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From Two Different Worlds (Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail):
Although Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd married in November 1842, they were from two distinct backgrounds. The Todd family was a wealthy, urban family residing here in Kentucky's cultural center. Mary's father, Robert S. Todd, was a well-respected businessman and politician. Mary was accustomed to comfort and privilege. She was frequently criticized for exorbitant spending habits arising from an extravagant taste in dress and her renovations of the White House during the Civil War.
In contrast to the Todds, the Lincoln family was a rural, frontier family of "middling" means, residing in the Kentucky and Indiana countryside. Abraham's father, Thomas Lincoln, was a farmer and a carpenter. In future political campaigns, Abraham Lincoln effectively used this hardscrabble image to garner support for his candidacy.
The social status of the two families also influenced the education of Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln> Mary received approximately ten years of formal education at both Ward's and Mentelle's boarding schools in Lexington. This made Mary one of the best-educated women of her time. While Abraham's schooling amount to less than one year, he continuously educated himself and became a self-made man. A further distinction involved the institution of slavery. Abraham Lincoln's family did not own slaves, yet the Todds owned slaves as personal household servants,
These two contrasting backgrounds did not affect their political opinions, and both Mary and Abraham supported the Whig Party. The Todd family had a long history of connections with Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, while Abraham Lincoln saw Clay as his political hero.
Lincoln's birth cabin would fit into just one of the rooms here at the Todd House. Despite the differences in their upbringing and education, Abraham and Mary Lincoln forged an ambitious partnership that helped propel Lincoln to the White House.
When the Civil War erupted, the house of Union president Abraham Lincoln was truly divided. The family of his wife, Lexington native Mary Todd, split as a result of the war. Of her thirteen siblings, eight supported the Confederacy and five the Union. Mary believed that her half brothers, Samuel, David, and Alexander, had abandoned her when they joined the Confederate army, and she wept when she learned of Alexander's death at the Battle of Baton Rouge. "He made a choice long ago, " she later told Elizabeth Keckley. "He decided against my husband, through him against me. He has been fighting against us and since he chose to be our deadly enemy, I see no special reason why I should bitterly mourn his death."
1809: Abraham Lincoln born at Sinking Spring farm, in present-day Larue County, Kentucky.
1816: Lincoln family moved from Kentucky.
1841: Abraham Lincoln visited his friend Joshua Speed at Farmington, the Speed family plantation, in Louisville, Kentucky.
1842: Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd of Lexington, Kentucky.
1847: The Lincoln family visited Lexington, Kentucky, en route to Abraham's only term in Congress.
1860: Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States in November.
1865: Abraham Lincoln assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. |