Mary Todd Lincoln Has Long Been Derided. Is Her Reputation Salvageable?

"The first and third items in this indictment are indisputable; the second is a complicated and qualified matter; and the last two are libels, still part of popular legend no matter how often disproved by serious biography. So persistent are the charges against Mrs. Lincoln, even in minds as well informed as Hardwick's, that Lois Romano, in her new book, "An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln," decides they need refuting once again."

"The Todd family was so important in Lexington that Abraham Lincoln may (or may not) have remarked, "God spells his name with one D, but the Todds spell theirs with two." Romano, who had a long career as a Washington Post reporter, explains that Mary's father, Robert Smith Todd, operated variously as "a lawyer, bank president, successful wholesale merchant, cotton factory owner, and political power broker.""

"Mary was the sixth child of his first wife, Eliza, who died giving birth to a seventh; Betsy, his second wife, with whom Mary almost never got along, went on to have nine children of her own. During Mary's adolescence, Mr. Todd moved his family from a house with nine rooms to one with fourteen, on West Main Street."

"Instructed by a Parisian couple at Mentelle's for Young Ladies, Mary, as Romano notes, got more schooling than her future husband did. She surely was also exposed to Madame Charlotte Mentelle's feminist bel"

Mary Todd Lincoln remains widely associated with hysteria, lavish spending, and personal failings, even though some claims are disputed or disproved. Lois Romano’s biography aims to refute persistent accusations by revisiting Mary’s life in Lexington and her family background. Robert Smith Todd held multiple roles, including lawyer, bank president, merchant, cotton factory owner, and political power broker, and the Todd family held major local importance. Mary received more schooling than Abraham Lincoln, including education connected to Mentelle’s for Young Ladies. Her upbringing included a move to a larger home during adolescence, and her family relationships were shaped by her father’s two marriages and the strained relationship with her stepmother.

Read at The New Yorker