Evidence Uncovered - Supporting documents, trunks and treasures

When we first saw this miniature painting it did not enter our minds that this could possibly be Abraham Lincoln. It is a painting, not a photograph, and the earliest likeness most Americans know of our bearded 16th president is from photographs taken 20 years after this painting. I had never seen a miniature painting before, and was fascinated by it. It wasn't hidden in a secret drawer, but found on a living-room coffee table, as if a treasured item. Yet it resembled none of Mildred's relatives from the pictures we had found.

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Nearby the miniature was a bill of sale for a slave, along with a letter from a relative researching Mildred’s genealogy. One paragraph of the two-page letter reads “I made a trip to Lexington and Cynthiana, Kentucky, to get data relative to the Brackens of that line. Mrs. Todd, widow of Dr. Todd, and daughter of Martha Bracken and James Curry, was then living with a daughter (unmarried) in Cynthiana. I was not permitted to see Mrs. Todd, but Miss Todd gave me a great deal of information. You probably know that this Dr. Todd was a brother of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln and you may know something of Dr. Todd’s history. At the time of this visit, I also called on Honorable W.C.P. Breckenridge. His first wife was a Miss Desha, granddaughter of Martha Bracken and James Curry.

We discovered in our home a genealogy book and letters on Mildred's ancestry dating back to 1749. We then located a relative by the name of Henry Brackin Jr. on the internet, who was a wonderful blessing and help. Extremely knowledgeable with this genealogy, Henry told me the author of this original book, H.M. Bracken, continued his work with a 597 page book, which he was kind enough to send to me.

Henry told me he found my work most interesting. "I think you have drawn the proper conclusion relative to this portrait and have a lot of proven family connections to support them. Moreover the likeness in my opinion is indisputable"

Other items found in our home included... A bill of sale for a slave, a porcelain doll-head of Mary Todd Lincoln, a clock from Springfield IL, genealogy books and bibles supporting ancestry, a letter referring to a relative’s visit to Mattie Todd and Ann Curry Todd, with references to Lincoln and family connections, silverware from Louisville dated 1847 (home of Lincoln’s best friend, Joshua Speed), surveys and deeds from the 1830’s and 1840’s (Mildred’s grandfather was a surveyor at the same time Lincoln was a surveyor), documents signed by Buchanan and Tyler (notes, grants and certificates), antique medicine bottles and books on surveying, astronomy (Robert Todd was an astronomy buff), poetry on Ireland and Staffordshire…all similar to items listed in reports similar to furnishings in Lincoln’s home. A black horse-hair rocking chair, and Indian basket, several lithographs and small paintings, china and jewelry. One genealogy book describes Mattie Dee’s grandfather (who was born in Lexington) meeting up with Lincoln in Cairo, IL while on a river boat trip in detail (meeting slaves, etc).

Also left in this home were STEAMER trunks from the late 1800’s. Mary Todd Lincoln died on July 15, 1882, leaving sixty-four trunks of goods. She had traveled to Chicago and Paris in years prior to her death. These trunks are marked with stamps and labels from both Paris and Illinois.