At
this house Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd were married November 4,
1842, and here Mrs. Lincoln died July 16, 1882. The house was built
about 1835. It was a brick structure, and there were few handsomer
ones in the town. The south half (appearing in the left of this
picture) was at first only one story in height; the second story was
but recently added. In this part was the dining-room. The parlor, in
which the marriage ceremony was performed, was the front room on the
first floor of the north half of the house. The house is now occupied
by St. Agatha's School (Episcopal).]
Mrs. John Stuart, the wife of Lincoln's law partner at that time, is
still living in Springfield, a refined, cultivated, intelligent woman,
who remembers perfectly the life and events of that day. When Mr.
Herndon's story first came to her attention, her indignation was
intense. She protested that she never before had heard of such a
thing. Mrs. Stuart was not, however, in Springfield at that particular
date, but in Washington, her husband being a member of Congress. She
wrote the following statement for this biography:
"I cannot deny this, as I was not in Springfield for some months
before and after this occurrence was said to have taken place; but I
was in close correspondence with relatives and friends during all this
time, and never heard a word of it.
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