Lincoln Ancestry Challenged
(Part Three)
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For Mr. Enlow, there is an intriguing mystery here and the North Carolina sources and stories have the ring of truth. In history, however, sources can be difficult. "If you go back to those sources that he's citing... where are they getting their information from?" Said Dr. Rogers, who said Ms. Baber ran into trouble when she was researching Lincoln's life because there was more than one Nancy Hanks. "If I write a book that says Martians killed Kennedy and someone cites it 100 years from now, does it make it true?" Dr. Rogers asked.
Mr. Enlow said the real proof could be in the DNA and he is pushing for tests on Thomas Lincoln's remains in Illinois and Abraham Lincoln's found in Washington, D.C. He said he believes the Enloes descended from three Scot schoolteachers who came to the western panhandle in Maryland in 1670, one of whom figures to be Mr. Enlow's ancestor, too. That's partly why he is interested in the story which he has pursued for 10 years.
Both Dr. Rogers and Mr. Enlow put these stories in different historical context. For the professor, it's just another story, because people have a hard time believing "that this great man, perhaps the greatest man in history… came from this uneducated farmer who had no real vision." Mr. Enlow said the truth should be known because "Abraham rose to great heights, he was a giant among us all, yet he rose from worse circumstances than we ever knew."
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