Did Ann Rutledge die because of John McNeill?

[David Lockmiller]

Elizabeth Rutledge, Ann's aunt, said that if Ann had lived "she would have married McNamar (McNeil), or rather she thinks that Ann liked him a little the best, though McNamar (McNeil) had been absent in Ohio for nearly two years."

Source: p. 73 of The Shadows Rise by John Evangelist Walsh.

Most books I have seen place McNamar (McNeil) in New York, not Ohio, during this time away from New Salem. McNamar changed his name to McNeil when he first came to New Salem from New York.

Based on my reading I do think the definite majority of Ann's relatives and New Salem inhabitants felt just the opposite of Elizabeth Rutledge...which is that Ann preferred Lincoln over McNamar. Elizabeth Rutledge's opinion seems to be in a pretty small number of relatives who felt the way she did.

I agree.