Madness of Mary Lincoln

[kerry]

I found an article from like the 1880s which said Robert intended to be buried elsewhere than with his parents, so I'm not sure that Mary Harlan Lincoln was quite as domineering as is commonly thought, given that her reputation seems to be based largely on the burial issue. She may well have played a big role in all of this, but it seems pretty speculative. Clearly the two Marys had a falling out, but it's hard to know what happened. It's not clear that Mary was kicked out instead of refusing to visit after that. Shortly after Mary's death, it was widely reported that she always loved her daughter-in-law even when she was upset with Robert - I have no idea if that was spin or not. Her going away to her parents could have been at least in part due to her mother's health and her strong attachment to them. It seemed common regardless of Mary's presence.