Grave of James Rutledge, father of Ann

[RJNorton]

IMO there is no connection between the suicide poem allegedly written by Lincoln and the death of Ann Rutledge. The August 25, 1838, edition of the Sangamo Journal carried the suicide poem. Ann died three years earlier in 1835. It's also possible Lincoln was not the author of the suicide poem. Lincoln's melancholy over Ann's death did not last 3 years IMO.