In Mary's personal letters....

[Eva Elisabeth]

(08-05-2014 01:49 PM)L Verge Wrote:  As far as any further sexual relations after Tad's birth, if Mr. Tripp did not (likely could not) produce sources for that information, I think it is fair to Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln to say that he concocted that statement to suit his purpose. Sexual relations were just something that polite society did not discuss until well into the 20th century. Ladies may have made reference to it and female woes in the privacy of their parlor among close female friends and relatives and made slight, discreet mention in letters to such friends and relatives, but I don't think that would be the norm. IMO, and I haven't read his book (and won't), Mr. Tripp is taking buttons of innuendo and making a frock coat out of them.

Yes, and I also see no reason to take a such weakly grounded suspicion as an argument in the context of an even weaker grounded theory, which, if untrue, is nothing but hurtful for especially Mary. A. L. himself would probably have commented: "I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice...I am used to it."

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(08-05-2014 01:49 PM)L Verge Wrote:  First, I doubt very seriously that Mr. Lincoln was present in the bedchamber when any of his sons were born.

There was one letter in which she wrote she remembered (something like) "my dear husband bending over me at Robert's birth". I'll look for what it was exactly (maybe someone knows either).