Lizzy’s Latest – Happy Birthday, President Lincoln!

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Today is Abraham Lincoln’s 211th birthday!  To celebrate, Lizzy’s Latest is featuring 16 interesting tidbits about our 16th President…

1 – Lincoln lost his mother, Nancy, when he was just 9 years old.  She died from “milk sickness,” a fatal condition that results from drinking tainted milk.  At this tender age, Lincoln persevered through his grief by helping his father, Thomas, build her casket. 

Lincoln always remembered Nancy’s positive influence on his life:  “All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Artist illustration credit here.

2 – Lincoln had a deep affection for his sister, Sarah, who took care of him for a period of time while their father left home to find a new wife.  She died from complications of childbirth days after delivering a stillborn baby boy.  She was only 21 years old and 19-year old Abraham never quite got over her untimely passing, blaming her husband, Aaron, for not fetching the doctor in a timely manner.  

3 – Lincoln had a tense relationship with his father, Thomas, because of their differing priorities. Thomas’ ambitions never really went beyond surviving on the American frontier and he was not always good at that.  He depended on Lincoln to help with the daily manual labor.  Lincoln despised manual labor.  Instead, he preferred to read and sought education.  This was a constant conflict between the two men and the rift lasted a lifetime.  Lincoln did not attend his father’s funeral and refused to pay for his headstone.    

Lincoln felt his father lacked ambition, was lazy, and uneducated.  Their relationship was so strained, Lincoln never introduced Mary Todd or their children to his father.  Photo credit  here.

4 – Lincoln adored his stepmother, Sarah, and the feeling was mutual. She was the mother figure Lincoln so desperately craved.  Sarah encouraged Lincoln’s passion for literacy and obtained books for him to read.  When formal education was available, Sarah supported Lincoln’s desire to receive it.  They had a special mother/son bond.  According to Lincoln, Sarah “had been his best friend in this world and that no son could love a mother more than he loves her.”  Their last meeting was in 1861 shortly before Lincoln’s first inauguration.  Lincoln gifted her a black woolen dress and Sarah was buried in that dress when she died in 1869.

Lincoln purchased a 40-acre plot of land for Sarah after his father died.  As he put it, “for Mother while she lives.”  Photo credit here.

5 – Lincoln was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (NWHoF).  In 1992, NWHoF honored Abraham Lincoln with the Outstanding American award.  As a young adult, Lincoln was the county wrestling champion of New Salem, IL.  Having won nearly 300 matches and only losing one, Lincoln earned a reputation for being an elite fighter and somewhat of a trash talker.  After one match, Lincoln goaded the crowd:  “I’m the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns.”  There were no takers. 

Badass, Lincoln!  However, this picture from WWE is not real! I just thought it looked cool. 😉  Photo credit here.  Interestingly, the ’92 class of inductees also includes the likes of George Washington, Kirk Douglas (RIP), Donald Rumsfeld, and General Norman Schwarzkopf.

6 – Lincoln never attended college. His formal education was sporadic at best and resulted in a year or so of instruction.  The majority of Lincoln’s knowledge was self-taught through reading.  He initially practiced law in Illinois without a law degree as was customary at that time.  Eventually, Lincoln borrowed law books, completed his studies, and obtained his license to practice law in Illinois in 1836.  Lincoln was regretful about his lack of formal education and described it as “defective.”  He went so far as to apologize for his limited education after getting the Republican nomination for president in 1860.  

7 – The term “Honest Abe” was conceived while Lincoln worked as a humble store clerk in New Salem, IL. Whenever a customer was unintentionally shortchanged, Lincoln would return the difference no matter how far he had to walk.  This earned him a reputation for honesty, integrity, and fairness that served him well throughout his personal and professional life.  Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd, once wrote that Lincoln “is almost a monomaniac on the subject of honesty.”  However, don’t call him Abe!  Lincoln found it too provincial for a well-read man like himself.  He preferred Lincoln or A. Lincoln. 

8 – Lincoln is the only president to receive a patent. Patent No. 6469 for “Buoying Vessels Over Shoals.”  This patent was approved and granted on May 22, 1849, but was never manufactured.  Check out the last page of this patent, he referred to himself as “A. Lincoln.”   

9 – Although Lincoln suffered from depression, he countered his melancholy with humor.  His wit was legendary and ranged from innocent to vulgar.  Lincoln would also use humor (self-deprecating at times) as a weapon against his political opponents.  His main adversary, Stephen Douglas, once accused Lincoln of being two-faced during one of their famous debates.  Lincoln retorted, “I leave it to my audience: If I had two faces, would I be wearing this one?” Lincoln also used banter in the courtroom as a trial lawyer.  During a break, he entertained the jurors with the story about a little boy who raced to get his father’s attention.  “Paw, come quick!  The hired man and sis are up in the haymow, and he’s a-pullin’ down his pants and she’s a-liftin’ up her skirts and paw they’re gettin’ ready to pee all over our hay!” His father replied: “Son, you’ve got your facts absolutely right, but you’ve drawn a completely wrong conclusion.”  Back in court during closing arguments, Lincoln looked at the jurors and concluded, “My learned opponent has his facts absolutely right, but has drawn completely wrong conclusions.”  Yes, Lincoln won that case. 😉  This and more Lincoln humor can be found here.       

10 – Lincoln and Mary Todd had 4 sons:  Robert (1843-1926), Eddie (1846-1850), Willie (1850-1862), and Tad (1853-1871).  Only Robert lived a full life.  His other sons died of illness.    

