Robert Todd Lincoln --The vitals

[kerry]

(02-02-2018 10:18 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(02-01-2018 06:48 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I don't know what else to say other than to get back to the original posting regarding Mary Lincoln's virtue.

Here is a paragraph from Michael Burlingame's The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln:

"Other sources suggest that Mary Lincoln may have been unfaithful. The White House gardener, John Watt, told a journalist in 1867 that "Mrs. Lincoln's relations with certain men were indecently improper." 166 Edward McManus, doorkeeper at the White House, evidently made a similar allegation. 167 Oswald Garrison Villard claimed that Robert Todd Lincoln 'systematically bought up any books that reflected [poorly] on Mrs. Lincoln,' including one by 'the Hungarian adventurer who nearly succeeded in eloping with Mrs. Lincoln from the White House.' 168 In a letter to her confidant Abram Wakeman, Mary Lincoln purportedly wrote, 'I have taken your excellent advice and decided not to leave my husband while he is in the White House.' 169 Sam ward, a knowledgeable Washington insider known as 'King of the Lobby,' suggested there was something unsavory in the relationship between Mary Lincoln and 'Dennison,' presumably either William Dennison, Lincoln's postmaster general in New York in 1864 and 1865, or George Dennison, naval officer in the New York Custom House." 170

Burlingame also suggests Mary Lincoln may have had an affair with William S. Wood (Commissioner of Public Buildings). Janis Cooke Newman, also suggests this (affair with Wood) in her book (which is historical fiction).

166 - George W. Adams to [David Goodman]Croly, Washington, 7 Oct. 1867, Manton Marble, MSS, DLC.

167 - McManus, fired by Mary Lincoln for obscure reasons in January 1865, apparently told Thurlow Weed that she was romantically linked with a man other than her husband. Mary Todd Lincoln to Abram Wakeman, Washington, 20 Feb. [1865], in Turner and Turner, MTL, 202.

168 - Villard to Isaac Markens, New York, 26 March 1927, Lincoln Collection, RPB. The identity of this Hungarian adventurer is unknown. Villard may have been thinking of Wikoff, who was definitely an adventurer but not of Hungarian origin.

169 - Letter to Wakeman seen by Wakeman's daughter, who described it to her daughter, Elizabeth M. Alexanderson of Englewood, N.J., Newark Star, 3 March, 1951. No such document exists in Mary Lincoln's published letters.

170 - Ward to S.L.M. Barlow, Washington, 21 Nov. [1864?], Barlow MSS, CSmH.

Personally, I am a non-believer in all of this. My opinion is that Mary was totally faithful to her husband, and he was the same to her.

I had no idea the World editor's papers existed - I need to read through those! While I would not be shocked to find out any historical figure was unfaithful, I don't think we have any real evidence to suggest it. I think the comments mentioned were more related to her corruption. The one about the Hungarian adventurer sounds more like a joke or exaggeration. Another source Burlingame uses is from an obscure publication by a guy who claims to have known her boyfriend, but his name was Lincoln something, and he sounded like somebody who might write himself into the story. I've tried to find a few of the clippings Burlingame speaks of to get context, but most of them have been lost somehow by the institutions he researched at, or reorganized totally. I'm not suggesting he fabricated them, but I'd love to get my hands on the full context. The Wakeman letter mentioned I think has been taken way out of context - it was heavily reported at the time that Mary wanted to make a trip to Europe throughout Lincoln's presidency, and it was probably a reference to something like that, or to a suggestion that she return to Illinois or something. I think had she been that indiscreet, we'd have heard more about it. She may have been flirtatious enough to be perceived as "indecent," or because of traveling unescorted etc. Someone also wrote that Herndon told Caroline Heally Dall she was unfaithful - I don't see that so far in her papers. I believe we could get some answers to this stuff if we really raided the archives - I wish I could get more time off work to do it.