Lincoln Grandchildren & G-Grandchildren

[STS Lincolnite]

Scott, I don't have the book at hand now to quote, but it said the French physicians were top modern using antiseptic tools etc.

Thanks for the clarification Eva! I do not have, nor have I read that book or much about the incident. I imposed a general idea on a specific situation which I obviously did not know enough about. I can say that even in modern medicine and with modern techniques, procedural infections can still occur. Sometimes bad things just happen in spite of appropriate care.

[L Verge]

I just have to insert a personal note here as to the nastiness of infections (stop groaning!): In 1993, when she was 79 years old, my mother received a hip transplant that only worked for a month before it slipped out of joint. During the second procedure, she developed an infection that kept her in the hospital for four months and a rehab center for six months before I brought her to live with me. They never cured the infection, but decided that it could not be passed on.

Mom lived to be 94 years old -- and kept two running sores (one at the base of her neck in front and one in the incision) until the day she died. Each was about the size of a fifty-cent piece. The mortician was the one who had to do the cosmetic surgery to hide the throat one.

If the doctors ever knew what form of infection it was, they never told me; and no antibiotic or skin cream did any good. If they couldn't cure Mom in modern times, I can understand how things got out of control with Jack Lincoln.

[STS Lincolnite]

Taken as a group, the Lincoln grandchildren and great-grandchildren were few in number and a rather mixed lot. Many were unlike their famous ancestor, often shunning the Lincoln legacy in favor of their own interests and cushy lifestyles.

While some descendants distanced themselves from the Lincoln legacy, Jack embraced it.

I have been reading a little more about Jack Lincoln. As Tom stated, it seems that many of Mr. Lincoln's descendants found their relationship to him a burden. Not the case with Jack. I found the following quote from Jack, speaking about his grandfather.

"I would like to be as good, as kind and as wise as he was, but not so tall; he must have bumped his head many times."

I think his grandfather would have loved that quote!

[Eva Elisabeth]

I agree, Scott - what a brief but all-embracing laudatio by a grandchild!

Lincoln once complained at (with?to?) a Springfield neighbor from whom he used to buy milk that the ceiling in that fellow's house was too low.

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Found it: Neighbor James Gourley recalled that Mr. Lincoln “used to Come to our house with Slippers on – one Suspender and an old pair of pants – Come for milk – our room was low and he said, ‘Jim – you have to lift your loft a little higher. I Can’t stand in it well."

[RJNorton]

I agree, Scott - what a brief but all-embracing laudatio by a grandchild!

Lincoln once complained at (with?to?) a Springfield neighbor from whom he used to buy milk that the ceiling in that fellow's house was too low.

---

Found it: Neighbor James Gourley recalled that Mr. Lincoln “used to Come to our house with Slippers on – one Suspender and an old pair of pants – Come for milk – our room was low and he said, ‘Jim – you have to lift your loft a little higher. I Can’t stand in it well."

I believe it is probably apocryphal, but there is story attributed to Abraham Lincoln in which he was asked "How long do you think a man’s legs should be?" and he replied, "Long enough to reach the ground."

[Eva Elisabeth]

Two further "lengthy" stories come to my mind:
When Charles Sumner declined A. Lincoln's challenge to stand back to back to determine who was taller, Lincoln commented later that Sumner "made a fine speech about this being the time for uniting our fronts against the enemy and not our backs. But I guess he was afraid to measure, though he is a good piece of man."
(Ben Perley Poore: "Perley's Reminiscences Illustrated",II, p. 61.)

To another "measuring subject" who turned out to indeed be taller he said "Today you stood higher than your president".

[RJNorton]

https://allthatsinteresting.com/robert-t...n-beckwith

[Steve]

Thanks for sharing the article Roger!