LINCOLN, Mary Todd (1818-1882). Autograph letter signed ("M.L.") to Alexander Williamson, Chicago, 10 October 1865.

2pp., 8vo (210 x 133 mm), on black mourning stationery, old folds, marginal tears and losses, creases.

MARY LINCOLN WRITES TO TAD LINCOLN'S TUTOR FOLLOWING HER MOVE TO CHICAGO.

In full: "Your note of Friday is received. I see by the papers, that the carriage, is to be sold at auction in N.Y. How is this? I fear, it will bring very little, disposed of, in such a way. Is it to be taken, to Laurence's Carriage Shop, as you mentioned? As to the cards, without, they are exactly like, the same border and all of the one I send you. I wish none. As a matter of course, I am not using cards, for visiting purposes, but when visitors call, and lest servants should carry wrong messages, thereby sometimes causing offence. On a card, I can regret my inability to see them. Yet, do not vary, in the least, from the one I send you. Taddie has recovered, goes to school and can almost read. He delights in his school, and I find him a most amiable and loving son. With all my adversity, God has blessed me, in my remaining sons, yet the irreparable loss of my precious Willie broke my heart and since my beloved husband was taken away I do not desire to live."

Alexander Williamson was hired by Mary Todd Lincoln to act as a tutor to her children, Willie and Tad, upon the Lincoln family's move into the White House. Although Willie proved to be a quick study, Tad, the more rambunctious of the two, was far more of a challenge. After Willie's death in 1862, Tad became even less focused on his studies, struggling even to read. He was then appointed by President Lincoln to a clerk position in the Treasury Department. According to an 1886 interview, Williamson claimed to be present at Lincoln's deathbed. In the months and years that followed, he acted as an unofficial lobbyist on Mary Lincoln's behalf to secure a widow's pension from the United States Congress.

REFERENCES:
Not in Turner

This lot is located in Chicago.