Mary Todd Lincoln
| Mary Todd Lincoln |
|---|
 Mary Todd Lincoln
|
| Born |
| December 13, 1818 Lexington, Kentucky, USA |
| Died |
| July 16, 1882 Springfield, Illinois, USA |
Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) was the First Lady of the United States when her husband, Abraham Lincoln, served as the sixteenth President, from 1861 until 1865.
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, she was the daughter of Robert Smith Todd and Eliza Parker, prominent residents of the city. They were slaveholders, as were most of her relatives. At the age of twenty, Mary Todd moved to Illinois where her sister Elizabeth was living. Elizabeth introduced Mary to the young lawyer who would later become her husband; she was also courted by Stephen A. Douglas. Abraham and Mary Lincoln were married on November 4, 1842.
Their children were:
- Robert Todd Lincoln : Springfield, Illinois August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926 in Manchester, Vermont
- Edward (Eddie) Baker Lincoln : Springfield March 10, 1846 – February 1 1850 in Springfield
- William (Willie) Wallace Lincoln : Springfield December 21, 1850 – February 20, 1862 in Washington, D.C.
- Thomas (Tad) Lincoln : Springfield April 4, 1853 – July 16, 1871 in Chicago, Illinois.
The Lincolns deeply loved one another, but it was a troubled marriage at times. Of their four sons, only Robert and Tad survived into adulthood, and only Robert outlived his mother.
Mary Lincoln was well-educated and interested in public affairs, and shared her husband's fierce ambition. However, she was high-strung and touchy, and sometimes acted irrationally. She was almost instantly unpopular upon her arrival in the capital.
Newspapers at the time criticized her for using taxpayers' money to refurnish the White House (which had become quite worn and shabby) as well as to fund her personal shopping sprees. During the Civil War, there were persistent rumors that she was a Confederate sympathizer, and even a confederate spy (several relatives served in the Confederate forces). Popular legend states that President Lincoln, upon hearing the rumors, personally vouched for her loyalty to the United States in a surprise appearance before the Committee on the Conduct of the War. Her visits with Union soldiers in the numerous hospitals in and around Washington went largely unnoticed by her contemporaries. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Simon & Schuster, 2005 (ISBN 0-684-82490-6).
After the President's assassination in April 1865, her reputation was further besmirched as former Lincoln aides and Cabinet members openly attacked her for being a spendthrift, difficult and arrogant (Lincoln's wartimes aides John Nicolay and John Hay privately referred to her as "the hell-cat").
In 1868, a former seamstress and confidante, Elizabeth Keckley, published Behind the Scenes, (or, Thirty years a slave, and four years in the White House). When the book proved controversial, Robert had it suppressed.
The deaths of her husband and her sons, Willie and Thomas (Tad), in time led to an overpowering sense of grief and the gradual onset of depression.
Mary Lincoln's "spend-thrift" ways and eccentric behavior concerned her son Robert. To gain conrol of his mother's finances, Robert had Mary Lincoln committed to an insane asylum in Batavia, Illinois in 1875, but she was free to move about the grounds and was released three months later. She never forgave her eldest son for what she regarded as his betrayal.
Mary Todd Lincoln spent the next fours years abroad taking up residence in Pau, France. Lincoln spent much of this time travelling in Europe.
Lincoln's late years were marked by declining health. In 1879, she suffered spinal cord injuries in a fall from a step ladder. On her return to the US aboard an ocean liner in 1880, actress Sarah Bernhardt prevented Lincoln from falling down a staircase and sustaining further injury. Lincoln also suffered from cataracts that severely affected her eyesight. This may have contributed to her falls.
Mary Todd Lincoln died at the Springfield, Illinois home of her sister Elizabeth on July 16, 1882, aged 63. She was interred within the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield.
Of Robert's children, Jessie Harlan Lincoln Beckwith (1875 - 1948) had two children (Mary Lincoln Beckwith ["Peggy," 1898 - 1975] and Robert ("Bud") Todd Lincoln Beckwith (1904 - 1985), neither of whom had children of their own. Robert's other daughter, Mary Todd Lincoln ("Mamie") (1869 - 1938) married Charles Bradley Isham in 1891. They had one son, Lincoln Isham (1892 - 1971). Lincoln Isham married Leahalma Correa in 1919, but died without children.
The last person known to be of direct Lincoln lineage, Robert's grandson "Bud" Beckwith died in 1985. Mark E. Neely, Jr., The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1982 (ISBN 0-07-046145-7).
Trivia
- A sister was the daugther-in-law of Illinois Governor Ninian Edwards. A daugther of the Edwards married Edward L. Baker editor of the "Illinos State Journal" and son of Conngressman [David Jewett Baker].
- A brother in law was CS General [Benjamin HArdin Helm]-son of Kentucky Governor John L. Helm. Governor Helm's wife was a 1st cousin 3 times removed of Colonel John Hardin who was related to 3 Ky. Congressman.
- A Cousin was Ky Congressman/US General John Blair Smith Todd.
- Nancy Lincoln, a aunt of Abraham Lincoln was married to William Brumfield; reportably William Brumfield was distantly related to a Susannah Brumfield who was the wife of Thomas Boone-cousin of Daniel Boone.
- Musician Sufjan Stevens, on his 2003 concept album inspired by the state of Illinois, dedicates a track to Lincoln, titled "A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons."
External links
- Mary Todd Lincoln House (National Park Service)
- Mary Todd Lincoln House (Official Home Page)
- Mary Todd Lincoln Research Site
- Mary Todd Lincoln in 1862 Harper's Weekly Newspaper
- Especially for students - An Overview of Mary Todd Lincoln's Life
- Mr. Lincoln's White House: Mary Todd Lincoln
- "Wet with Blood," Research Project on Mary Todd Lincoln's Cloak, Chicago History Museum (formerly Chicago Historical Society)
| Preceded by: Harriet Lane |
First Lady of the United States 1861 – 1865 |
Succeeded by: Eliza McCardle Johnson |
M. Washington · A. Adams · M. Jefferson Randolph · D. Madison · E. Monroe · L. Adams · E. Donelson · S. Jackson · A. Van Buren · A. Harrison · J. Harrison · L. Tyler · P. Tyler · J. Tyler · S. Polk · M. Taylor · A. Fillmore · J. Pierce · H. Lane · M. Lincoln · E. Johnson · J. Grant · L. Hayes · L. Garfield · M. McElroy · R. Cleveland · F. Cleveland · C. Harrison · M. McKee · F. Cleveland · I. McKinley · Edith Roosevelt · H. Taft · Ellen Wilson · Edith Wilson · F. Harding · G. Coolidge · L. Hoover · Eleanor Roosevelt · B. Truman · M. Eisenhower · J. Kennedy · C. Johnson · P. Nixon · B. Ford · R. Carter · N. Reagan · B. Bush · H. Clinton · L. Bush
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
