Q: I’ve always thought this was known as a Lincoln Rocker, but I can’t find any reference that pictures it as such. Is it?

A: You have a fiddle-back Boston rocker, not a Lincoln Rocker. Boston rockers were made in New England about 1840. Fiddle-back Boston rockers were made after 1845 in the Midwest and in some places in New England. Lincoln rockers are upholstered and have Grecian-style scrolled arms and curved backs. The term “Lincoln rocker” was first used in the early 20th-century to describe the type of chair that Lincoln was sitting in at Ford’s Theater the night he was assassinated. The chair was brought from Mr. Ford’s bedroom to the President’s box that afternoon. The original rocker is now in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.