He was
married in 1832 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, to Louisa W. Withers.
Upon his removal to Springfield, Illinois, in 1838, he became the
rector of the Protestant Episcopal church there, and remained so until
1858, when failing health caused his retirement. In 1855, Jubilee
College elected him Professor of Divinity and Belles-Lettres, but he
held this position only a short time. He died March 25, 1865.--_J.
McCan Davis._]
As Mr. Joshua Speed was, all through this period, Mr. Lincoln's
closest friend, no thought or feeling of the one ever being concealed
from the other, Mrs. Joshua Speed, who is still living in Louisville,
Kentucky, was asked if she knew of the story. Mrs. Speed listened
in surprise to Mr. Herndon's tale. "I never heard of it before," she
declared. "I never heard of it. If it is true, I never heard of it."
In all of these cases the opinion of only those persons intimately
connected with Mr. Lincoln and Miss Todd has been asked. Care has been
taken, too, to apply only to persons whose character put them beyond
the suspicion of distorting facts.
Quite unexpectedly, some months ago, a volunteer witness to the
falsity of the story appeared. The Hon. H.W. Thornton of Millersburg,
Illinois, was a member of the Twelfth General Assembly, which met in
Springfield in 1840.
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