On March 1, 2008 the Forkland Abraham Lincoln Museum was officially opened after receiving a grant from the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Kentucky Historical Society.  Lucey Shipley Hanks, mother to Nancy Hanks Lincoln and grandmother to Abraham Lincoln, moved to Kentucky after the death of her husband James Hanks.  She had been living with a sister Rachel Shipley Berry and her husband Richard in the Forkland area of Mercer County (now Boyle) but in 1790 she married Henry Sparrow, Sr. in Mercer County, Kentucky. 

Lucey’s daughter Nancy apparently moved to Washington County, Kentucky with her aunt and uncle and their children.  There she met and married Thomas Lincoln.  Nancy and Thomas were the parents of President Abraham Lincoln. 

Lucey and Henry Sparrow lived on Scrubgrass Road in the Forkland area of Boyle County for over 34 years and had eight children whose descendants are scattered throughout Boyle, Mercer, Anderson, Washington and other counties of central Kentucky.  Because so little seems to be known about the maternal side of President Lincoln’s family, the Abraham Lincoln Museum at Forkland was built. 

In the museum you will find photographs of family members, Lincoln artifacts, and authentic newspapers about the death of Abraham Lincoln.  Other artifacts in the museum show the life that people like Lucey and Henry Sparrow lived on the “Fork”.  We welcome you to come and experience what life was like in the 1800s-early 1900s in the Forkland area. 

You may also do genealogy research in the history room or purchase items in the gift shop.  We welcome any information about the families connected to this beautiful area of Kentucky.