Lincoln, Mary Todd

Life span:

12/13/1818 to 07/16/1882

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Life Summary

Full name:

Mary Ann Todd Lincoln

Place of Birth:

Lexington, KY

Burial Place:

Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL

Birth Date Certainty:

Exact

Death Date Certainty:

Exact

Gender:

Female

Race:

White

Sectional choice:

North

Origins:

Slave State

No. of Siblings:

No. of Spouses:

No. of Children:

Family:

Robert Smith Todd (father, 1791-1849), Eliza Ann Parker Todd (mother), Elizabeth "Betsey" Humphreys Todd (step-mother), Abraham Lincoln (husband), Elizabeth Porter Todd Edwards (sister, 1813-1888), Frances Jane Todd Wallace (sister, 1815-1899), Levi Owen Todd (1817-1864), Ann Marie Todd Smith (sister, 1824-1891), George Rogers Clark Todd (brother, 1825-1902?), Margaret Todd Kellogg (half sister, 1828-1904), Samuel Brown Todd (half brother, 1830-1862), Martha K. Todd White (half sister, 1833-1868), Emilie Paret Todd Helm (half sister, 1836-1930), Elodie Breck Todd Dawson (half sister, 1840-1877), Catherine "Kitty" Bodley Todd Herr (half sister, 1841-1875), Robert Todd Lincoln (son, 1843-1926), Edward "Eddie" Baker Lincoln (son, 1846-1850), William Wallace "Willie" Lincoln (son, 1850-1862), Thomas "Tad" Lincoln (son, 1853-1871)

Relation to Slavery:

White non-slaveholder

Political Parties:

Republican

Census Snapshot

Residence in 1860:

Springfield, IL

Marital status in 1860:

Married

Note Cards

Mary Lincoln, Character (American National Biography)

Scholarship

In addition to her role as a mother and housewife, Lincoln was absorbed in politics and worked to promote her husband's career. She wrote patronage letters, advocated his election, and even followed legislative choices in his senatorial campaigns. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, she ambitiously sought for herself the role of an influential first lady. Wearing stunning gowns and shawls, she tried to define American fashion. She tastefully renovated the White House, especially the downstairs public rooms, and entertained at parties designed to display to foreign ambassadors the power of the Union. She established an informal American salon, where public men and literary figures discussed the topics of the day. Besides these extensions of domestic roles, Lincoln sought a controversial voice in her husband's patronage appointments, including his cabinet…A vivacious belle in her youth, the short, plump Lincoln was an important and controversial first lady who expanded that role's authority. Stepping outside of the traditional female role of homemaker into the male-dominated world of public affairs, she was often criticized for her behavior. Extravagant, high-strung, and tempestuous, she nonetheless played an important role in her husband's ascent to the presidency and made the unpaid but demanding position of first lady into a post of influence.

Jean H. Baker, "Lincoln, Mary Todd," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00632.html.

Mary Todd Lincoln, During the Civil War (American National Biography)

Scholarship

Mary Lincoln's tenure as a first lady coincided with the Civil War. During her first days in the White House, when Confederate units were unopposed in northern Virginia, army officials encouraged her to leave the city, but she insisted on staying and even accompanied her husband on tours of the Washington defenses. Like many other women, she nursed soldiers in hospitals, often inscribing their dictated letters to relatives in the North. Lincoln was unusual in her commitment to raising money for the support of impoverished former slaves ("contraband"), who crowded into Washington. However, her good works never stilled the criticism of her extravagance when the allowance for the White House was exceeded, nor did she ever shake the gossip that, because her half brothers fought for the Confederacy, she was a spy.

John H. Baker, "Lincoln, Mary Todd," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00632.html.

Mary Todd Lincoln (Dictionary of American Biography)

Reference

During the presidency of her husband, Mrs. Lincoln, in what Stoddard called her “somewhat authoritative” way, gave special attention to levees and other social affairs. A Southern lady in the White House, she was subjected to criticism, much of which was gossip and malicious slander; certainly the imputations of disloyalty were unfounded. Even the touches of social gayety with which she relieved the strain of wartime anxiety were criticized as inappropriate. She suffered during the war by reason of divisions in her own family (her sister’s husband, Ben. H. Helm, being a Confederate general), and by the crushing bereavement of her son Willie’s death.

Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961), 6: 266.

