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In the past few years, genetic characterization has assigned seven chromosomal loci-designated as spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) types 1-5 (OMIM 164400, 183090, 183085, 600223, 600224), SCA type 7 (OMIM 164500), and dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy (OMIM 125370)-to a group of dominantly inherited ataxias.1 The locus for a benign adult-onset form of dominantly inherited ataxia has been linked to the centromeric region of chromosome 11 in a family descended from the grandparents of President Abraham Lincoln.2 During our investigation of a family with dominantly inherited ataxia that has lived in Rockingham County, Virginia, since colonial times, we uncovered several interesting historical facts about President Lincoln's family that cast doubt that the SCA5 gene was inherited through the Lincoln lineage. As part of this investigation, we constructed a family pedigree of President Lincoln's ancestors based on several historical sources3-6(figure 1).
Figure 1. A partial pedigree of President Abraham Lincoln's family. Nine generations and 29 individuals from the president's family are shown. The names of family members whose signatures are found infigures 2 and 3 are followed by an asterisk (*). The known birth and death years are below each individual's name. Males are squares and females are circles. The dark symbols represent individuals with ataxia as cited by Ranum et al.2 The gray symbol representing individual VI-10 denotes that she had evidence of a tremor in her handwritten line.
Our 16th president's paternal grandfather, Captain Abraham Lincoln(individual VI-9, figure 1), was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on May 13, 1744, and later moved to northwest Virginia. Captain Lincoln was a wealthy landowner and a distinguished figure in the American militia during the Revolutionary War. His wife, Bathsheba (individual VI-10,figure 1), was born in Bridgewater, Virginia, …
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