Mary Lincoln funeral

[LincolnMan]

I know nothing about Mary Lincoln's funeral. How did it go? What was the press reaction upon her passing? Was the funeral a large event? Was the funeral attended by any dignitaries?

[RJNorton]

Hi Bill. Forum member, Donna McCreary, has a nice page on this topic here.

[LincolnMan]

Roger. Thanks, that is a great account of the funeral. It seems Springfield honored her well. I didn't read where outside dignitaries attended. I wonder was this normal? Or had Mary's reputation soured those who might have attended otherwise when the wife of a president passes away?

[L Verge]

What a beautiful account of a truly Victorian funeral. The various descriptions of symbolism that was displayed at church and vault could be a lesson plan on the subject. At least the people who had known Mary since she was a child recognized her passing.

Was Billy Herndon still alive, and did he attend the funeral? I don't remember that any First Ladies get as much political and diplomatic attentions at their funerals as do their husbands. Eleanor Roosevelt would have been one who was certainly the most active First Lady; does anyone remember her having a "state" funeral?

P.S. Robert certainly did not rush to his mother's side once he learned of her collapse.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Laurie, in all fairness to Robert the time lapse between Mary's final collapse(Saturday July 15th) and her death(Sunday July 16th) was only just about 24 hours. According to Jason Emerson's Giant In the Shadows: The Life and Times of Robert Todd Lincoln as soon as he was telegraphed of her collapse he began making arrangements to go to Springfield. The delay was caused by his wife, who had originally planned to go with him but apparently became ill en route and had to be put in a hotel to recover.

However, before the collapse, Robert certainly didn't believe his mother was all that sick. He had just written to her close friend Sally Orne that she was exaggerating her physical ailments. But at the end she was blind, incontinent and in gruesome physical pain from boils and a spine that was literally disintegrating. She weighed only 100 pounds and had to finally remove her wedding band in her last few days for fear that it would be lost...it kept sliding off her fingers. Her last words were "I am dying".(Mary Todd Lincoln/Jean Baker...Looking For Lincoln/Kunhardt)

At the end she believed Lincoln would return to her and refused to sleep on "his" side of the bed.

Mary's funeral sounded lovely and appropriate. She was finally given the respect that the widow of Abraham Lincoln did not receive in life. I think she would have smiled at the irony of crowds lining the streets, businesses closing in her honor, the distinguished pallbearers.

I am sure that Herndon, after all the pain he caused MTL would not have had the gall to show his face at that funeral. And if he did, I would hope that Robert and the rest of the family would have had him ejected. I certainly would have!

I thought the eulogy where the minister likened the Lincoln to two intertwined trees was beautiful.

[RJNorton]

Was Billy Herndon still alive, and did he attend the funeral?

Yes, he was alive, and he didn't attend the funeral. Neither did Mary Harlan Lincoln. Dr. Wayne C. Temple writes, "she (Mary Harlan Lincoln) decided to take to her room because of "ill health").

Regarding Herndon, in Lincoln's Herndon, David Herbert Donald writes, "Mrs. Lincoln died in July 1882 but Herndon's hatred for the woman lived on. In 1866 he had spoken of her as a poor woman, for whom 'the world has no charity.' But since 1874 there had been in Herndon's mind no question of charity; he believed anything about Lincoln's wife that was bad. Some of his comments were unprintable. Mary was the 'she wolf of this section,' 'soured...gross...material, avaricious, insolent,' 'a tigress,' 'like the toothache - kept one awake night and day,' 'terribly aristocratic...and haughty,' 'as cold as a chunk of ice,' 'the female wild cat of the age."

[LincolnToddFan]

Laurie...I forgot to address your question about the funerals of First Ladies.

Eleanor Roosevelt had a private internment at Hyde Park as per her expressed wishes. President and Mrs Kennedy attended. It was a graveside ceremony.

Bess Truman had very quiet rites. I know that all the surviving First Ladies save Jacqueline Onassis attended it.

Pat Nixon's funeral was so strictly private that the only thing I can remember about it was how sad I felt for Richard Nixon. He publically completely broke down.

