Mrs. Abraham Lincoln: A Study of Her Personality and Her Influence on Lincoln

3. Youth Builds Her Up

CHAPTER THREE Youth Builds Her Up Yotttn is tlte time of enterprise and hope; navi1.g yilt fro occasion of com,. parbtg our force witl" any opposing power, we ttattwally form presumptions itt OUI' favOl' m"d imagine that obstruction mtd impediment will give way before us, - DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON INCIDENTS AFFECTING MRS. LINCOLN 1826 to Autumn 1839 1826 August 2, Sarah, Abraham Lincoln's sister, married Aaron Grigsby. November I, Robert S. Todd, Mary's father, married Betsy Humphreys, Frankfort, Kentucky. Mary Todd started school at Ward's. 1827 Robert S. Todd born j died in infancy. 1828 January 28, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby died. December 14, Margaret Todd (Mrs. Charles H. Kellogg) born. 1830 February, Abraham Lincoln moved from Indiana to Illinois. March 2.'), Samuel B. Todd born. 183I Lincoln, living in New Salem, cast his first vote. 1832 Febrttat'y 29, marriage of Elizabeth Todd to Ninian W. Edwards. March 9, Lincoln announced his candidacy for the Illinois legislature. March 20, David H. Todd born. April to July, Lincoln in Black Hawk War. July 10, Lincoln mustered out, Whitewater, WisconslU . AUf1ust 7, Lincoln defeated for the legislature. Lincoln piloted steamboat to Springfield. Mary Todd entered Mentelle's. 1833 Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards moved to Illinois. June 9, Martha 'Todd (Mrs. Clement White) born. 1836 Frances Todd (Mrs. William Wallace) went to Springfield to live. November II, Emilie Todd (Mrs. B. H. Helm) born. 1837 March, Lincoln moved to Springfield and studied law. April, Lincoln became partner of Judge John T. Stuart (Mary Todd's first cousin). Abraham Lincoln broke with Mary Owens. Mary Todd visited Springfield for three months. Autumn, Mary Todd in Ward's school again. 1839 February 18, Alexander H. Todd born. Mary Todd finished at Ward's and went to Springfield to live. CHAPTER THREE Youth Builds Her Up ;\ FTER THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE IN THE SUMMER OF .I1 1825, and until his remarriage in the autumn of the next year, Robert S. Todd managed his household as well as he could. He had help from his sister, Eliza (Mrs. Charles M. Carr), but that lady had her own children to look after. His mother-in-law, Eliza Parker, lived near by, and she helped. In the autumn of 1826, when Mary was almost eight years old, Robert S. Todd married Elizabeth (or Betsy) Humphreys. This marriage met with the outspoken disapproval of Mrs. Parker. The grandmother did much to foster the somewhat natural or at least often manifested dislike of the Todd children for their stepmother. The children visited in the home of their grandmother, and no doubt when they did, their dislike of the new Mrs. Todd was fanned. Mrs. John C. Lanphier, a grand-daughter of Mrs. Carr, and Mrs. Mary Edwards Brown, a grand-daughter of Mrs. Edwards, both think they have heard that Mrs. Carr was rather sympathetic with the antagonism of the first family to the stepmother. Members of the family are authority for the statement that during this period the children lived in the home of this aunt, and that after the second marriage of Mr. Todd the children lived there more than half the time.~ 1 Personal communications. 77 YOUTH BUILDS HER UP I have not been able to verify these statements. It is more likely that such time as the first set of children lived away from the Robert Todd home was spent in the home of Grandmother Parker. Between 1826 and r832 Mary Todd lived in her father's home with her stepmother, her three sisters and two brothers , and an increasing number of children of the second family. She was attending the preparatory dePil:rtment of Ward's Academy. The year 1832 is given some emphasis because it was in that year that two events of some moment occurred. One of , these was the marriage of Elizabeth Todd to Ninian W. Edwards.1 This marriage was destined to influence profoundly the life of Mary Todd. The second event of importance to her in this year was her entering the boardingschool for girls kept by Madame Mentelle. Thereaftet she lived fot five days a week of the school yeat away from her stepmother. In 1833 Mrs. Edwards moved from Lexington to Springfield, probably by way of Belleville; and in 1836 she began her policy of inviting her sistets to Springfield. In June 1837 Mary Todd was graduated from Madame Mentelle's and...