Mary Todd Lincoln
1818-1882
Mary Todd was born in Kentucky, moving to Springfield Illinois at the
age of 21. She became the wife of the future president in 1842, after having
dated both him and his great rival Stephen Douglas.
She bore four children: Robert (1843), Edward (1846), William (1850)
and Thomas (1853); but outlived all of them except Robert.
The Lincolns purchased a house in Springfield and resided there,
with the exception of Mr. Lincoln's one term in congress (1846-1849),
until Mr. Lincoln won the Presidency and departed for Washington
in 1861.
The First Lady was with her husband when he was shot in Ford's Theatre
on April 14th, 1865. She stayed with him as he lay dying through the night.
After the funeral train brought Abraham and William Lincolns' bodies home
to Springfield, Mary and Thomas (Tad) moved to Chicago. They spent some
time in Germany after that, then returned to Chicago; Tad died shortly
thereafter.
Mary's behaviour grew more and more eccentric, and caused conflict
between her and her surviving son Robert, now a successful attorney.
She was declared insane, and spent four months in a sanitarium in
Batavia, Illinois. After several years living in the house of
Governor Ninian Edwards, Mary Todd Lincoln died in 1882.
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