In 1818, when Abraham Lincoln was only nine years old, his mother, Nancy, died of milk sickness. In December of the following year, Thomas Lincoln married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widowed mother of three. The couple remained married until Thomas died in 1851. Following the passing of her second husband, Sarah never remarried. Sarah supported Abraham’s love of reading and learning. He remembered her as a kind, guiding mother who treated him well. Lincoln had habitually visited Sarah every year or two since leaving home. Their last visit was just before Abraham left for Washington, D.C., to serve his first term as President. She died in 1869 in Coles County, Illinois. She outlived Abraham by four years. (fb)

The youngest Lincoln son was born in Springfield, Illinois, on April 4, 1853. Thomas, named after his paternal grandfather, was not known by his given name. As a baby, his father thought he resembled a tadpole with a large head and wriggly body. The family began to refer to him as “Tad,” and the name stuck. When the Lincoln family moved to the White House in 1861, Tad and his older brother Willie became well-known for their mischievous behavior. The boys would play pranks on staff and visitors of their father. Their parents did very little to discipline the boys. On the night of April 14, 1865, little Tad also went to a theater three and a half blocks away from his parents. At Grover’s Theatre, he went to see Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. Tad Lincoln: http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/digital/collection/p15155coll1/id/81/rec/5 (fb)