Samuel Cox

[RJNorton]

Not much is known about Abraham Lincoln's teeth. One of the few times this topic is mentioned in books is the following story. In a letter to Mary Speed (half-sister of Joshua Speed), dated September 27, 1841, Lincoln wrote:

"Do you remember my going to the city while I was in Kentucky, to have a tooth extracted, and making a failure of it? Well, that same old tooth got to paining me so much, that about a week since I had it torn out, bringing with it a bit of the jawbone; the consequence of which is that my mouth is now so sore that I can neither talk, nor eat. I am litterally ‘subsisting on savoury remembrances’—that is, being unable to eat, I am living upon the remembrance of the delicious dishes of peaches and cream we used to have at your house."