As the eldest child in the family- the duties fell on him. His mother was in no condition to attend to these matters. He did what had to be done. It had to be his most difficult life task!
See Roger's comments below.
He was a very important and influential person in Lincoln's life. Lincoln must have held him in such high regard, that of all the people Robert knew, he turned to him for help.
as a side to this conversation, but interesting to note, both articles quote the same passage from Michael Burlingame (attributed to John Hay) which is a negative comment regarding Mrs. Lincoln (maybe we can explore this more on a Mary Lincoln thread)
(08-12-2014, 05:46 PM)RJNorton Wrote: Here is another item from Pratt's book. The author includes an image of the telegram Robert Lincoln sent to David Davis on April 15, 1865. The original is in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
So when is this "Old Enough To Know Better" supposed to kick in?