Future U.S. president Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky on February 12, 1809.

Lincoln, one of America’s most admired presidents, grew up a
member of a poor family in Kentucky and Indiana. He attended
school for only one year, but thereafter read on his own in a
continual effort to improve his mind. As an adult, he lived in
Illinois and performed a variety of jobs including stints as a
postmaster, surveyor and shopkeeper, before entering politics.

He served in the Illinois legislature from 1834 to 1842 and in
Congress from 1847-1849, and then became an attorney.