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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ABRAHAM LINCOLN

This year February 17th is officially Presidents’ Day, the day we celebrate the births of both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Today, though, is Lincoln’s official birthday. In honor of our sixteen president we present twelve interesting facts you might not know about him.

1. Lincoln was our tallest president, standing a towering six feet, four inches.

2. He had the largest feet of any president. He wore a size 14 shoe.

3. Lincoln was the first president not born within the original thirteen colonies.

4. Although Lincoln had four sons, there are no direct descendents. Only his son Robert reached adulthood. Robert had two daughters and a son. But his son, Abraham Lincoln II, died of blood poisoning at the age of sixteen.

5. Lincoln was the first president to be photographed at his inauguration. Ironically, John Wilkes Booth, his assassin, is standing close to him in the photograph.

6. Lincoln is the only president to hold a U.S. patent. He invented a device for lifting boats over shoals.

7. Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom. That room was used as his personal office.

8. He was the first president to have a beard.

9. It was Lincoln who first proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving.

10. As a lawyer, he argued a case in front of the Supreme Court and lost.

11. An accomplished wrestler who was defeated only once in approximately 300 matches, he’s enshrined in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

12. Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated.




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