Description:

Lincoln Abraham

Abraham Lincoln's wedding venue photograph

 

8" x 10" glossy black and white photographic print of room in the Ninian Wirt Edwards' house where Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in 1842. Marked with a photographer's serial number 2243F on right margin. Hand-inscribed "Ninian W Edwards Home. Room in which Abraham Lincoln was Married. Springfield Ill" and stamped "Eugene J. Hall Photographer, Oak Park, Ill." verso. With expected minor corner and edge wear including two small closed tears, else in near fine condition. From the Collection of Norman Boas of Seaport Autographs and recently purchased at Christie's December 5, 2017 sale.

 

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) married Kentucky belle Mary Ann Todd (1818-1882) in the graciously appointed double parlor of her older married sister's home on the evening of November 4, 1842. Elizabeth Todd Edwards (1813-1888) and her husband Ninian Wirt Edwards (1809-1899) lived at 441 S. Second Street in Springfield, Illinois.

 

Despite the short notice, about 30 guests attended the ceremony in which Mary, garbed in her sister's borrowed white satin wedding dress, accepted a ring from Abraham engraved "Love is Eternal." Attendees enjoyed still-warm wedding cake while rain lashed the windows.

 

Abraham had first met Mary at the Edwards' home three years earlier, in 1839. Mary's brother-in-law was also a lawyer, and had served as Illinois Attorney General between 1834-1835. The Edwards often hosted social gatherings of "the coterie", as the younger popular set were known in Springfield, whose members included Todd relatives and aspiring Illinois lawyers and politicians like Stephen A. Douglas.

 

The photograph is pencil dated "Feb 12, 1921" verso, although we know that the Ninian Wirt Edwards house was razed to build a public parking lot in 1917. It is therefore possible that Eugene J. Hall photographed the site before its destruction and a later print was issued in the 1920s.

 

Elizabeth Todd Edwards played an important role in her sister's life. She stayed at the White House with the Lincolns after the death of their son Willie in 1862, and Elizabeth was also instrumental in having Mary released from a mental institution in 1875. Mary lived under her older sister's care until her death in 1882.

 

Eugene Judson Hall (1845-1932) is listed in a 1912 professional journal as a "Portrait, Landscape, and Commercial Photographer."

 

Provenance: Ex-Christie's December 5, 2017 sale; Ex-Norman Boas, Seaport Autographs



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