Lincoln's First Love

[LincolnToddFan]

Roger,

I had no idea you went to Denison! My dad was an Ohio State guy, so I always cheer for them even though I have lived in Southern Cali three times as long as Ohio.

In one of Ed Steer's amazing books he writes that people who visit AR's grave are visiting a gravesite that contains nothing but two bones and some dirt. When she was exhumed in the late 19th century, that's all there was other than a button and a buckle, a ribbon and some hair. Her family kept everything except the two bones.

I tend to believe that she and AL were in love and might have married. I do not need to be persuaded on that point. I do reject the idea that she influenced the rest of his life, based on a complete lack of evidence. I happen to think he also very much loved the difficult, complex woman he married, who shares his Tomb in Springfield.