he was at home to avoid having to work with his father, even though he was very good with an axe. He also helped his father build log cabins. Abraham had many different jobs. He was a rail-splitter, a river boatman and a village postmaster, but none of these jobs satisfied him. At one time he also opened a general store in Salem, but it failed. He also later became a successful lawyer. In 1832, Lincoln ran for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, but lost. He won election to State Office in 1934 and served in the Illinois State Legislature from 1834 to 1842. Abraham served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849. Once his term was finished, he returned to Springfield to practice law. He became a lawyer and was very good at it. He was given the nickname "Honest Abe" because everyone respected him so much. He joined the Republican side because he was against slavery. Abraham wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. The first draft with……half of the sheet……n. Robert, Thomas and Mary later moved to Chicago and he completed his law studies at the University of Chicago. On September 24, 1868, Robert Lincoln married Mary Eunice Harlan. They had two daughters and a son. Mary "Mamie" Lincoln was born on October 15, 1869. Abraham Lincoln II was born on August 14, 1873. His nickname was Jack. Jessie Harlan Lincoln was born on November 6, 1875. Robert was very worried about his mother. He committed her to a mental hospital in Batavia, Illinois in 1875. Mary didn't like this and wrote letters to numerous people trying to prove that she shouldn't have been hospitalized, but Robert stood by his beliefs and so did the warden of Bellevue he told the jury at Mary's trial that she would benefit from treatment. With Mary trying to escape her son's decision, she and Robert never fully reconciled and remained distant from each other.