13 facts to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday

Today is President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

Many will be celebrating the 16th president’s 206th on Monday with a day off of work or the frustrating realization that the bank is closed. Or perhaps picking up some grooming products for men’s facial hair.

But U.S. Senator Dick Durbin took to Twitter to kick things off today, posting a handful “Abe Facts” to honor Lincoln.

Among them:

I thought I’d add some of my own Abe Facts to the list to round it out.

• While, as Durbin pointed out, Lincoln didn’t drink alcohol regularly (he once drank lager to cure a cold), a bar in San Francisco reportedly served a “President Lincoln’s cocktail” in the early 1900s.
• His favorite food reportedly was chicken fricassee.
• The only home Lincoln ever owned was his two-story, olive-shuttered home in Springfield, now a national historic site. It’s where he lived when he was elected president in 1860.
• When asked if the president had any hobbies, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, reportedly answered, “Cats.” Lincoln would have loved the Internet.
• Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated. (The others are Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy.)
• Lincoln shares a birthday – same day, same year – with Charles Darwin. Judy Blume, Arsenio Hall and Christina Ricci all have birthdays on the same day, too. I’ve never seen a think piece comparing the lives of Lincoln and Blume, though. Maybe I should get on that next.