Ted Kennedy wanted his sister-in-law Jackie to have a State funeral but Caroline Kennedy firmly resisted. Still, her funeral Mass at the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in NYC and her internment at Arlington Cemetery was no small private affair, like she is said to have wanted.

Lady Bird Johnson had what seemed to me to be closest to a State funeral, next to Jackie's. It was huge, with many dignitaries in attendance.

I don't know what Mrs. Reagan's plans are-of course other than that she will be laid next to President Reagan at the Reagan Library.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Robert certainly did not rush to his mother's side once he learned of her collapse.

According to Carl Sandburg and W. E. Evans, Robert and Mary reconciled in May 1881 when Robert visited her in Springfield for that purpose. He brought Mamie, whom Mary adored, as a "white dove", but there exists no primary evidence.

Just to add from Jason Emerson's "The Madness of M.L.": Mary wore a white silk dress for which Elizabeth Edwards sent for to Chicago. The crowd that attended the funeral was so large that not everyone was able to enter the church. Rev. Reed said: "While she, no doubt, had her faults like other women, and made mistakes, yet she had excellent virtues which shone a luster all her own."
Here's a sketch of her funeral:
   

[RJNorton]

Here are a few more details on Mary's funeral. The pallbearers were Illinois Governor Shelby Moore Cullom, Milton Hay, James C. Conkling, John A. McClernand substituting for O.M. Hatch (who had originally been named), Jacob Bunn, and John S. Bradford. The above named men were the active pallbearers. They were preceded by two honorary pallbearers: Judge S.H. Treat and Col. John Williams.

Among the attendees at the funeral were Robert T. Lincoln, Mrs. W.S. Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. Ninian Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Smith, and numerous other relatives and long time friends and dignitaries (including many officers of the state of Illinois plus members of the Lincoln Guard of Honor).

Flowers at the funeral were elaborate. Among the banked-up tributes of flowers was one in the form of a large book made of carnations with the name Mary Lincoln in blue forget-me-nots on the opened pages. This gift of flowers came as "the loving offering of the people" of Springfield. Another floral representation, in carnations, roses, and daises, was of the spiritualist convention - "the Pearly Gates Ajar."

[L Verge]

I read somewhere (I know not where) that the gorgeous displays of flowers at funerals did not become popular until Mr. Lincoln's funeral(s) where even villagers stood by the tracks to throw flowers at the funeral train. After that, the floral displays became works of art with florists outdoing themselves to beat out the competition.

[Anita]

Mary Lincoln died July 16, 1882, 132 years ago today. Her funeral was held on July 19th. Here is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune article "Dust To Dust" dated July 20, 1882.

Read the entire article at archives.chicagotribune.com/1882/07/20/page/7/article/dust-to-dust

Prior to the funeral service at the church there was a viewing of the body at the Ninian W. Edwards home for family and a select group of neighbors and close friends. " There was no trace of suffering in the careworn countenance which was exposed to the sight of a favored few. It was as calm and peaceful in the repose of death as an infant and the faint semblance of a smile played about the lips...the hands were folded across the now quiet and untroubled breast. One finger was encircled by the band of love placed there forty years ago by Abraham Lincoln when they were married in the same room and almost the same spot where the coffin stood this morning."

[LincolnToddFan]

Thanks Anita. Poor Mary! RIP.

[RJNorton]

I started wondering about the original source for the "Love is Eternal" inscription on her wedding ring and came upon this article.

[Gene C]

Then there is this fascinating article from the National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/liho/historyculture/ring.htm

Learn about this and more. Just another reason to join us this Oct 10-12, for the Springfield Tour

Regarding the book by Irving Stone, there was a play adapted for TV based upon the book, also written by Irving Stone, for GE Theater back in 1955. It starred Richard Boone (Have Gun Will Travel) as Abraham Lincoln. I have not been able to find the video yet.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0586208/full...t_ov_st_sm

[LincolnToddFan]

I've never questioned it(the inscription) for several reasons. The main one is why would the minister and her family make up that particular, specific inscription?