Abraham Lincoln was born on this day in 1809 — the same day and the same year as evolutionist Charles Darwin.

While Darwin was born to a wealthy doctor and financier in Shrewsbury, England, the future president was born to a farmer in a Hodgenville, Ky., log cabin. Lincoln was the first president born outside the 13 original colonies.

Darwin and Lincoln never crossed paths, but Darwin, an avid abolitionist, cheered Lincoln’s anti-slavery efforts in his letters to friends, and Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon wrote that Lincoln was impressed by the concept of evolution.

Source: Smithsonian.com