"At various times in his life, Abraham Lincoln lived in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Washington, and residents take special pride in their connection to the nation's 16th president. The official two-year bicentennial celebration of his Feb. 12 birthday is underway in Kentucky. But Virginians also can claim close ties to Lincoln because his father, Thomas, was born in the Shenandoah Valley.

The farmhouse near Broadway, in Rockingham County, where Thomas Lincoln was born still stands, and about two dozen of Abraham Lincoln's relatives and in-laws, as well as two family slaves, are buried in a nearby cemetery. In winter, the cemetery is a lonely spot out in a hayfield. In summer, it disappears when the crops are high. Although sections of the surrounding iron fence are bent inward as though struck by a vehicle, the gate is sturdy and closes tightly.

Each year on Feb. 12, the president of Bridgewater College, a Lincoln scholar, holds a brief ceremony at the cemetery to honor Lincoln and his relatives. Phillip Stone is an unlikely candidate for the role. He is a seventh-generation Virginian with relatives who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

It was Lincoln's extraordinarily high degree of personal honor and integrity that won over Stone.

"One could believe in Abraham Lincoln," Stone said. "When he said something, he meant it, and one could rely on it. On matters of honor and principle, he not only spoke clearly and firmly, he could not be budged from his position, even in the face of overwhelming opposition and the prospect of almost certain defeat. At many points during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's personality and character were critical to his ability to prevail in the face of overwhelming odds."

Lincoln's ancestral roots in Virginia are not well-known.

In 1768, John Lincoln, referred to as "Virginia John" to distinguish him from the many other family members of the same name, moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania with his wife, Rebecca, and their nine children. The eldest was Abraham Lincoln, known as Capt. Abraham Lincoln, because of his service in the American Revolution. His brother Jacob also fought in that war.

John and Rebecca Lincoln settled on 600 acres on Linville Creek in what is now Rockingham County, about four miles south of Broadway. Capt. Lincoln married Bathsheba Herring from Dayton, Va., and they had five children, including Thomas, born in 1778.

When Thomas was 4 or 5 years old, his parents moved to the present-day village of Springfield, Ky. Thomas grew up there and married Nancy Hanks. They moved to a log cabin farm near Hodgenville, Ky., where the future president and two siblings were born. When Abraham was 9, the family moved to Indiana. It was there that Abraham's mother died and Thomas remarried.

When Abraham was 21, the family moved to Illinois, where the next year he found work as a storekeeper and postmaster in New Salem. Six years later, he moved to Springfield, Ill., where he married Mary Todd, left to spend one term in the House of Representatives and returned home to practice law until his election in 1860.

Stone said Lincoln was well aware of his Virginia roots, and while he was in Congress, he wrote to David Lincoln, who was living on the family land. He recited his Virginia connections and asked for more information about his family.

"Just as Lincoln knew of his Virginia relatives, the Shenandoah Valley relatives were conscious of the ties to the president during the Civil War, Stone said. "At one point, a cousin was asked if Abe Lincoln was related to him. He replied, `Yes, I would like to meet Cousin Abe. I would like to shoot him.' Obviously, family connections could not override the partisanship of war."

Several of those Virginia Lincolns did take up arms against the Union. They might be among those interred in the Lincoln cemetery. Buried there are Lincoln's great-grandparents, his great-uncle Jacob and his wife, Dorcas, and many of their descendants.

Markers also were erected for two Lincoln slaves, Uncle Ned and his wife, Queen, who were buried with the family.

"Theoretically, they were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln," Stone said.

The last interment took place in 1938, when a great-granddaughter of Jacob Lincoln was buried there.

All of that history, Stone said, proves that President Lincoln's family has been in the community for more than 200 years.

"Virginia has stronger claims as the ancestral home of the Lincolns than any other state," Stone said. "Since we Virginians are proud of our heritage, we are not reluctant to claim that Abraham Lincoln's greatness must surely arise in part from his Virginia heritage."" (Linda Wheeler, The Washington Post, February 14, 2008)