Robert Todd Lincoln --The vitals

[kerry]

(12-22-2017 11:23 AM)L Verge Wrote:  One last gasp -- Our former research librarian (and now a volunteer guide) at Surratt House is a semi-expert on Elizabeth Keckly after being trained to do a first-person presentation on the lady at Ford's Theatre (where she also volunteered). She did this for a number of years until the Ford's Theatre Society convinced the NPS that a trained actress should be doing it. Just one catty remark on that -- the actress looked no more like Mrs. Keckly than I do!

After that critical review, the point here is that I emailed our lady as to what was going on and asked about the Nobody's Son book and her thoughts on the ghost writer, etc. Here's her response:

Laurie, the book, "Nobody's Boy" is a paperback written for ages 10 and up published by the Missouri Historical Society Press in 2006. It was written by Jennifer Fleischner, yes, the author of "Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly...", however much of it is fiction.

At the end of her author's preface, Elizabeth Keckly gives her address as 14 Carroll Place, New York. John Washington in "They Knew Lincoln" includes a transcript of the original copyright entry for her book which was filed in New York
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He also tried to prove Mrs. Keckly's authorship by recounting how James Redpath visited her regularly during that period, writing down what she told him and reviewing it the next day.

Then, there was also David Barbee, who claimed in a Washington Post article written in the 30's, that a journalist named Jane Swisshelm was the real author.

I found a blurb that suggested that Swisshelm wrote it at the time, but I think it was meant sarcastically (they probably could only come up with one female 'muckraker' to mention). The "They Knew Lincoln" book seems to have good information, from what I can see of it. Barbee claimed Keckley did not exist, and also that she was illiterate and that Mary would never gossip in front of servants. So I don't think he had a good grasp on the situation.