Mary's friends

[L Verge]

Thank you! It was the Blackburn connection that I was trying to think of.

I did remember the connection to Tubman and should have mentioned it. I believe that some of the slaves that she "transported" to freedom in Canada created settlements that abolitionists in the U.S. used as examples of how freedmen could survive on their own. Was this also the region where Julia Ward Howe's husband, one of the Secret Six supporters of John Brown, fled after the failed raid on Harpers Ferry?

P.S. Perhaps Clay should have practiced better self-hygiene to improve his health...

[RJNorton]

There is a story about the Niagara visits here.

[Eva Elisabeth]

The article claims that in 1857 "while they were there, the Lincolns visited Goat and Bath Island and went over to Niagara Falls, Canada (Lincoln’s only trip outside of the United States) to visit a museum on that side."

In one (sourceless) book I read that in 1848 the "Globe" they boarded to take them across the lakes on that very trip allegedly ran aground in the Detroit River, causing a stop in Sandwich Town, Ontario, Canada. (If that is true this would make two times Canada.)

[RJNorton]

Eva, this page does not totally clarify the 1857 and 1848(?) trips, but it does deal with the overall topic.

http://buffaloah.com/h/fagant/linc.html

As far as I know, the only time (for certain) that Lincoln was in Canada was the 1857 trip.

Regarding Bath Island and Goat Island, author Daniel Mark Epstein writes:

"Crossing the bridge to the pine-wooded Bath Island, they stopped at the little wooden tollhouse. They paid 25 cents apiece and wrote their names in the ledger allowing them passage back and forth across the bridge during their three-day visit. From Bath Island they crossed another bridge to Goat Island. For anyone who loved flowers as much as Mary did, this was a Garden of Eden. Goat Island, an area smaller than Kew Gardens in London, had more native varieties of trees and flowers than any other spot on earth. Among the hundreds the Lincolns had never seen were the Virginia creeper, the American hornbeam, red mulberry, wild crabapple, staghorn sumac, purple flowering raspberry, elderberry, and snowberry. Many were in blossom that time of year; several kinds of asters, blue and red, the common yarrow, daisy fleabane, boneset, and tall goldenrod."

[HerbS]

St.Catharines was a huge stop for the underground railroad! It is very near to Harriet Tubman and Auburn,NY!

[Donna McCreary]

Eva, this page does not totally clarify the 1857 and 1848(?) trips, but it does deal with the overall topic.

http://buffaloah.com/h/fagant/linc.html

As far as I know, the only time (for certain) that Lincoln was in Canada was the 1857 trip.

Regarding Bath Island and Goat Island, author Daniel Mark Epstein writes:

"Crossing the bridge to the pine-wooded Bath Island, they stopped at the little wooden tollhouse. They paid 25 cents apiece and wrote their names in the ledger allowing them passage back and forth across the bridge during their three-day visit. From Bath Island they crossed another bridge to Goat Island. For anyone who loved flowers as much as Mary did, this was a Garden of Eden. Goat Island, an area smaller than Kew Gardens in London, had more native varieties of trees and flowers than any other spot on earth. Among the hundreds the Lincolns had never seen were the Virginia creeper, the American hornbeam, red mulberry, wild crabapple, staghorn sumac, purple flowering raspberry, elderberry, and snowberry. Many were in blossom that time of year; several kinds of asters, blue and red, the common yarrow, daisy fleabane, boneset, and tall goldenrod."

Roger, is this in Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage.
Do you remember what page?

[RJNorton]

Roger, is this in Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage.
Do you remember what page?

Donna, yes it is. Please see p. 197. It's in the last paragraph on that page.

[kerry]

Mary's possible "missing memoir" that I mentioned earlier in the thread is the subject of an article I wrote in the Abraham Lincoln Association newsletter (not yet available online). But I published it with an update here: https://medium.com/@kerry62189/where-is-...1806faa76b

I am quite convinced she produced a draft biography. William Reid had letters used in it as late as 1914, and it sounds like his kids may have had them until the 1930s. Whether the descendants still have them is the issue. Tad's death seems to have ended work on the biography, but it's unclear who ended up with it. It seems most likely destroyed. There's a slim possibility it is somehow in the Isaac Arnold papers or with Smith's descendants.

[Steve]

Interesting read. Here's hoping you find something in the James Smith papers.

[kerry]

Yes, I'm going to see if there's anything in the correspondence of Smith and his wife - apparently he was very upset by his secessionist family and wanted his wife to go back to America, but she refused. After his death, she moved back to Springfield and died shortly after. Mary's "left to himself" comment makes me think Reid did in fact get the material, since he was the executor. He was a colorful guy with a lot of financial reverses so I think it is weird he/his kids never bragged about what happened to it or sold it in some way. The other place I think of looking is Robert Lincoln's papers to see if he ever bought them from Reid or one of his attorneys.



Does anyone know if the Chicago Historical Society is the only place with Isaac Arnold's papers? It seems to be. He was at least in contact with Mr. Reid, but there are no traces in his papers. I am wondering if anything is overlooked or if only a fraction of his papers were donated. I don't live near Chicago so it is hard for me to go myself and look, and the finding aid has nothing of interest, but there are bound volumes with original letters. I inquired about them but didn't get very far, and they don't photocopy the letters.