Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[RJNorton]

Did he ask Lincoln not to aggravate the tension between the northern states and the southern ones?

[Anita]

Roger, that's a logical answer. The favor I'm thinking of is more personal in nature.

Hint. The favor was a written request made by the ex-President Fillmore in 1861 with a related follow-up request in 1863.

[J. Beckert]

An appointment for a friend maybe?

[Anita]

Joe, it wasn't an appointment and the relationship was more than a friend. Try taking it up a notch.

[Rob Wick]

The only reference I see to Millard Fillmore in the Collected Works in 1863 was when he asked Lincoln that a court of inquiry be convened because of charges of "intemperance" against Fillmore's nephew, George M. Fillmore.

Best
Rob

[Anita]

Kudos Rob. That's the favor Fillmore asked of Lincoln in 1863. You can see the letter here. https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/forme...ranscripts

Here's the 1861 letter from source Fillmore to Lincoln regarding his nephew George Fillmore and Lincoln's endorsement forwarded to Simon Cameron.
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln5

TO SIMON CAMERON1JUMP TO SECTION
Respectfully submitted to the Sec. of War, remarking that it be very agreeable to me for Mr. Fillmore to be obliged.

Nov. 30, 1861 A. LINCOLN.

Annotation
[1] Argosy Book Shop Catalog, April, 1942. According to the catalog description, Lincoln's endorsement is written on a letter from ex-President Millard Fillmore, November 16, 1861, to his nephew George M. Fillmore, advising him how to proceed about getting an appointment as a lieutenant. Corporal Fillmore of the Second Minnesota Infantry was appointed second lieutenant of the Third Artillery, Regular Army, as of November 30, 1861.

[RJNorton]

In the years prior to her marriage to Abraham Lincoln Mary Todd was once courted by the grandson of one of the Founding Fathers. Which Founding Father was this?

[Rob Wick]

Well, I doubt it was someone obvious like Washington or Hamilton, so I'll go the obscure route and say, John Jay.

Best
Rob

[RJNorton]

Nope, not John Jay.

[Anita]

Patrick Henry's grandson. "Mary confided to Mercy that she was besieged by beaux, but none were attractive to her. Her uncle was pushing a suitor, a lawyer who was Patrick Henry's grandson-as bloodlines were of particular interest to Todds." "Mrs. Lincoln, A Life", Catherine Clinton, p.46 (hard cover).

[RJNorton]

Kudos, Anita! Patrick Henry is correct.

Mary visited her uncle in Columbia, Missouri, in the summer of 1840. She wrote a letter to her friend, Merce Levering, and included the following:

"If you conclude to settle in Missouri, I will do so too, [there] is one being here, who cannot brook the mention of my return, an agreeable lawyer & grandson of Patrick Henry—what an honor! Shall never survive it—I wish you could see him, the most perfect original I had ever met, my beaux have always been hard bargains at any rate, Uncle and others think, he surpasses his noble ancestor in talents, yet Merce I love him not, & my hand will never be given when my heart is not—"