Abraham Lincoln was US President from 1809-1865. The Lincolns’ fourth son, Thomas “Tad” Lincoln, was born on April 4, 1853. He died of heart failure at 18 on July 16th, 1871.
Tad ‘owned’ a cat called “Tabby”. The cat must have been a random bred tabby cat as this was before the beginning of the cat fancy in the US. There were very few purebred cats in the country at that time.
Tabby became America’s First Cat. Does this mean that Abraham Lincoln had a pet? Probably, yes. It would appear that he adopted his son’s cat.
It is reported that the president adopted three orphaned cats. It is said that he found them in a tent, half-frozen, when he visited General Grant’s camp during the Civil War of 1861-1865. That is all I have and I am unable to verify the information with respect to the three orphaned cats.
Sources: Desmond Morris, myself, Wikipedia.
