Profile of the Day: Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Todd Lincoln

On this day in 1818, Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States and wife of Abraham Lincoln, was born in Lexington, Kentucky.

She was the fourth of seven children born to Robert Smith Todd and Elizabeth Parker and came from a prominent slaveholding family in Kentucky. Her paternal grandfather, Levi Todd, and his two brothers, fought in the American Revolutionary War. Early Kentucky pioneers, Todd and his brothers founded Lexington after the war.

In 1839, she left home to be with her sister in Springfield, Illinois, where she met an up-and-coming lawyer, Abraham Lincoln. They married on November 4, 1842 and had four sons together, only two survived into adulthood.

Her time at the White House was difficult and would ultimately end in tragedy. She became an unpopular figure for what many viewed as extravagant spending to refurbish the White House during the Civil War. And although she was a strong supporter of the Union, many of her relatives in Kentucky supported the Confederacy, leading some to speculate that she was a Confederate spy. On April 14, 1865, Mary was beside her husband at the Ford’s Theatre when he was shot by an assassin. He died the following day.

She never fully recovered from the tragedy. After the death of her son, Thomas, in 1871, she fell into a deep depression. Her only surviving son, Robert, committed her to an asylum, where she remained for three months.

Mary died on July 16, 1882 at the age of 63 at her sister’s home in Springfield, Illinois.

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Image: Library of Congress