Robert Todd Lincoln --The vitals

[Steve]

(01-25-2018 06:47 PM)kerry Wrote:  

(01-25-2018 05:22 PM)Gene C Wrote:  

(01-25-2018 11:36 AM)kerry Wrote:  It surprises me how often Herndon's witnesses say, "well, as I learned in Lamon's book," -- the effect of that book on Springfield memory has not been appreciated. It may have been generally denigrated, but people in Springfield knew that Lamon and Herndon, the provider of the information, knew Lincoln very well. They seemed to discount their own memories when inconsistencies arose. Only a few endeavored to correct it.

I have not heard (read) that before.
That is enlightening, thanks for posting.

You're welcome - it is interesting. The site is down, so I can't look at who said it. It happened a lot with Herndon's lectures on Ann Rutledge - many was so grateful for the fascinating backstory, never questioning it or his psychological analysis though never having heard of it. The only thing people questioned were the assertions about Lincoln's religion. Then they overruled Lamon with their own testimony, although some of them clearly made some stuff up to protect the legacy. It is especially aggravating for me with my Mary Lincoln research because the religion controversy completely drowned out an actual key research lead -- Mary Lincoln's own draft biography of Lincoln. I wrote about it here: https://medium.com/@kerry62189/where-is-...1806faa76b When William Reid wrote his letter, that revealed the project existed. And when people tracked William Reid down later or wrote about it, they did so to prove Lincoln was a devout Christian, and never asked about his work with Mary.

I've always been bothered by the way Herndon presented the Ann Rutledge story. Not one of the Rutledges interviewed by Herndon could gave a specific eyewitness memory of an event/instance of Lincoln courting Ann. But yet they're all sure they were courting/engaged. Isn't that a little weird, especially if it's supposedly the only evidence we have of the story?

Your point about the storytellers, like Herndon, (subtly) altering their own sources memories through their own presentation is very interesting.