I am related to President Lincoln but there is some speculation that President Lincoln was not a "Lincoln," and some insisted he was somebody else. The various popular arguments voiced at that time are highlighted below:Thomas Lincoln was said to be 5 feet ten and a half inches tall and very "stoutly built" and weighed about 196 pounds. Nancy Lincoln was about 5 feet 8 eight inches tall — "spare made" — affectionate, the most affectionate Dennis Hanks said he ever saw. These were hardly the makings of a tall, gangly boy who, some think, suffered from Marfan Syndrome. That he was as strong as an ox is documented by people who knew him personally but doesn't seem right for people with Marfan Syndrome.
Abraham was tall, 6 feet and 4 inches, and thin, wiry. In 1887 Lizzie Murphy was interviewed and said she heard her mother and grandmother say that Abe Enloe was the real father of Abe Lincoln. She described Abe Enloe as being tall and that he had a large nose and long ears. He was a big man often seen in a fur cap and wore moccasins on the largest feet possible.
Judge Alfred M. Brown said in an interview that he was raised at Hodgenville and recalled that George Bromfield or Brownfield was possibly Lincoln's real father and resembled him. He said Abe Enloe denied he was Lincoln's father and was only about 18 (he would have been 14) when Nancy got pregnant. Judge Brown said Nancy Hanks was a loose woman and either Enloe or Bromfield could be Lincoln's real father.
William H. Herndon got an anonymous letter in 1867 from Paris, Kentucky. The letter suggested that Herndon was looking for information about the legitimacy of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The writer instructed Herndon to consult with old Mrs. Thatcher who lived half-way between Paris and Winchester, Kentucky. Mrs. Thatcher was a cousin of Nancy Hanks, and Milton Bealle. There was an old colored woman and her daughter living with Milton Bealle and these people could prove that Abraham Enloe was Abe's father.
Abraham Enloe was a millwright who was building Thatcher's Mill and while working there was intimate with Nancy Hanks and got her pregnant. Enloe had a man working for him by the name of Lincoln. When Nancy Hanks threatened Enloe with a seduction suit, Enloe offered Lincoln $200 to marry Nancy and take her off. Thomas Lincoln accepted the money, married Hanks and moved to the Green River country where Abe was born.
The letter claims Abe was called Abraham after his real father, Abraham Enloe and Lincoln after the man who agreed to marry Nancy Hanks.
E. R. Burba wrote from Hodgenville in 1866 that Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks or Sparrow lived three miles south of Hodgenville when Abe was born. He said that Abraham's true name is not Lincoln — that some thought it was Enlows (Enloe); but others said William Cessna is the real father.
Cessna had a reputation of being inclined to the company of women and Burba had heard Cessna say he knew Nancy as well as he ever knew any woman. Burba said the local talk was that old Thomas Lincoln had the mumps and could not father children. Others claim to have seen Thomas bathing in the creek and his testicles were about the size of peas.
Charles Friend wrote, in 1889, that his brother-in-law, Mr. A. H. Redman asked Abe Enloe if he was the real father of Abraham Lincoln. He said old Enloe raised himself up to his full height of 6 feet 3 inches, stroked his long white beard and said he was proud to know that people thought he was the president's father, but he was only 15 when Abe was born. Redman jumped in and said well that he couldn't be the father as that would make him only 14 when Nancy got pregnant. Enloe said he went into puberty at 14 and could have fathered Lincoln.
But old Abe Enloe went on to say that he never had carnal intercourse with Nancy Hanks and he never put his hand on her naked flesh.
More information about Abraham Lincoln is available in:
Pages 240, 612, 613 and 673. Herndon's Informants, Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln.