Lincoln Family Ties - Genealogy and Provenance

My family moved into a home “as is”, formerly owned by an elderly couple (Brad and Mildred) who passed away in their 90’s. They left no relatives, but a home stuffed from basement to attic with a great deal of garbage, along with articles of strong historical relevance.

This evidence links Mildred directly to Abraham Lincoln through marriage.

Mary Todd Lincoln’s youngest brother (George Rogers Clark Todd) married Ann Curry Todd (Mildred’s great-aunt).
They had had one child, Mattie Dee Todd, who was Mary Todd Lincoln’s niece (and Mildred’s aunt).

Mattie Dee Todd grew to adulthood in Cynthiana Kentucky but was never married. As Robert Todd’s first-cousin, she received gifts and favors from the family. Through the influence of Robert Lincoln, she was appointed Cynthiana’s first woman postmistress in 1878 and retained this position for 16 years.

This website will focus on Mildred's family relationship to Abraham Lincoln, although her family is connected to numerous well-known historical names: Breckenridge, Desha, Todd, Preston, Clay, and Bledsoe.

Markings on Miniature Case

The outer case of this miniature has the initials “MBD” scratched into it, as well as “Frederick”.

MBD could be two people only, both sisters of Anne Curry Todd (who married Mary Todd Lincoln’s brother, George). One sister is Mary B. Downing, born 1821 in Cynthiana KY and married to Rev. W.W. Hill. They took up residency in Louisville KY, and had 2 children who both died in infancy. Mary died at the age of 35 in 1856. The other ‘MBD’ is Anne’s other sister, Mary Bracken Desha (1819-1885). She married John Randolph Desha (son of KY Gov. Joseph Desha and Margaret Bledsoe). Dr. Desha also received his medical degree from Transylvania and he helped Mary Todd’s brother, George Rogers Clark Todd, escape from KY. They had 2 daughters, Issa Desha (who married WCP Breckenridge of Lexington), and Mary Desha (who never married but was a chapter president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Lexington…the same organization that Emilie Todd Helm devoted herself to in Lexington.

Frederick is Mildred’s brother.