Mary's friends

[LincolnToddFan]

(03-31-2015 12:19 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  

(03-30-2015 07:36 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  The Bradwells weren't really close friends, and AFAIK Mary didn't keep in touch with them later. Also they didn't attend her funeral.

Myra's granddaughter collected for publication letters that Mary had sent Myra after her release from the asylum, but was prevented from publishing them by the Lincoln family. Jason Emerson published the letters and the granddaughter's manuscript in 2011. Mary sent letters to Myra from Pau, and Myra visited her during a trip to Europe in 1878, which is also the date of the last letter in the granddaughter's manuscript.

According to the granddaughter, Mary continued to write to Myra after her return from Europe, but the granddaughter declined to publish the letters, which she described as sweet and chatty, and they apparently have not survived or have not been found.

My guess is that the Bradwells chose not to attend Mary's funeral in order to avoid any awkwardness with RTL.

I think I agree. The letters that I did read in Jason Emerson's "Madness" show Mary almost pathetically attached to them, writing declarations of eternal love and gratitude. At that point she was-or considered herself-alone in the world. She sounds like a drowning woman grasping at rescue in her letters to the Bradwells...it's so very sad to read.

RTL deeply resented their interference into what he felt was a private, embarrassing family issue.