Lincoln's Brave Kentucky Uncle. An 1811 Hardin County [Elizabethtown] Kentucky document, summons for Thomas Purcel and Isaac Bush, to answer a claim from Christopher Bush Jr. of Bush & Lewis on a plea of debt in the amount of $24.21. Signed and written by Ben Helm. Also signed again on the verso by Ben Helm, Robert Bleakley, and George Cliningsmith makes his "X" mark signature. An interesting association as Isaac and Christopher were brothers. There sister, Sarah, became the step-mother of Abraham Lincoln. Isaac Bush had much contact with Thomas Lincoln, father of the future president.ISAAC BUSH - Kentucky Pioneer. Carl Sandburg writes of this Lincoln relative: "Once she [Sarah Bush, Abe's step-mother) told Abe how her brother Isaac, back in Hardin County, had hot words with a cowardly young man who shot Isaac without warning. The doctors asked Isaac if they could tie him down while they cut his flesh and took out the bullet. He told them he didn't need to be tied down; he put two lead musket-balls in between his teeth and ground his teeth on them while the doctors cut a slash nine inches long and one inche deep till they found the bullet and brought it out. Isaac never let out a moan or a whimper; he set his teeth into the musket-balls, ground them into flat sheets, and spat them from his mouth when he thanked the doctors." Sarah told this story to a young Abe Lincoln, about her brother, to illustrate whatcourage was. He would re-tell the story later.Robert Bleakley, opened a store in Elizabethtown with William Montgomery, another Irishman. Their establishment is said to have been the first such operation in the pioneer village that could ready be called a "store." Montgomery was an Orangeman, who was engaged in the rebellion In Ireland in 1798. He was arrested and confined in a prison from which men were taken and executed daily He was released from prison through the efforts of his aunt, who was married to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on the condition that he would emigrate to America. Wm. Montgomery and Bleakley opened adry goods store. In 1806 they hired the father of Abraham Lincoln [Thomas] to take a flatboat down the Mississippi river with their merchandise to be sold in New Orleans. They paid Tom Lincoln 16 pounds gold and a credit of 13 pounds in gold. Their store account books show Tom Lincoln buying "two twists of tobacco & one pint of whisky." And thebooks also show that in May 1806, Thomas went on a buying spree, purchasing silk, linen, scarlet cloth, dozens of buttons, etc. Earlier that year he had purchased an aristocratic beaver hat & a pair of silk suspenders for $1.50. He was, at this time, courting his future bride Nancy Hanks [Abe Lincoln's mother]. After the wedding he made his home in a cabin close to the courthouse in Elizabethtown. He then purchased at their store, knives, forks, spoons, thread, needles, silk & tobacco. Carl Sandburg wrote about Bleakley and Lincoln.BEN HELM (1779-1858). Born in Virginia, his father, Thomas Helm, moved his family to Hardin County, Kentucky in 1780. Young Ben thus became a pioneer and became noted for his success as an Indian fighter. Major Ben Helm was the uncle of John Larue Helm, governor of Kentucky and grandfather of Confederate General Ben Hardin Helm who married Emilie Todd, sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. Ben Helm, married Mary Edwards, the daughter of Benjamin Edwards and was a sister of Governor Ninian Edwards. It was the governor's son and namesake who married Elizabeth Todd, sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. Thus there was a connection with Mary Todd Lincoln on both sides of Ben Helm's family. Ben Helm was a prominent citizen of Elizabethtown who served as a merchant and bank president. He was County Surveyor and was a member of the Town Board, Clerk of Hardin County Court and the Circuit Court and a major in the War of 1812. He as County Surveyor and the first to survey Elizabethtown, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. Helm built the first brick house in Elizabethtown that became an important social and meeting center of town. On May 28, 1860, Abraham Lincoln referred to Ben Helm in a letter to Samuel Haycraft. Ben Helm also became the owner of the Christopher Bush farm. It was Bush's daughter Sarah that became Abraham Lincoln's step-mother when Abe's mother, Nancy Hanks died of milk disease.

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