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Birth
Mary was born in Lexington, Kentucky on December 13th, 1818. She was 4th of seven children. -
Fathers Remarrige
Mary's mother died before Mary was seven. Her father remarried to Elizabeth Humphey. This gave Mary 9 more siblings. -
Moved To Springfield
When Mary was 21, she moved to Springfield IL. This is where she meets Lincoln and soon marries him. -
Marrige
At 23 years old and married on November 4th in 1842 to Abraham Lincoln. She married in front of Elizabeth's (Mary sister) house. -
First Child
Mary gave birth to Robert Todd Lincoln in 1843. He was one of 4 kids in the Lincoln family. He was born in Springfield. Robert went on to attend Harvard University. -
Purchasing The First Lincoln Home
For the first two years of their marriage, they lived at the Globe Tavern in Springfield. In 1844, they purchased their first and only home at Eight and Jackson Streets in Springfield. They lived here until they eventually moved into The White House. -
Second Child
Edward Baker Lincoln was born 1846. He was named after Lincoln's friend Edward Dickson Baker. His mother nicknamed him Eddie, while his father spelled it Eddy. Eddy had a strong love for cats. -
Eddie's Death
Mary's son, Eddie, died a month before his 4th birthday due to tuberculosis (An infectious disease characterized by the growth of nodules (tubercles) in the tissues). A week after Eddie's death, Mary and Abe wrote a poem for him. -
Third Child
William Wallace Lincoln was born in Lexington. He was nicknamed "Willie" by his parants. Wille was a very rambunctious child. He sometimes went to work with his father and always caused trouble by pulling all the books off the shelves. -
Fourth Child
Thomas Lincoln was the fourth and youngest of Mary's sons. The nickname "Tad" was given to him by his father who found Thomas "as wriggly as a tadpole" when he was a baby. Tad suffered from a disability called complex speech and language disorder, which gave him trouble learning in school. -
Becomes First Lady
Mary manifested behavior that suggests severe depression, anxiety and paranoia, migraine headaches, even possibly diabetes. All her illnessess were caused by a series of tragic circumstances during Lincoln's precidency, the trauma of Civil War. -
Willie's Death
Unfourtonaly, Wille only lived to the age of 12. Willie became ill from typhoid fever, which was usually contracted by consumption of fecally contaminated food/water. Willed died with both parents at his bedside. Mary was so upset about Willie's death that Lincoln feared for her sanity. -
Lincoln's Assassination
John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Mary had been holding Lincoln's hand when he was shot. This was the start of Mary's insanity. -
Admitted To The Insane Asylum
After Tad's death in 1871, Mary offically went crazy. She began behaving in ways of mental instability and her son Robert successfully had her tried for insanity. In 1875, she was committed to the Bellevue Insane Asylum, in Batavia, Illinois. Later in the day after the verdict was made, she twice attempted suicide by taking what she believed to be the drugs laudanum and camphor. -
Released
One of the nation's first women lawyers, Myra Bradwell believed Mrs. Lincoln was not insane and being held against her will. She filed an appeal on Mrs. Lincoln's behalf and after four months of confinement, the former First Lady was released to the care of her sister Elizabeth Edwards in Springfield. Once a second trial on June 19, 1876 declared her sane, she moved to France. After four years abroad she returned to live again in the Edwards home, in October 1880.
