A new work on Emilie Todd Helm's visit to Lincoln's White House

[Donna McCreary]

Emilie used Robert's love and respect for family to her advantage. He more than assisted Emilie financially -- he basically "bank rolled" the Helms and many of the Todds at Emilie's request. She often wrote about how the Union had destroyed the financial wealth of the Todd family, and since he had so much, he should share with his less fortunate relations. Robert was very generous. I'm not sure why -- perhaps from guilt over the broken relationship with his mother and Emilie; perhaps he truly felt that the Confederate relations had suffered enough; perhaps it was purely out of love for Emile; perhaps it was his way of getting Emilie to shut up. We will never know the motivation behind Robert's generous gifts to the Helms. I find it interesting that Emilie's son, Ben Hardin Helm Jr, was listed in Mary Harlan Lincoln's will and received the same amount of money as her grandchildren.