Herndon on Lincoln: Letters

[Steve]

Rob, Thanks for the links to Tarbell discussing the "fatal first". She sure did track down quite a few friends and family of the Lincolns to check on the accuracy of the story. I was especially interested in the account of H. W. Thornton where he was able to provide proof that Lincoln had been sitting and voting in the state legislature on 01 Jan. 1841.

If the Edwards' had been throwing a New Years party/gettogether on that day and Mary announced that her engagement was over then, I suppose it's possible that in the ensuing quarter century until the first time Elizabeth gave her account of the incident she could've forgotten the New Year's context of having cakes prepared.