Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) served as the first lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.
Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning Kentucky family. She was well educated. Born Mary Ann Todd, she dropped the name Ann after her younger sister, Ann Todd (later Clark), was born. After finishing-school during her teens, she moved to Springfield, Illinois, where she lived with her married sister Elizabeth Edwards. Before she married Abraham Lincoln, she was courted by his long-time political opponent Stephen A. Douglas. The Lincolns had four sons of whom only the eldest, Robert, survived both parents. Their family home and neighborhood in Springfield is preserved at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.
Time in Lexington[edit | edit source]
Todd was born in Lexington, Kentucky, as the fourth of seven children of Robert Smith Todd, a banker, and Elizabeth "Eliza" (Parker) Todd. When she was six, her mother died in childbirth. Two years later, her father married Elizabeth "Betsy" Humphreys and they had nine children together. Todd had a difficult relationship with her stepmother.
Todd family home, now preserved as the Mary Todd Lincoln House, 578 West Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky
State historical marker at the Todd house, noting Mary's residence years (1832–1839)
From 1832, Mary and her family lived in what is now known as the Mary Todd Lincoln House, an elegant 14-room residence at 578 West Main Street in Lexington.