It’s all relative: Lincoln’s distant cousin preserves his legacy
Ralph C. Lincoln, a Fayette County native now living in Somerset County, has been a Lincoln presenter since 2006. This still is from a 2008 documentary on men who portray the 16th president.
Ralph C. Lincoln, a Fayette County native now living in Somerset County, talks to an audience at Pequea Valley Public Library in Intercourse earlier this year. Lincoln is a distant relative to the 16th president.
Submitted photo
Ralph C. Lincoln, a Fayette County native now living in Somerset County, portrays Lincoln while Ken Serfass, of Gettysburg, portrays U.S. Grant, during a presentation at Pequea Valley Public Library in Intercourse earlier this year. Lincoln is a distant relative of the 16th president.
Submitted photo
One hundred and fifty years after the close of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a Fayette County native, who said he is a distant cousin to the 16th president of the United States, continues to honor his memory.
Ralph C. Lincoln, 58, of Berlin, Somerset County, began portraying Lincoln in 2006 and is a member of such organizations as the Association of Lincoln Presenters, Lincoln Group of D.C., Sons of the American Revolution and the Somerset County Historical Society. He has presented Lincoln in a number of states, been on stage at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and appeared in a 2008 documentary called “Being Lincoln: Men with Hats.”
Asked his opinion of the president, Lincoln said, “He’s like the rest of us. He had his faults and shortcomings but he was working to preserve the country, to keep it united. I have the utmost respect for him.”
Born in Uniontown Hospital in December 1956, Lincoln graduated from Connellsville Area Senior High School in 1974. He moved with his family to Berlin in the mid-1980s. After surviving a brain tumor, he is retired from the retail business.
Lincoln said he and the president are third cousins.
“I grew up knowing it. It was never a big deal,” said Lincoln.
As he explained, the president’s great-grandfather John Lincoln, who is buried in Virginia, had a half-brother Mordecai Lincoln from whom Lincoln is descended. Mordecai Lincoln is the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Ralph Lincoln. Mordecai Lincoln settled in Fayette County in the 1700s. His line includes his son Benjamin, who had a son Mordecai, who had a son William Edward Rose, who had a son Carl Clifford, who had a son Carl Jr., who had Ralph C. Lincoln.
Lincoln tells a story that the president visited his Fayette County relatives once on his way to Washington, D.C., but they turned their back on him because he was a Republican and they were Democrats.
But Lincoln did have Fayette County family fight for the Union. Lincoln said his great-great-grandfather Mordecai S. Lincoln served as a private in 85th Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry Co. 3, discharged in August 1862.
Lincoln said Fayette County is also a place where many family members are buried.
Chris Buckelew, president of the Fayette County Historical Society, said there is a place referred to as the Lincoln Cemetery in Bethelboro, North Union Township.
The homepage for the Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Cemeteries Project, part of the Pennsylvania Cemeteries Project, which is part of the U.S. Cemeteries Project, lists 15 people named Lincoln buried in this cemetery, including Abigail Lincoln, who died in 1807 at age 17; Benjamin Lincoln, who died in 1821 at age 64; a couple of people named Mordecai Lincoln, one who died in 1859 at age 50 and another with no dates of his birth or death. The last is Bell Lincoln, daughter of M.S. And M.E. Lincoln, who died in 1880.
Lincoln said he also has family buried at Jacobs Lutheran Cemetery in German Township and Park Place Cemetery in North Union Township. The Fayette County Genealogy Project lists a man named Mordecai S. Lincoln (1838-1912) buried at the Park Place Cemetery with notes that say “Civil War.”
Lincoln, who said he still has family in Fayette County, remarked, “Most of the Lincolns know about (the relationship to the president) but they don’t talk about it.”
Buckelew’s own great-great-grandfather was Andrew Jackson Lincoln, who also served in the Civil War as a member of the 18th Pennsylvania Calvary, Company A and was a cousin several times removed to the president.
“They were just poor people who had to eke out a living,” she said of these Lincoln ancestors.
Lincoln said his interest in becoming a Lincoln presenter came in 2006 after he broke his leg and decided not to shave while recovering. People began to tell him that he looked like the president.
“They encouraged me to get clothes and I’ve been having fun ever since,” Lincoln said.
Especially busy as the country commemorated the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, Lincoln does a presentation called “The Gettysburg Address and Why It’s Still Important Today” that explains the speech in contemporary language.
He has also presented a program on how Abraham Lincoln would view the 21st century, talking about reasons immigrants came to America and how Americans have continued to fight for liberty and freedom through the years.
People tend to react positively to the presentations with many moved by what the president accomplished in his lifetime, especially in regards to his lack of formal education.
Lincoln talked about one person who approached him, noting, “Looking at where he came from and where he grew up, I could still be something.”
From his studies, Lincoln has come to appreciate the responsibility of being president.
“From my perspective, the presidents have a tremendous amount of weight on their shoulders,” said Lincoln. “The most talked about are Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Washington and Jefferson were fighters for this country to get it started. And Abraham Lincoln fought to keep it going.”
More information on Ralph Lincoln is available at his website www.alincolncousin.com.