Mary Lincoln - resident of Poe, OH?!

[STS Lincolnite]

Was re-reading the Lincoln section of Thomas Pendel's Thirty-six Years in the White House. Following is the last paragraph of the chapter:

“Some years after, during the Hayes administration, a Mrs. Rathbone called on the President and his family. I met her as she was leaving, and found out that she was the Miss Harris who was in the box with Mr. Lincoln the night he was assassinated. She had just returned from Ohio, and said that Mrs. Lincoln was living there in a town called Poe. She stated that Mrs. Lincoln requested her to inquire how many of the old employees were still in the White House. It touched me much to think that Mrs. Lincoln did not forget her old employees. I never saw Mrs. Rathbone after this.”

There is a small town in Ohio named Poe, but I have never heard of Mrs. Lincoln living there and am not sure why she would be. Has anyone else heard of this?

I am inclined to believe that Mr. Pendel somehow got his recollections mixed together - with Mrs. Rathbone coming from Ohio and Mrs. Lincoln living in Pau (not Poe) France.

I’m interested to hear the thoughts of others.

[Susan Higginbotham]

That makes sense to me. Might Clara have encountered Mary in Europe? According to Caleb Jenner Stephens, the Rathbones were in the habit of spending their winters in Europe in the years before their fatal move to Hanover.

[Mylye2222]

(01-13-2020 08:42 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  Was re-reading the Lincoln section of Thomas Pendel's Thirty-six Years in the White House. Following is the last paragraph of the chapter:

“Some years after, during the Hayes administration, a Mrs. Rathbone called on the President and his family. I met her as she was leaving, and found out that she was the Miss Harris who was in the box with Mr. Lincoln the night he was assassinated. She had just returned from Ohio, and said that Mrs. Lincoln was living there in a town called Poe. She stated that Mrs. Lincoln requested her to inquire how many of the old employees were still in the White House. It touched me much to think that Mrs. Lincoln did not forget her old employees. I never saw Mrs. Rathbone after this.”

There is a small town in Ohio named Poe, but I have never heard of Mrs. Lincoln living there and am not sure why she would be. Has anyone else heard of this?

I am inclined to believe that Mr. Pendel somehow got his recollections mixed together - with Mrs. Rathbone coming from Ohio and Mrs. Lincoln living in Pau (not Poe) France.

I’m interested to hear the thoughts of others.

It certainly might have been a confusion between the small town in Ohio and Pau, southern western France.