Lincoln and his father-in-law

[kerry]

I believe in "House of Abraham" by Stephen Berry, there is mention that Lincoln wrote to Robert Todd to ask for Mary's hand instead of going through Ninian, and he wrote to Ninian "Who is Abraham Lincoln?" It may be a different book. The document does not exist - it was family lore. Always thought that was kind of interesting.

More interesting is what Mary Edwards Brown said (she was Elizabeth Edwards' granddaughter), which granted was in the 1940s, so her memory may not have been great. But she says her mother told her the reason the engagement broke up was because Robert Todd referred to Lincoln as "white trash" and opposed the marriage. She said "there's another story that Ninian was the one opposed," and it's odd she never clarified why there were 2 stories going on, and the wording makes me think that was more the official story. If that is actually true, I don't know what could have made him change his mind.