Nancy Lincoln, Abe Lincoln's mother, died of the "milk sick" in Buckhorn Valley. Lincoln's father subsequently married a widow named _____
You answered "Sarah Bush Johnston," which is correct. Tom Lincoln proposed marriage to Sarah quite suddenly and she accepted his proposal without a long courtship.
The "milk sick" or milk sickness is also know as "tremetol vomiting." It was a common and fatal ailment in Kentucky and surrounding states. Its cause was not known until the mid 19th century and was not officially recognized by the medical community until 1928. Milk sickness is a type of food poisoning acquired by drinking milk from a cow that has grazed on white snakeroot. The snakeroot plant has a poison that can kill the cow but is also passed in its milk. Pasteurization has no effect on the poison. Cattle must be prevented from eating the snakeroot plant. Snakeroot is very common in Kentucky and nearby states. It killed Nancy Lincoln as well as many friends of the Lincolns.