Herndon on Lincoln: Letters

[RJNorton]

(04-09-2019 09:32 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Didn't someone here speculate that either Ann Todd's or Frances Todd's husband failed to show up for his wedding (if I recall, something happened to delay him, and the wedding took place the next day), and that Elizabeth might have been confusing that groom with Lincoln many years after the marriage? Given his breakup with Mary, it's easy to see how Elizabeth might have conflated the two incidents.

Elizabeth was hardly an infallible witness, in any case. She described Matilda Edwards' husband, Newton Strong, as "such an old dried up husband -- such a withered up old Buck." He was 34 at the time of his marriage, only 12 years older than his bride.

Yes, Susan. Donna McCreary made that point here.

I simply cannot believe Lincoln was a no-show at his own wedding on January 1, 1841. There is no marriage license as there is for the 1842 wedding. There is no evidence of the purchase of a ring from Chatterton's as there is for the 1842 wedding. There are no known accounts of a cancelled wedding from a best man, maid of honor, groomsmen, bridesmaids, etc. As far as I know there is no supporting evidence that Lincoln did not appear for a planned January 1, 1841, wedding in Herndon's Informants until an 1883 interview with Elizabeth and Ninian Edwards (40+ years after the "event").

Two weeks before this alleged wedding, Mary Todd wrote a letter to her close friend, Mercy Levering. In reading the letter, Abraham is barely mentioned, let alone an upcoming wedding.

I simply cannot believe Herndon on this particular story. IMO, there was no wedding ever planned for January 1, 1841.