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The Coterie - Donna McCreary - 02-18-2014 12:31 PM
This question could also be asked under "Abraham Before the Presidency" but since I favor Mary, I thought it best here.
I am looking for information about the "Edwards Clique" or the "coterie" as they called themselves. Who belonged? When did the meet? What did they do? Did a person have to leave the Coterie once married?
Members I have listed include: Mercy Levering, Matilda Edwards, James C. Conkling, Joshua Speed, Edwin Webb, Stephen A. Douglas, Mary Todd, and Abraham Lincoln.
We know they read poetry, discussed politics, and gossiped, but are there any other stories about activities they enjoyed?
RE: The Coterie - RJNorton - 02-18-2014 01:52 PM
I don't know Ishbel Ross's reputation as a biographer, but she writes the Coterie was "dedicated to the cultivation of the arts, to political happenings in their fast-growing state, to the causes that excited the scholars of the day. They were conventional but avant-garde, and they went in for a round of parties, dances, sleigh rides, political rallies, picnics and other excursions. Lincoln was more at home swapping jokes and stories with his cronies around the stove in Speed's quarters, but John Stuart saw to it that he joined the Coterie gatherings and visited Mary."
In her book Ross mentions many of the same members as you, Donna, and also adds James Shields.
In a December 6, 1865, letter to Mary Jane Welles, Mary wrote, "In our little coterie in Springfield in the days of my girlhood, we had a society of gentlemen, who have since, been distinguished, in a greater or less degree, in the political world. My great and glorious husband comes first, 'a world above them all.' Douglas, Trumbull, Baker, Hardin, Shields, such choice spirits, were the habitués, of our drawing room. Gen Shields, a kind-hearted, impulsive Irishman, was always creating a sensation & mirth, by his drolleries..."
RE: The Coterie - Donna McCreary - 02-18-2014 11:26 PM
Thanks Roger. I also found two other young ladies associated with the coterie: Ann Caesaria Rodney and Sarah Dunlap.
One name missing that surprises me is Elizabeth Todd, daughter of Dr. John Todd. She did not marry until 1846.
I doubt John J. Hardin was an actual member of the Coterie. As a member of the state legislature, he would have been a visitor to the Edwards' home, but he had married prior to Mary's arrival to Springfield. I do not think he would have been attending sleigh rides, picnics, and other excursions with the unmarried youth.