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+--- Forum: Trivia Questions - all things Lincoln (/forum-8.html)
+--- Thread: Who is this lady? (/thread-279.html)
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-02-2021 09:13 AM
What is her name?
![[Image: whowasshe.jpg]](http://rogerjnorton.com/whowasshe.jpg)
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-02-2021 10:11 AM
Hint #1: This is a strange hint, but I think of this when I think of this person. The hint is, "This person once touched Abraham Lincoln's back."
RE: Who is this lady? - Anita - 01-02-2021 12:27 PM
Mary Owens?
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-02-2021 12:31 PM
That is a very thoughtful guess, Anita, but incorrect.
RE: Who is this lady? - Anita - 01-02-2021 01:25 PM
Did this incident happen before Lincoln's White House years?
RE: Who is this lady? - Eva Elisabeth - 01-02-2021 01:40 PM
Francis Speed
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-02-2021 02:01 PM
(01-02-2021 01:25 PM)Anita Wrote: Did this incident happen before Lincoln's White House years?
Yes, it did.
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-02-2021 02:01 PM
(01-02-2021 01:40 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: Francis Speed
Nope, I am sorry, Eva, but it was not she.
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-02-2021 03:02 PM
Hint #2: After she touched Lincoln's back, he touched her foot/ankle.
(I suppose this sounds a little weird.)
RE: Who is this lady? - Eva Elisabeth - 01-02-2021 04:12 PM
Did she need help? Was her foot injured?
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-02-2021 04:46 PM
You are sure on the right track, Eva. Now what is her name?
RE: Who is this lady? - Susan Higginbotham - 01-02-2021 10:20 PM
Matilda Johnson?
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 01-03-2021 04:49 AM
Kudos to Eva and Susan!
I have read a variety of versions of this incident cited in the hints about the back and ankle, and here is just one. I have not seen a specific date for the incident, but it most likely would be c.1820-1825.
One day Abraham's stepsister, Matilda Johnston, playfully tried to knee young Abraham in the back just as he was swinging an ax to cut down a tree. The joke backfired because it caused Abraham to fall backwards, and the ax cut a deep gash in Matilda's ankle. Abraham quickly cut his shirt into strips and tied them tight around Matilda's bleeding ankle. She was scared and crying. He did not question her; rather he realized it had been a childish prank. He picked up the young girl and carried her on his shoulder all the way from the woods to the Lincolns' cabin. Matilda wanted to tell her mother that she was cut by Abraham's ax, but not exactly how it happened, as she was embarrassed. He advised her to tell the "whole truth" about how she got injured.
Growing up, Abraham and Matilda were close. In 1865 Matilda wrote Herndon that the two "grew up together loving one another as brother and sister."
![[Image: pastfemale1.jpg]](http://rogerjnorton.com/pastfemale1.jpg)
Matilda Johnston
RE: Who is this lady? - Steve Whitlock - 06-25-2021 01:01 AM
I don't expect anyone to identify this lady; however, her middle name reveals the close association to the night Lincoln was assassinated that her family has.
I am amazed almost daily at the trivia expertise of Symposium members, but this is likely asking too much.
RE: Who is this lady? - RJNorton - 06-25-2021 04:18 AM
Wild guess - the granddaughter of Mrs. Scott. Mrs. Scott ran the boardinghouse where both Ned Spangler and Jake Rittersbach had rooms.