Sorting out the White House Staff

[kerry]

(06-05-2018 06:52 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  You've probably come across it already, but some of the African-American White House servants were interviewed for the book "They Knew Lincoln."

Yes, thank you, I did purchase that book. Very interesting, but not a ton of concrete information since they were interviewed so late in the game or were descendants with second-hand stories that are somewhat contradictory. It's interesting that all the people who knew Keckley never spoke about her elsewhere, as she remained active for decades. It's hard to tell if those quoted are remembering correctly, but allegedly she and Mary did exchange letters after the book publication, and they spoke in a "roundabout way" many times that led her to believe Mary had no hard feelings about the book. This could have been a reference to spiritualist communication, or they did have mutual friends like the Bradwells who might have passed on messages. Strangely, Keckley was in Congress the first day Mary's pension was debated. And she said in the late 1870s that she did not believe Mary was insane (or "not more than she ever was"), suggesting she maybe had some insight into her life at that time. It is too bad Slade and Johnson did not live long enough to write their memoirs.