The Madness of Mary Lincoln

Appendix 1: Unpublished Mary Todd Lincoln Letters

appendix 1 Unpublished Mary Todd Lincoln Letters These twenty-five letters span the years 1872 to 1878, from three years before to three years after Mary Lincoln’s institutionalization. Mary wrote twenty of these letters: seventeen to Myra Bradwell, and three to James Bradwell. Of the remaining five letters, two were written by Myra Bradwell, one by James Bradwell, one by Elizabeth Edwards, and one by Dr. R. J. Patterson. Also included is part of Mary Lincoln’s 1873 will, drafted by James Bradwell, which, like the letters, had disappeared from history’s view. Of the twenty-five letters, there are photographs of seven of Mary’s handwritten originals, in whole or in part; copies of eight in Myra Bradwell ’s handwriting, written on Chicago Legal News letterhead, dating to sometime in or prior to 1894, when she died; and copies of three in Myra Pritchard’s handwriting, dating probably to 1928. The other seven letters are found only in the unpublished Pritchard manuscript, “The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln’s Widow, as Revealed by Her Own Letters,” based on the letters Mrs. Pritchard had in her possession until 1928. None of the letters are originals in Mary Todd Lincoln’s handwriting, although their authenticity is not in doubt. Mary Harlan Lincoln hired Bert C. Farrar, examiner of questioned documents with the U.S. Treasury Department, to examine the letters and ascertain their legitimacy.1 Mr. Farrar obviously concluded the letters genuine, as Mary’s purchase of the letters from Myra Pritchard was subject to that authentication. Interestingly, and sadly, Myra Pritchard owned even more Mary Lincoln letters than quoted in her manuscript or found in the Towers trunk. She explained in part 9 of her manuscript that those letters, written after 1878, “add nothing to the record I have sought to perpetuate here. They are sweet, chatty letters of her travels and her friends. In none of them does she mention the gray days of the past and to publish them would, I think, be inexcusable prying into Mary Todd Lincoln’s intimate affairs.”2 Myra Pritchard’s daughter, Margreta, destroyed all the Mary Lincoln letters in her family’s possession in 1951.3 (For more on the sale and destruction of these letters, see appendix 2.) 159 160 . Appendix 1 These letters derive importance not only from their relation to Mary’s insanity trial but also to their mere existence, for, as the compilers of Mary’s collected letters wrote, “Letters written by Mary Lincoln in the period between 1871 and 1876 today are the rarest of items.”4 Prior to the finding of the letters in the Towers trunk and the Pritchard manuscript, only ten such letters were known to exist. Some of the people mentioned in these letters are referred to nowhere else in the entire historiography of Mary Lincoln’s life, including her collected letters. My own research, as well as consultation with the curators of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and other Lincoln experts, has uncovered some, but unfortunately not all, of these identities. In January 2007, theTowers family donated their father’s Lincoln papers to the Library of Congress, being desirous that the general public should have access to this unprecedented cache of materials. Mary Lincoln’s lost letters, as well as hundreds of documents pertaining to Robert Todd Lincoln , his family, and his work to preserve his father’s memory, now can be viewed in the library’s Manuscripts Division Reading Room. Note on the text: All transcriptions are based on photographs of letters and handwritten copies where possible and otherwise on the text of Myra Pritchard’s manuscript, with her edits and punctuation changes. November 1, 18725 My dear Mrs. Bradwell, Please inform me, what has become of your own dear self. I am very anxious to see you and I wish you would call in a day or two. I can scarcely understand your neglect, dear kind friend. Come very soon, and present my kindest regards, to your good husband, and your daughter. Before 3 days have passed I want to have, one of our old fashioned chats together. With ever so much love, Believe me, Always, truly yours, Mary Lincoln January 26, 18736 My dear Mrs. Bradwell, How much I regret to say to you that I am suffering for the last two days with a severe headache, which the Doctor7 tells me may settle in my head if I do not remain very quiet. I rise...