Did Robert Lincoln Ride the Funeral Train to Baltimore?

[LincolnToddFan]

(12-24-2014 06:19 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Hi Toia. I cannot remember the source, but I do recall reading somewhere that John Hanks was present for the Springfield funeral.

Yes, you are exactly right, now I remember. Dennis and Aunt Sarah were not there but John was. Thanks Roger!

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(12-24-2014 08:36 AM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  How did Mary feel about the Hankses? If she did not get along with them perhaps she did not want them there.

That's a great question, but I don't remember reading that Mary had any animosity toward the Hankses. The published compilation of her letters has one that she wrote to AL's stepmother Sarah Bush Lincoln a few weeks after the murder. It was an exquisite, compassionate letter to the woman she knew her late husband revered. It was an example of how Mary could be at her best. In any case I doubt she would have had much influence over whether any of the Hankses attended the funeral, especially the Springfield internment. She was completely out of it for weeks, sequestered in the WH under a doctor's care with only Lizzie Keckly and Tad in attendance.

It seems ironic but also appropriate that it was the Todds who acted as chief mourners at the Springfield burial. For better or worse, AL seemed to have adopted his wife's troublesome family as his own during his lifetime.