Lincoln's Geographical Environment
Top Left: Map of the United States in 1840. The area in orange shows established states. The rest of this land is territories, unorganized, claimed and foreign areas. Top Right and Bottom: map of Harrison and Fayette Counties in Kentucky. Mildred's family lived in the town of Cynthiana (Harrison County). Mary Todd's family lived in the town of Lexington (Fayette County).
I thought it would be a good idea to research the geographical environment at the time this miniature was painted, which experts agree was the early 1840's. Where were Lincoln and Mary Todd, as well as Mildred's family at this time? And based on the population, what would be the statistical chances that this miniature is Lincoln?
Mildred's family was in Cynthiana, Kentucky at this time, in a town just north of Todd family in Lexington, Kentucky.
In 1840 the total recorded population in the entire state of Kentucky was 779,828. One-fourth of this population was slaves. The population of white males between the ages of 30-40 in these two counties of Harrison and Fayette totaled 408.
During 1842 Lincoln spent most of his time in Illinois, but also traveled to his birth state of Kentucky where he spent three weeks at the home of his best friend Joshua Speed in Louisville. This was the time between his broken engagement with Mary Todd, and when they re-united later that year.
Miniature paintings marked a time of change in a person's life: engagement, political career, or death. They were the ultimate symbol of love and commitment. These portraits were in fashion before the invention of photography, and were most often painted at the time of engagement or political advancement. Lincoln was climbing the political ladder at this time, and engaged to Mary Todd in 1841.
COURTSHIP OF ABE AND MARY TODD:
Sometime in 1839 Mary Todd had become aware of Lincoln, and in 1840 she and Lincoln moved from friendship to the understanding that they might marry. Like most middle-class couples, Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln may have hesitated because of the many uncertainties that lay ahead. Abraham Lincoln could afford a wife in 1840, as he made somewhere between $1500 and $2,000 a year from his law practice and an additional $100 to $300 as a legislator.
On January 1, 1841, Lincoln and Mary Todd broke their engagement and parted, setting Lincoln into a major depression.
Lincoln himself acknowledges this in a letter to John Todd Stuart, Mary's cousin and law partner: "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better I can not tell; I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better it appears to me."
In August of 1841 Lincoln traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, to visit for three weeks with his intimate friend Joshua Speed. During this trip to Kentucky he sees twelve slaves chained together. (Note connection with genealogy book and James Curry meeting up with Lincoln on a flatboat trip).
Lincoln and his best friend, Joshua Speed:
Engagement miniature of Joshua Fry to Fanny Henning in 1842, the same year Lincoln married Mary Todd.
Speed acted as Lincoln's “confidant and adviser in the affair with Mary Todd," wrote historian Douglas Wilson. "Their letters show that Lincoln and Speed regarded themselves not only as close friends but as something like soul mates, psychologically and temperamentally very much in tune”. At the same time that Joshua Speed was courting Fanny Henning, Lincoln was courting Mary Todd, both resulting in marriage.
Detailed Time-Frame of Abe, Mary-Todd and and Joshua Speed from 1840 – 1842.
Marriage of Abe and Mary Todd
Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln continued to share the same strong political interests, including their love for Henry Clay and Whig politics. This political love may have helped restore their romance, and in 1842 they reunited. Their wedding took place on November 4, 1842 at the home of Mary Todd's sister, Elilzabeth Edwards.
Mary Todd’s sister Elizabeth Edwards, painted by G.P.A. Healy.
Home of Elizabeth and Ninian Edwards, where Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln were married.
Matthew Matherny, Lincoln’s best man (furthest left) in 1840.
Robert S. Todd, Mary Todd’s father. His miniature portrait was painted upon his engagement to Mary Todd’s step-mother.