Mary Todd Lincoln (Holloway, 1881)

Reference

To Mrs. Lincoln more than to any other President's wife was the White House an ambition. She had ever aspired to reach it, and when it became her home, it was the fruition of a hope long entertained, the gratification of the great desire of her life. In her early youth she repeatedly asserted that she should be a President's wife, and so profoundly impressed was she with this idea, that she calculated the probabilities of such a success with all her male friends. She refused an offer of marriage from Stephen A. Douglas, then a rising young lawyer, doubting his ability to gratify her ambition, and accepted a man who at that time seemed to others the least likely to be the President of the United States.

Laura C. Holloway, Ladies of the White House (Philadelphia: Bradley & Company, 1881), 526.

Events

Date span begin	Life span End	Event
12/13/1818	12/13/1818	Mary Lincoln is born in Lexington, Kentucky
01/01/1837	01/01/1837	Mary Lincoln visits Springfield, Illinois in the spring of 1837
06/01/1839	06/01/1839	Mary Lincoln moves to Springfield, Illinois
06/01/1843	06/01/1843	Lyman Trumbull marries Julia Maria Jayne in Springfield, Illinois
02/05/1857	02/05/1857	The Lincolns entertain over 300 guests at their home in Springfield
07/24/1857	07/24/1857	Abraham and Mary Lincoln visit Niagara Falls
02/20/1861	02/20/1861	Abraham Lincoln spends the day in New York City, addresses the City Council, and goes to the Opera
01/23/1862	01/23/1862	In Washington DC, President and Mrs. Lincoln attend an evening of Verdi and Bellini opera
02/20/1862	02/20/1862	Eleven-year old Willie Lincoln, the President's third son, dies of typhoid in the White House
03/24/1864	03/24/1864	The Louisiana pianist Louis Gottschalk plays for President Lincoln at a concert in Willard's Hotel.
04/14/1865	04/14/1865	John Wilkes Booth shoots President Lincoln during the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford’s Theatre
04/15/1865	04/15/1865	President Lincoln dies from the head wound John Wilkes Booth inflicted eight hours before
07/16/1882	07/16/1882	Mary Lincoln dies in Springfield, Illinois

Major Topics

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Documents

Author Docs

Date	Title
11/02/1862	Mary Todd Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln, November 2, 1862

Subject Docs

Date	Title
08/16/1858	David Davis to Ozias Mather Hatch, August 16, 1858
10/15/1858	Recollection by Gustave Koerner, Alton Debate, October 15, 1858
05/23/1860	Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Lincoln as He Is,” May 23, 1860
06/01/1860	Abraham Lincoln, Autobiography, circa June 1860
10/19/1860	Abraham Lincoln to Grace Bedell, October 19, 1860
01/30/1861	Elihu B. Washburne to Abraham Lincoln, January 30, 1861
02/22/1861	Abraham Lincoln's Remarks at Leaman Place, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1861
02/28/1861	Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Lincoln’s Flight to Washington,” February 28, 1861
03/04/1861	New York Times, “The Plot Against Mr. Lincoln’s Life,” March 4, 1861
04/03/1861	San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “A Story of ‘Prince Bob’,” April 3, 1861
04/16/1865	Maunsell Bradhurst Field to Editor New York Times, Letter accounting the Passing of President Abraham Lincoln, April 16, 1865
04/17/1865	Henry Reed Rathbone, Deposition on the events of April 14, 1865, Ford's Theater, Washington D.C.
04/19/1865	George Alfred Townsend, "The Obsequies in Washington," April 19, 1865
04/19/1865	William T. Clark to Ida Clark, Washington D.C., April 19, 1865

Addressee Docs

Date	Title
04/16/1848	Abraham Lincoln to Mary Todd Lincoln, Washington, DC, April 16, 1848
03/04/1860	Abraham Lincoln to Mary Todd Lincoln, March 4, 1860
06/16/1863	Abraham Lincoln to Mary Todd Lincoln, June 16, 1863
09/21/1863	Abraham Lincoln to Mary Todd Lincoln, September 21, 1863

