Individual Details

Civil War Women Blog; 3 Aug 2013:

Mary began living with her sister Elizabeth Porter (née Todd) Edwards in Springfield, Illinois in October 1839. Elizabeth, married to Ninian W. Edwards, son of a former governor, served as Mary's guardian at the time. Mary was popular among the gentry of Springfield, and though she was courted by the rising young lawyer and Democratic Party politician Stephen A. Douglas and others, she chose Abraham Lincoln, a fellow Whig, from their courtship.
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Mary’s Insanity
Deeply traumatized by her husband’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, Mary Todd Lincoln did not leave the White House until May 23, 1865. She then moved to Chicago and began to settle her husband’s estate. In 1868, Mary moved with her son Tad to Germany and lived in Europe for almost three years.

In 1871, Mary returned to the United States. The sudden death of her youngest son Tad on July 15, 1871, at age 18, left her unable to cope with life’s daily trials. According to her only surviving child, Robert Lincoln, Mary soon began to show signs of mental instability.

What he called Mary’s insanity was probably what is now recognized as bipolar disorder, which explains her alternating depressions and spending sprees. While depressed she isolated herself in a darkened room for days on end. While shopping, she was known to buy 72 pairs of gloves and expensive evening gowns she would never wear.
In 1875 Robert Lincoln successfully had his mother tried for insanity, and committed her to the Bellevue Insane Asylum, in Batavia, Illinois. Later that day, she twice attempted suicide by taking what she believed to be the drugs laudanum and camphor – which a suspicious druggist had replaced with sugar.

When Elizabeth Edwards learned of her sister’s incarceration, she wrote:
My heart rebelled at the thought of placing her in an asylum, believing that her sad case merely required the care of a protector, whose companionship would be pleasant to her. Had I been consulted, I would have remonstrated earnestly against the step taken.
One of the nation’s first women lawyers, Myra Bradwell believed Mrs. Lincoln was not insane and was being held against her will. She filed an appeal on the former First Lady’s behalf and after four months of confinement, Mary was released from Bellevue Place in September 1875 to the care of Elizabeth Edwards.

Despite their sometimes rocky relationship, Elizabeth offered Mary a home, dedicating two rooms to the storage of Mary’s 64 trunks. A second trial on June 19, 1876 declared Mary sane, and she immediately moved to France. After four years abroad Mary returned to live again in the Edwards home in October 1880.

Mary Todd Lincoln died there on July 16, 1882 at age 63. Elizabeth Todd Edwards’ death followed on February 22, 1888.

Birth	1816	Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
Marriage	14 Feb 1832	Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky - Ninian Wirt Edwards
Death	22 Feb 1888	Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois

Spouse

Ninian Wirt Edwards (1809 - 1889)

Father	Robert Smith Todd ( - )
Mother	Elizabeth Parker ( - 1824)
Sibling	Mary Ann Todd (1818 - 1882)