Herndon on Lincoln: Letters

[Susan Higginbotham]

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.