The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-08-03
THE LOVES or LINCOLN.
0uee. Budget OF Gossip Abou, his
Wooing and his Wife.

courted Dy her future husband closes tn
family life Of Abraham Lincoln. Sh
was not his first or his deepest loy,
That distinction belongs to Ann Rutledg,
whose father was the founder of th
Village of New Salem on the Sangamor
q village which is now deserted. Rut
ledge was one of the famous South Care
lima family, and his daughter, four year
younger than Lincoln, uceuis 10 nave i'm
! pressed the whole community as lovel
and refined girl, unaffected, "a blonde i
complexion, with golden hair, cherry.r re,
lips and bonuy blue eye" says McNa
mara. McNamara was the lover VIII
first won her heart. He went home L
New York to take West his parents. bu
was detained some years in New York
In the meantime Lincoln pressed hi
suit, and the girls parents doubted
whether Mcnamara would ever come
back; she gave her love to Lincoln, bu
insisted on waiting for formal releas,
from Mcnamara before marriage Thil
waiting told upon her sensitive organism
her health declined and she died Of wha
was called brain fever August Is, 1885
This was the great grief Ct Lincolni
youth. His reason was unsettled and his
friend, Bowlin Green, had to take him
off 70 lonely log cabin and keep hin
until he recovered his sanity. Then was
when he learned the poem beginning:
sOh why should the spirit Of mn rial be proud -
An old friend who asked him after hit
election to the Presidency if it was true
that he loved and courted Ann Rutledge
got this reply:
"It is true-true indeed did. !
have loved the name of Rutledge to this
day. 1t was my first. loved the wo.
man dearly. She was handsome girl
would have made good, loving wife; was
natural and quite intellectual, though not
highly educated. ! did honestly and
truly love the girl and think often, often
Of her now"
McNamara returned soon after her
death, lived near the little bury'Dg-
ground, and il 1866 PORTED out the
grave of Ann Rutledge to Afr. Herndon
This affair had a marked effect upon
Lincoln's life and added to its sober
tone; but it probably had also deeper
meaning in purifying and ennobling his
inner nature.
Mr.. Lincoln, who by this time was a
member Of the Legislature and about 81,
next paid attentions" to Miss Ovens, O
smart young woman of some avoirdupois,
who once told him tina. she thought he
was lacking in The smaller attentions,
those little links which make up the great
chain of woman's happiness" because he
dangled along by her side once when
they were going up hill, and allowed
her friend, Mrs. Bowlin Green, to "car.
Iy big, fat child, heavy aad Grossly dis
posed" up the hill. A still more unto.
ward incident happened once NJ Mrs.
Able's, sister of Miss Owens's. Lincoln
had sent word 10 Ablc's that he was com.
ing down to see Miss Owens. She, girl.
fashion, to test her lover, went off "to
Grahan's," about mile and a half
When Lincoln came and was 80 informed,
he asked if Miss Owens did not know he
was coming. Mrs. Able said no, but one
of her enfdns terribles promptly replied
eyes. ma, she did, for I heErd San. tell
her so." "Lincoln sat awhile and then
went about his business" says Lannon's
account. Letters exist from Lincoln to
Miss Ovens in 1886 and 1887, in one OF
which he says:
'If you feel yourself in any degree
bound to me, am now willing to release
you, provided you wish it; while on the
other hand am willing and even anxious
to bind you faster, if can be convinced
that it will in any considerable degree
add to your happiness. Thi., iSdcei, ia
the whole question with me, Nothing
would make me more miserable than 70
believe you notwithstanding more
happy than TO know You were So"
This is the language of an horrible
man, g. cool lover and practiced hand
in the English language. Miss Owens
declined his hand. lived TO msrfy another
men st her hoc,e u kentucky end had
two sons in the Confederate army. La.
mon prints also letter Of Lincoln to
Mira. .. H. Browning in 1888, reviewing
this affair in terms, it must be confessed
brutally derogatory to the young woman's
personal appearance and parts. Lincoln
was evidently mortified by his rejection,
and ignobly attempted to represent 10
Mrs. Browning (the wife Of his new found
Legislative friend that the object of his
affections had been unworthy Of them.
1t was not two years (l839) before an.
other Springfield matron, Mrs. Ninian
w. Edwards, had Kentucky sister to
live with her, Mary Todd, daughter OF
Robert S. Todd, of Lexington. Miss
Todd vas of distinguished family in beth
Stat.,, her mother had died young and
she had been educated by ga French la.
dy." She had keen sense of the ridicu.
lous, was sharp, ambitious, bigh.temper.
ed; according to Lamon, "bigh. bred
proud, brilliant, witty, and with q will
that bent every captive the very moment
she considered it expedient to do so.'
She was ambitious TO be the wife of q
President, and was courted by Douglass
till she dismissed him for his bad morals
She said Of one Of her mates, who had
married a wealthy old gentleman, 81
would rather marry good man, man o
mind, with hope, and bright prospects
ahead for position, fame and power than
to marry all the hos es, gold and bones
in the world"
Lincoln and Miss Todd became engaged
though pretty sister Of Edwards came
near shiprccking even this match. Pret
~ girls must have been distressingly thick
in those days, when Kentucky WAS send.
ing her best blood iuto illinois. Lincoln
felt the Edwards attachment 80 strongly
that he begged to be released from Mis-.
Todd, (the Edwards girl married another
man, for Lincoln never mentioned it tc
her, } and he "ran off the tack" again, tc
use the expression by which he once de.
scribed his first attack of insanity. He
was "as crazy as loon" for nearly year
and did not attend the session Of the
Legislature of 1912, to which he had
been chosen. They had to "keep knives
and razors away from him." AS he came
ont of it, the Edwardses advised Abe and
Mary not to marry, as they were unified
to each other, and probably in conse.
4uence vi this advice, tney-went and
T3arried on zone or two hours notice D