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The President's Wife: Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography

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I found this novel about Mary Lincoln to be an informative biography about a very misunderstood historical lady. Mrs. Lincoln's behavior would not have been questioned in the present day. She was an eccentric, ambitious, intelligent woman who very obviously supported her husband's rise to the Presidency and believed in the preservation of the Union. Mrs. Lincoln suffered through illnesses, slander and gossip and unimaginable tragedies while in Springfield and in Washington during the Civil War. Then with President Lincoln's assination she was expected to live in a world where she no longer had her greatest supporter and protector. Mary Lincoln was a lady born before her time; in modern day her intelligence and drive would have been respected. Ishbel Ross' use of historical documentation of Mary Lincoln's life to describe the life of this amazing, intelligent and many times erratic woman shows much research on the subject.

Mary Todd was born in 1818 in Lexington, Kentucky, to wealth in the world of Southern planters and politicians. She was the perfect mate for up-and-coming lawyer Abe Lincoln. He was destined to become the most famous man in America and yet his melancholia took its toll on wife Mary. She always insisted on calling him "Mr. Lincoln." She enjoyed a luxurious girlhood and was trained in all the social graces. Abraham met her at a dance in Springfield in 1839 when she was twenty-one. He considered her a bright and brainy girl who could convrse on political matters, but was fun loving and liked to dance to the music of that time.

Mary had always loved finery of clothes and ornaments; she delighted in elaborate gowns and flowers in her hair and as a nosegay like the gardenia I wore on my hand to my first dance at Martin College. She dearly loved her children and though she did not show much affection for the president openly, she was jealous of other women he appeared to notice. One in particular was Mrs. Ord whose husband was Major General of the Union forces at the Saint James river.

Like most vain females, she depended on others to procure silks and fine materials and make her glamorous gowns for all occasions. But, like socialites, she tended to trust the wrong people. Her seamstress, friend and confidante (like we talk to our hairdressers) during the Civil War wrote an expose, 'Behind the Scenes,' which made her look unstable. She lost three of her sons to death from which she could not retain her inner strength, and some took advantage of her vulnerabilty at that time. After her husband was shot right before her eyes, she went into decline emotionally, and her ungrateful son, Robert, had her confined to a mental institution, He was the vain one with a reputation to consider; also, he wanted her belongings and the money left from the Presidency years. It's not so different today as the sons tear up a family for their own financial and emotional benefit. I know that first hand.

She was forced to face him in court on a few occasions before she was freed to travel and put her life together again on her own. She wrote to him and demanded her valuables to be returned. Mrs. Lincoln was a most prolific letter writer and much is available in several collections. The husband of this pairing was the great orator who wrote his own speechs, and is the most quoted, but behind the throne of a great man is the great woman he chose to be the mother of his children. She turned to spiritualism to try to contact her beloved son Tad. It was a sad ending to a woman who gave so much and received so little from this country of ours. She has been maligned and her reputation sullied all to the detriment of her family. She was a strong woman and spoke up for what she believed; in her own way, she was as important to this country as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Ms. Ross has written several other biographies of famous people, including the wife of U. S. Grant who was no great beauty, Mrs. Jefferson Davis, daughter of ole Zach Taylor, Grace Coolidge and my favorite, 'Rebel Rose,' about the Confederate spy whom I would have envied had I lived back then. Until you walk a mile in another man's (or woman's) shoes, you should not criticize, as no one knows what they have endured and the sorrows and pain they have suffered. Mary Todd Lincoln had more than her share.

Anyone wanting to know the real Mary Todd Lincoln must have this book. Reporter Ishel Ross profoundly and sympathetically researched Mrs. Lincoln's life history and did much to clear up the myths and canards surrounding the personal life of the Lincolns. While many of Mary's letters disappeared, she was such a persistent letter writer, there may have been more than 609 in existence which Miss Ross drew much information from. No other president's wife has left such revealing correspondence with the exception of Abigail Adams. In addition, this book provides the reader with behind-the-scenes details before, during and after the Civil War.