Robert lived a full and very successful life. He was the last surviving witness at the South’s surrender at Appomattox.  He was also in close proximity to the assassinations of his father, President Garfield, and President McKinley.  As such, he was hesitant about attending future presidential invites insisting that, “there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present.”      Photo credit here.

11 – Lincoln’s son, Robert, was saved from injury and/or death by Edwin Booth. While at a crowded train station in Jersey City, NJ, in 1863 or 1864, Robert lost his footing and fell off the platform.  Scared and helpless, he felt a hand quickly grab his coat collar and pull him back up onto the platform.  When Robert turned to thank his rescuer, he immediately recognized Edwin because he was a very famous actor (think Brad Pitt status!) at that time.  Edwin, however, did not know who Robert was and continued on his way.  Edwin learned months later that he had saved the president’s son after receiving a letter thanking him for his heroism.  It was that knowledge that gave him solace after his younger brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated the president.       

This was Robert as a young man around the time Edwin saved him.  Photo credit here. 

After his brother, John, assassinated Lincoln, Edwin was forced to give up performing for a period of time.  He marked his return to the stage in 1866 playing the title role in Hamlet, the character he is best known for.  Photo credit here.  

12 – Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln bedroom. Instead, he used it as his Cabinet room for meetings with his secretaries and advisors.  It is in this room that Lincoln signed the controversial Emancipation Proclamation Executive Order.  Today, the bedroom is best known for ghost sightings and is used as accommodations to reward friends and politicians of the president. 

A current look at the Lincoln bedroom.  Photo credit here.

1862 – An illustration of Lincoln’s first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation with his Cabinet. Photo credit here.

13 – Lincoln signed into legislation the U.S. Secret Service the day he was assassinated, but this agency had a different mission than its duties today. It was originally established to combat counterfeiting.  Counterfeiting was a serious crime at that time and it was estimated that more than a third of the US currency was counterfeit.  It was only after a third president’s assassination, William McKinley, in 1901 that the Secret Service transitioned to protecting presidents.        

14 – Lincoln’s corpse was the target of grave robbers in 1876.  Big Jim Kennally was the ring leader of a Chicago Irish counterfeiting gang.  When his best engraver, Ben Boyd, was incarcerated, Kennally hatched a plan to steal Lincoln’s body in exchange for Boyd’s full pardon and a $200K cash ransom.  The plot was foiled when an agent of Chicago’s Secret Service infiltrated the gang of thieves. 

Grave robbers (L-R): Terence Mullen and Jack Hughes. They look straight out of central casting!  On the night of the heist, only a padlock secured Lincoln’s tomb. The thieves made it inside, but were unable to lift Lincoln’s 500-lb cedar and lead casket. As police moved in, one of their guns accidentally fired alerting the criminals. The bandits escaped only to be captured days later. Photo credit here.

Lincoln’s tomb is located at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, IL. His body is in a concrete vault 10 feet below. Photo credit here. Lincoln’s wife and 3 younger sons are also entombed in this mausoleum. Robert is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

15 – A young Teddy Roosevelt watched Lincoln’s funeral procession through NYC. This is an amazing capture of a future president observing a fallen president!  Teddy, 6 years old at the time, and his little brother, Elliott, can be seen from that second story window as the procession passed the Roosevelt Mansion.  A little mischief ensued as Teddy’s widow, Edith, recalled warmly: “Yes, I think that is my husband, and next to him his brother,” she exclaimed.  “That horrible man! I was a little girl then and my governess took me to Grandfather Roosevelt’s house on Broadway so I could watch the funeral procession. But as I looked down from the window and saw all the black drapings I became frightened and started to cry. Theodore and Elliott were both there. They didn’t like my crying. They took me and locked me in a back room. I never did see Lincoln’s funeral.”

Teddy and his brother are the little boys observing from the open window on the side of that building. Incredible! Photo credit here.

A closer look. Photo credit here.

16 – Lincoln’s ghost still lingers at his old haunts. 😉 Since his assassination, many have experienced Lincoln’s spirit at the White House.  British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, recalled his experience with Lincoln’s ghost one evening while he was getting out of his bath.  He walked into an adjoining room naked and smoking his cigar.  There to greet him at the fireplace was Lincoln!  A shocked Churchill calmly greeted Lincoln:  “Good evening, Mr. President.  You seem to have me at a disadvantage.”  Lincoln smiled and vanished.  Another famous report was of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.  While staying in her White House bedroom, she heard a knock on the door.  When she opened it, she recognized the visitor to be Lincoln in his top hat.  She immediately fainted at his sight.  Lincoln also appeared to President Lyndon B. Johnson who asked him how he handled an unpopular war.  Lincoln allegedly advised, “Don’t go to the theater.”  Sounds like Lincoln’s famous humor!  🙂     

The End.

I hope you enjoy these pics from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.  It is my favorite monument in DC because of its beauty, grandness, and historical significance of one of our most consequential presidents in American history.  I love to gaze up at Lincoln’s stoic expression.  He has a look of quiet contemplation that, to me, deepens his mystique and exposes his melancholy.  Indeed, when I look up at Lincoln, I don’t see a mythological icon above reproach.  On the contrary!  I see a fallible man who came from less than humble beginnings.  A self –educated man who had the ambition and drive to take him 1,654 miles from his home in Springfield, IL to the White House in Washington, DC.  He is a testament to the American Dream and that, to me, is quite inspiring.

Lizzy’s Latest is featuring the Charles by Charles David Muller over-the-knee (OTK) boots.  My review of these boots will come in the next week or two.  Until then, have a wonderful and safe weekend!

XoXo

Lizzy