Robert Todd Lincoln --The vitals

[kerry]

"And also, maybe after his traumatic life full of funerals of family members, he didn't wish his kids to go through it,"
- Sorry, are you kidding? In those days, especially those of the CW, death was much more daily "family" life. And he died a peaceful, natural dead at a blessed age when it was to expect sooner or later, and his kids weren't young anymore either.

Yes, it was, but that doesn't mean he wasn't personally more affected by it than most. He didn't bring his family to his mother's funeral, and Mary didn't attend Lincoln's or Willie's funeral. The Lincolns clearly stood out as being more affected by it than most in an era of high mortality. While logically his old age would make it easier to take, that doesn't mean that he didn't have a personal irrational aversion to it. Just speculation.