DNA study helps solve Lincoln lineage debate

Correction: This story has been changed to attribute the results of the Nancy Hanks Lincoln mtDNA Study to the correct researchers. A previous version incorrectly identified Vicky Reany Paulson's role in the study. Oshkosh Northwestern Media regrets the error.

Vicky Reany Paulson has known all her life that she is related to Abraham Lincoln.

But it wasn't until she was 16 that she became interested in tracing her roots to the 16th president — more specifically through his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln — and inherited the passion from her great-grandmother.

"I would ask the relatives how we were related, and they would just say through the Hanks," the 59-year-old Oshkosh resident said.

Paulson, who has written two books about the Hanks family and its connection to Lincoln, says she is thrilled after a new study has solved a 150-year-old mystery surrounding the true identity of Nancy Hanks Lincoln's mother.

Family Tree DNA, a division of Houston-based genetics company Gene by Gene Ltd., started the Hanks DNA Project in 2002 to help identify modern-day descendants of the Hanks family through DNA testing. On Oct. 21, the company released the results of its latest DNA test, revealing definitive scientific evidence that identifies Nancy Hanks Lincoln's mother, said Suzanne Hallstrom, the project's administrator.

Historians have debated for more than a century about Lincoln's lineage, with many siding with Lincoln biographer William Barton, who concluded in the 1920s that Nancy Hanks Lincoln was the illegitimate daughter of Lucy Hanks, who later married Henry Sparrow, according the Hanks DNA Project. This theory was supported by the 16th president's law partner, William Herndon, who said Lincoln told him Lincoln's mother was illegitimate.

Meanwhile, Kentucky preacher Louis Warren popularized another theory that Nancy Hanks Lincoln was the daughter of Lucy Hanks' brother James Hanks and his wife Lucy Shipley, according to Family Tree DNA research.

A group of five researchers working with Family Tree DNA identified matrilineal descendants of both Lucy Hanks Sparrow and Lucy Shipley Hanks, enabling the company to do a mitochondrial DNA test, Hallstrom said. The Nancy Hanks Lincoln mtDNA Study: Unlocking the Secrets of Abraham Lincoln's Maternal Ancestry was published Oct. 21 by Hallstrom, along with Nancy Royce, Stephan Whitlock, Richard Hileman and Gerald Haslam.

To view the study, visit the Hanks DNA Project website at www.familytreedna.com/public/HanksDNAProject.

When Paulson found out about the results, she could hardly contain herself.

"I cried for three hours," Paulson said of the results. "I tried calling my boys and left them messages."

Her sons called her back, wanting to know if there was something wrong, she said.

"I was really happy but started crying," she said. "They all thought they were Shipleys."

The mystery had finally been solved; Herndon and Barton were right: Nancy Hanks Lincoln was one of two illegitimate children of Lucy Hanks Sparrow. But that also meant delivering a devastating blow to the descendants of Lucy Shipley Hanks' sisters.

"I really think this is much bigger than just my family," Paulson said. "It puts a 150-year-old mystery to rest. I always thought Nancy Lincoln deserved to have her real family."

Reach Nathaniel Shuda at 920-426-6632 or nshuda@thenorthwestern.com; on Twitter @onwnshuda.