Mary Lincoln Extra Credit Questions

[RJNorton]

That is a wonderful try, Eva, but not what I am seeking about this particular portrait.

[L Verge]

The wrist watch?

[RJNorton]

Also a wonderful try, Laurie, but not what I am looking for. I guess there are lots of possible replies, but there is one that trumps all others.

[Eva Elisabeth]

This?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturem...-fake.html

[RJNorton]

Excellent, Eva! In addition to what the article you linked to said, this fake fooled several authors including Carl Sandburg. In his Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow Carl Sandburg devoted an entire page to this portrait; the caption reads, "From a painting by Francis B. Carpenter, White House resident in 1864 and author of Six Months in the White House. An idealized portrait executed some time after the war."

I have at least one more book that includes the portrait and credits Carpenter.

Eva, you may already have won free tickets to Fred Smith's (as I know you appreciate aesthetically pleasing places), but in case you have not, I am sending one more.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you, Roger - I see Joe eating his heart out...

[Eva Elisabeth]

What was Abraham Lincoln's "certificate of moral character"?

[RJNorton]

Was it something Mentor Graham gave to him?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Roger, I'm sorry I hit the wrong category - I will continue and have replied here:
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...e-158.html

[RJNorton]

It took Mary Lincoln 54 hours to do this. What did it take Mary 54 hours to do?

[L Verge]

It took me 50 hours to give birth, so I'll go with that -- just don't ask me which child.

[Gene C]

Make a dress?

[Eva Elisabeth]

A trip/journey?

---

Wait - the train ride to Batavia?

[Anita]

Roger, I remembered reading the answer in a forum post. Here it is!

01-07-2014, 07:19 AM
Post: #3
RJNorton Offline
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RE: White House photo during Lincoln mourning
Heath, thanks for posting that poignant photo. I had no idea such an image existed.

Rich, I have read that Mary was accompanied by Robert and Tad, her two good friends, Dr. Anson Henry (doctor and personal friend of the Lincoln family) and Elizabeth Keckley, and by two White House guards, Thomas Cross and William Crook. The train ride to Chicago took 54 hours, and Mary spent much of it crying. The rest of the time she was in a daze and hardly ever spoke to anyone. Her grief was still overwhelming. They had a private car on the train.

Sadly, a few months later, on July 30, 1865, Dr. Henry drowned when the steamer Brother Jonathan, on which he was a passenger, sank off the coast of northern California.

[RJNorton]

Good memory, Anita! Kudos. Yes, the train ride from Washington to Chicago took 54 hours.

You win a free train ride to any place you'd like!