Born: 1818
Died: 1882
Mary Todd Lincoln was the most maligned and misunderstood First Lady of the 19th century. High spirited and high strung, Mary was subject to violent mood swings and sudden outbursts of temper. But she was also intelligent, determined and ambitious, and had an unwavering faith in Abraham Lincoln. Born into a prominent Kentucky family, Mary lost her mother when she was six. Her father remarried and though he gave Mary every material comfort, including a fine education, hers was not a happy childhood. At 21 Mary joined her sister in Illinois and met Abe Lincoln, a poor 30-year-old country lawyer who battled depression.
Though she encouraged Abe's quest for the Presidency, Mary's White House years proved trying. Always a spendthrift, Mary's profligacy drew criticism at a time of war and privation. Despite her work in Union hospitals, rumors spread that she was Confederate spy. And in 1862 her 11-year-old son died. All these traumas took their toll, but Abe's assassination left her shattered. She refused to leave her White House room for a month. Then, she worried obsessively about money, even after Congress granted her a widow's pension. Spending years in Europe with her young son Tad, Mary became even more unstable after Tad died at 18. Eventually committed to a mental hospital, she hired a lawyer and got herself released. Mary died at 63 at her sister's Illinois home.
Sixteenth President
Abraham Lincoln
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