Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[LincolnToddFan]

(05-22-2014 04:15 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(05-22-2014 12:11 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Dr. Henry told his wife that AL confided things to him that he had never told another living person. Dr. Henry remained close to both the Lincolns until the end of his life. He was one of the very few people outside the family that Mary agreed to see in the wake of the assassination.

So perhaps Dr. Henry knew about the Lincoln/Rutledge romance, but per some agreement with AL never spoke of it. It's all so strange, isn't it?

Toia, personally, I think anything is possible. Unfortunately Dr. Henry died several months after the assassination. I am sure Herndon would have interviewed/communicated with him. On July 30, 1865, Dr. Henry drowned when the steamer Brother Jonathan, on which he was a passenger, sank off the coast of northern California. Although Herndon began "his work" in May, the vast majority of his information was gathered after Dr. Henry died. Maybe Dr. Henry would not have added much to what we already know, but then again, maybe he would have. I'd love to know what he might have told Herndon. Who knows.

Hi Roger,

It's very sad about Dr. Henry isn't it? But I am not sure what the extent of his cooperation with Herndon would have been. Dr. Henry loved Mary and was close to her. He was said to have been instrumental in getting her and Lincoln back together. I doubt if he would have said anything to encourage Herndon in his belief that Rutledge was Lincoln's great love. In fact he might have been very angry at Herndon for upsetting Mary when at a time when she was so grief-stricken and fragile.

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(05-22-2014 05:42 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(05-22-2014 12:11 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  He sent his oldest son to be educated at Phillips-Exeter and Harvard

I think it was Roberts own decision and ambition to be educated at Phillips-Exeter and Harvard. Robert stated that when he told he intended to go back to Harvard to study law, his father replied: "If you do, you should learn more than I ever did, but you will never have so good a time." According to Robert "that is the only advice I had from my father as to my career".
Also he didn't push Willie and Tad any bit to efforts and achievement.

Hi Eva E, yes it's true that it was Robert's idea to attend those schools but AL didn't discourage him in the least and in fact seemed very proud of his oldest son. As for Willie, by all accounts he was the brightest of the Lincoln children and was highly intelligent. Everyone who met him remarked on his bright promise and how proud AL and Mary were of him. He composed poetry and essays, and was a whiz at math. He would hardly have needed prodding intellectually(unlike Tad).

Sadly he died almost exactly two months after his 11th birthday so there was no real time for his father to make plans for his future, particularly as Willie's death took place in the midst of the war, which occupied his father night and day.

Hi David-

I understand that you feel Speed is unequivocal on the subject of Rutledge, but again...Speed was speculating based on what he knew of his friend's personality and character. He did not say for 100% sure that Herndon's ideas about the romance were true because quite frankly he didn't know. After their marriages AL and JS were not as close as they had once been. AL didn't even bother to inform his friend about the birth of his and Mary's second boy Eddy until the child was almost a year old. The relationship suffered even more later over the issue of slavery, even though the friendship was never broken.

I personally have never doubted the Rutledge romance. What I do scoff at is the idea that she affected AL for the rest of his life, or that she was necessarily his great love. There is solid evidence to the contrary. Less than a year after Ann's death he was pursuing another woman and considering marriage to her(Mary Owens). In fact there is a letter in existence where he expresses interest in Owens even during the time Rutledge was still alive.