Images

Chicago Style Entry	Link
Emerson, Jason. The Madness of Mary Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2007.	View Record
Hirschhorn, Norbert. "Mary Lincoln's 'Suicide Attempt:' A Physician Reconsiders the Evidence." Lincoln Herald 104, no. 3 (2003): 94-98.	View Record
Burkhimer, Michael. "Mary Todd Lincoln: Political Partner?" Lincoln Herald 105, no. 2 (2003): 67-72.	View Record
Bach, Jennifer. "Was Mary Todd Lincoln Bipolar?" Journal of Illinois History 8, no. 4 (2005): 281-294.	View Record
Newman, Janis Cooke. Mary: A Novel. San Francisco: MacAdam/Cage, 2006.	View Record
Hull, Mary. Mary Todd Lincoln: Tragic First Lady of the Civil War. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2000.	View Record
Leasher, Evelyn. "Lois Bryan Adams goes to Washington." Michigan History 79, no. 2 (1995): 38-41.	View Record
Wilson, Douglas L. "Abraham Lincoln and 'That Fatal First of January.'" Civil War History 38, no. 2 (1992): 101-130.	View Record
Ostendorf, Lloyd. "A New Mary Todd Lincoln Photograph: A Tour of the White Mountains in Summer, 1863." Illinois Historical Journal 83, no. 2 (1990): 109-111.	View Record
Ostendorf, Lloyd. "The Photographs of Mary Todd Lincoln." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 61, no. 3 (1968): 269-332.	View Record
Schreiner, Samuel Agnew. The Trials of Mrs. Lincoln: The Harrowing Never-Before-Told Story of Mary Todd Lincoln's Last and Finest Years. New York: D.I. Fine, 1987.	View Record
Winkler, H. Donald. The Women in Lincoln's Life. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 2001.	View Record
Bassett, Margaret Byrd. Abraham & Mary Todd Lincoln. New York: Cromwell, 1973.	View Record
Neely, Mark E., and R. Gerald McMurtry. The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.	View Record
Sandburg, Carl, and Paul M. Angle. Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1932.	View Record
Simmons, Dawn Langley. A Rose for Mrs. Lincoln: A Biography of Mary Todd Lincoln. Boston: Beacon Press, 1970.	View Record
Rinaldi, Ann. An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2007.	View Record
Adams, Katherine. "Freedom and Ballgowns: Elizabeth Keckley and the Work of Domesticity." Arizona Quarterly 57, no. 4 (2001): 45-87.	View Record
Fleischner, Jennifer. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship between a First Lady and a Former Slave. New York: Broadway Books, 2003.	View Record
Berry, Stephen. House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, A Family Divided by War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.	View Record
Ackerman, Monroe. "The Love Life of Abraham Lincoln." Lincoln Herald 104, no. 1 (2002): 10-26.	View Record
Stone, Irving. Love is Eternal: A Novel about Mary Todd Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1954.	View Record
Williams, Frank J. "Mary Todd Lincoln "On the Wing of Expectation:" Wife, Mother, and Political Partner." Lincoln Herald 102, no. 4 (2000): 168-176.	View Record
Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1987.	View Record
Randall, Ruth Painter. Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage. Boston: Little, Brown, 1935.	View Record
Laderman, Gary. "The Body Politic and the Politics of Two Bodies: Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln in Death." Prospects 22 (1997): 109-132.	View Record
Van der Heuvel, Gerry. Crowns of Thorns and Glory: Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Howell Davis, the Two First Ladies of the Civil War. New York: Dutton, 1988.	View Record
Braden, Waldo W. "Mary Todd Lincoln's Missouri Relatives." Lincoln Herald 93, no. 2 (1991): 45-49.	View Record
Ross, Ishbel. The President's Wife: Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: Putnam, 1973.	View Record
Neely, Mark E., and Harold Holzer. "The Lincoln Family Album." American History Illustrated 25, no. 5 (1990): 44-61.	View Record
Hambly, Barbara. The Emancipator's Wife: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln. New York: Bantam Books, 2005.	View Record
Emerson, Jason. "Mary Todd Lincoln's Lost Letters." Civil War Times 46, no. 8 (2007): 54-60.	View Record
Clinton, Catherine. "Wife Versus Widow: Clashing Perspectives on Mary Lincoln's Legacy." Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 28, no. 1 (2007): 1-19.	View Record
Emerson, Jason. "The Madness of Mary Lincoln." American Heritage 57, no. 3 (2006): 56-63, 65.	View Record
Schwartz, Thomas F. "Mary Todd's 1835 Visit to Springfield, Illinois." Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 26, no. 1 (2005): 42-45.	View Record
Bach, Jennifer L. "Acts of Remembrance: Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Husband's Memory." Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 25, no. 2 (2004): 25-49.	View Record
Baker, Jean H. "Mary Todd Lincoln: Civil War First Lady." White House Studies 2, no. 1 (2002): 73-82.	View Record
Wilson, Douglas L. "William H. Herndon and Mary Todd Lincoln." Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 22, no. 2 (2001): 1-26.	View Record

Tabs

Mary Lincoln, Character (American National Biography)

Mary Todd Lincoln, During the Civil War (American National Biography)

Mary Todd Lincoln (Dictionary of American Biography)

Mary Todd Lincoln (Holloway, 1881)

Mary Todd Lincoln, circa 1846

Mary Todd Lincoln, circa 1846, detail

Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Todd Lincoln, detail

Lincoln, Mary Todd

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