Miss Todd left at the altar

[Donna McCreary]

(08-17-2012 03:29 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Rob, it looks to me like it came from an interview with Elizabeth Edwards (p. 443) and also a second interview with Elizabeth and Ninian Edwards (p. 592). My pages numbers are references to Herndon's Informants. In the first interview it is mentioned that the supper was ready. In the second interview the words "arrangements for wedding had been made...even cakes had been baked...but L. failed to appear" are used. Donna, do you feel the Edwardses created or embellished the story? Or possibly Herndon wrote down some things they really didn't say? Didn't the Edwardses originally oppose the marriage?

Elizabeth did oppose the marriage. However, when Frances Wallace was interviewed years later, she said there was only one wedding planned for Mary and Abraham. I'd have to do some digging, but I am thinking later, Elizabeth also said there was only one wedding planned. Did Elizabeth change her story?
In the case of Ann Todd -- yes, the wedding supper was prepared and the cakes were baked when C. M.Smith did not show due to his illness. Did Herndon hear this story from Elizabeth and Ninian and change the names?

I think he did. It was a Todd family story, and it humanized Lincoln -- which seems to have been Herndon's goal. Even if Elizabeth and Ninian confused the sisters, (very doubtful) others claimed there was only one wedding. I think if it were a true story, more people would have told it - especially those who had a score to settle with Mary. Just as Julia gossiped about Ann's failed attempt, a failed attempt at marriage for Mary would also have been good gossip - even more so when Herndon was interviewing people. To have two sisters jilted by their grooms would have been gossip for decades. Did Herndon mention the story in his own writings? Or did he only have knowledge of the story through the Edwardses interview?
As with so many things "Lincoln," an answered question raises more questions.