Tad Lincoln

[Jim Garrett]

The picture of Jack on his deathbed was recently published in "The Last Lincolns", which I highly recommend (available at the Surratt Tavern bookstore). It was presumed that Jack died from blood poisoning. Reading the accounts/descriptions of Jack illness, my guess is that he succumbed to MRSA. MRSA is a form of the anti-biontic resistant fleash eating bateria which will manifest itself as large boils (usually forming under the arms or crotch area. The illness can be particularly persistant and as described, is resistant and resilient. Today there are five anti-biotics used to treat MRSA, but the nature of the illness often means going through several of the anti-biotics to find which one the infection will respond to. I would imagine in Jacks case, he probably didn't stand much of a chance.

[RJNorton]

Jim, I have had a close family member die of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I have wondered about that possibility, too. Some of Jack's symptoms reminded me of this family member's symptoms, but others don't really match up, so that possibility is unlikely, I suppose.

[Dan Pearson]

There is a very complete, and sometimes gruesome narrative of Jack Lincoln's final illness and death in Jason Emerson's biography of Robert Lincoln, Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln, on pages 310-317.

[RJNorton]

On p. 400 of Ralph Gary's Following in Lincoln's Footsteps the author writes, "Tad attempted to jump on a passing freight train and his hold slipped. He probably would have been killed under the wheels if a man nearby had not grabbed him." This event is listed as happening in Pennsylvania in July of 1868. The sources listed are Ruth Painter Randall's Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage and Jean Baker's Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography.

The problem is I cannot find this event in either of those sources. Is it there, and I am not seeing it?

Has anybody ever read about Tad doing this?

[LincolnMan]

Never heard of the incident until now!

[Laurie Verge]

I have not heard of it either, and it seems that it would get broader coverage considering the Robert Lincoln/Edwin Booth train episode.

[Linda Anderson]

I searched Genealogy Bank and found some articles about the train incident.

"'Tad' Lincoln had a narrow escape from instant death last week. In jumping on a moving train his hold slipped, and but for the assistance of a gentleman who stood near him, he would have fallen under the wheels."

Boston Herald, August 1, 1868

[RJNorton]

Thank you very much, Linda. This was a story I had never heard before until I came across it in Ralph Gary's book today. That date you found would correspond with what Gary says on p. 400.

[L Verge]

Thanks for the research, Linda. It almost seems as if the Lincoln family lived under the same gray cloud of pending disaster as the Kennedys.

[LincolnMan]

Laurie: I too thought of the Kennedys!

[RJNorton]

Maybe it's just the photograph but his hair looks odd to me. It's like his hair is parted at a strange spot.

Good eyes, Bill. I received word today from Jane E. Gastineau, Lincoln Librarian, Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection (and a member here), that this photo usually cited as Tad Lincoln has long been mislabeled. The seated young man identified as Tad Lincoln in many sources is actually William Harlan.

http://lincolncollection.org/collection/...-identity/

William Harlan seated; the standing boy is unidentified

[HerbS]

Fantastic find and great eyes!

[LincolnToddFan]

Ah, mystery solved! Tad changed a lot in appearance from childhood to adolescence, but I have never thought the kid in the photo looked anything like him.

Thanks Roger!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Roger - FASCINATING!!!

Just to clarify - the article on the site reads:
"FIVE photographs from the Lincoln Family Album Collection have long been identified as images of Tad Lincoln taken in 1871...Recent research, however, has found...: the long, lean young man is not Tad.
The photographS (Plural!) of William in the Lincoln family's collection were not labeled, and subsequent generations of scholars and perhaps even Lincoln descendants...assumed the young man in the photographS must be the youngest Lincoln son. The error is now corrected. "

These plus the one with the unidentified boy are the five photos from the Lincoln Family Album:
               
This sixth photo is not in the album - I assume this is William Harlan:
   
So am I understanding correctly that NONE of the five other photos above depicts Tad but all depict William Harlan? (I've always found the boy in the second and in the last photo in the row resembled neither Tad nor his father, as often claimed! Indeed fascinating!)

[LincolnToddFan]

Eva, the little boy on the far left resembles a young Tad...but the one on the right with the long skinny face looks nothing like him, not to me.

What do you think?