rumor has it among parts of the gay community that lincoln was a homosexual, or had homosexual tendencies. there are some books written on this topic, which i havent read enough of to give a truly educated hypothesis. I do know that i really like abraham lincoln, and what i know of him (in his heterosexual life) leads me to believe that he was not gay. the thing is is that people always want to make something of nothing. i could be completely wrong, but he seemed like the kind of guy that was quiet and contemplative b/c he thought hard about everything, not because he was battling with "issues". he was a really smart and witty guy that lived with depression, and eventually had to carry the weight of the world on his back. he was a loving husband and a loving father. heres what i know about the "other side" though...
lincoln lived with his friend joshua speed in a small 1 room dorm while he was running the store in illinois. they shared the same bed for 4 yrs. lincoln had a close friend who was a presidential bodyguard by the name of david derickson. he would at times stay in lincolns room with him while mary todd was out of town. both derickson and speed were very close friends of lincoln. from what is said derickson would even use lincolns night shirts.
the thing that you need to remember/ know about 19th century life, and pre 19th century life is that men and women, men and men, women and women, and entire families should share the same bed, either for warmth, safety, or even just friendship. plus people didnt have as many beds as they do now (although in the white house im sure they did). In addition sexual behavior was not necessarily associated with bedrooms. life was different back then, people could be more affectionate. someone today looking back at that time could say that someone was poor b/c they didnt have a tv or a car, but that stuff wasnt around then! so think about it everything was different. their were gay people and stuff, but it wasnt the same as it is now. just look at history in the eyes of someone that lived it, not soemone that lives now...
more to come after i do some reading on this topic.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
lovers lane?
When Abe was about 22 years old he moved to New Salem, Ill and boarded at Rutledge Tavern.
It was owned by the Rutledge family, specifically James Rutledge who was the father of Ann. Ann was known to be a beutiful, bright girl, with reddish brown hair and blue eyes. She was about 5'3 and weighed in at about 120 pounds. Apparently anyone that knew her liked to be around her. She was about 2 yrs younger than Abraham. According to family and friends he and Ann spent a lot of time together. It dosn't seem like it would be too hard to do that. I mean look at the size of that house. Lincoln lived there for about 6 years. He and his friend decided to live there, not b/c of Ann but b/c it was a young town and it seemed like the ideal place to open a General Store, it turns out it wasnt, but thats a different story I guess. He worked as the postmaster of the town, and eventually gave it all up to learn the trade of surveying land.
But back to Ann. She was engaged to be married to this guy named John, but he went back East to visit with his parents and never returned. Who knows about that guy... I mean leaving a hot dame like Ann to wander the streets of New Salem alone?! Well she and abe become close. Their is mention that Abraham and she were unofficially engaged and would take the plunge after he received his law degree. (Abe was teaching himself law in his spare time).
Ann eventually became very sick in abotu 1835 of what I hear might have been typhoid fever. After she and Abe had their last conversation and he had to go home he was devastated. I couldn't imagine how painful it would be to see your fiance dying in bed, you have to leave them to die, and then you have to continue on with your life! No wonder he became depressed. This was around the time that Abraham Lincoln started to have suicidal tendencies and became even more quiet and thoughtful.
Now just to clear the waters on this topic, this isnt 100% substantiated. This is just hear say, but the people its told by are people that were interacting with Abe and Ann on a daily basis. Was Abes future wife Mary Todd jealous of Ann A.D.? Probably... this is definitely my own opinion... I have this opinion becase Abe is known to have said that he always thought of Ann, after his election as President, Lincoln was visited by an old friend, Isaac Cogdal. Cogdal, who was a quarryman and former New Salem resident, asked Abe if he had fallen in love with Ann. Based on what Cogdal says, Lincoln replied, "It is true - true indeed I did. I loved the woman dearly and soundly: she was a handsome girl - would have made a good loving wife....I did honestly and truly love the girl and think often - often of her now." That might make a wife jealous, especially someone like Mary Todd who was very needy and dependent on Abe.
It was owned by the Rutledge family, specifically James Rutledge who was the father of Ann. Ann was known to be a beutiful, bright girl, with reddish brown hair and blue eyes. She was about 5'3 and weighed in at about 120 pounds. Apparently anyone that knew her liked to be around her. She was about 2 yrs younger than Abraham. According to family and friends he and Ann spent a lot of time together. It dosn't seem like it would be too hard to do that. I mean look at the size of that house. Lincoln lived there for about 6 years. He and his friend decided to live there, not b/c of Ann but b/c it was a young town and it seemed like the ideal place to open a General Store, it turns out it wasnt, but thats a different story I guess. He worked as the postmaster of the town, and eventually gave it all up to learn the trade of surveying land.
But back to Ann. She was engaged to be married to this guy named John, but he went back East to visit with his parents and never returned. Who knows about that guy... I mean leaving a hot dame like Ann to wander the streets of New Salem alone?! Well she and abe become close. Their is mention that Abraham and she were unofficially engaged and would take the plunge after he received his law degree. (Abe was teaching himself law in his spare time).
Ann eventually became very sick in abotu 1835 of what I hear might have been typhoid fever. After she and Abe had their last conversation and he had to go home he was devastated. I couldn't imagine how painful it would be to see your fiance dying in bed, you have to leave them to die, and then you have to continue on with your life! No wonder he became depressed. This was around the time that Abraham Lincoln started to have suicidal tendencies and became even more quiet and thoughtful.
Now just to clear the waters on this topic, this isnt 100% substantiated. This is just hear say, but the people its told by are people that were interacting with Abe and Ann on a daily basis. Was Abes future wife Mary Todd jealous of Ann A.D.? Probably... this is definitely my own opinion... I have this opinion becase Abe is known to have said that he always thought of Ann, after his election as President, Lincoln was visited by an old friend, Isaac Cogdal. Cogdal, who was a quarryman and former New Salem resident, asked Abe if he had fallen in love with Ann. Based on what Cogdal says, Lincoln replied, "It is true - true indeed I did. I loved the woman dearly and soundly: she was a handsome girl - would have made a good loving wife....I did honestly and truly love the girl and think often - often of her now." That might make a wife jealous, especially someone like Mary Todd who was very needy and dependent on Abe.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
not to be morbid but...
Lincoln dealt with and experienced a lot of deaths in his life time. This was the first of many...
When the poor guy was 9 years old his loving mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln was stricken with "milk sickness". This was caused by drinking the milk of cows feeding on poisonous plants such as snakeroot. Abraham and his older sister Sarah took care of their mother while she was sick. Their father Thomas had to continue to work to support the family. The 2 children did chores and waited on her. Because she knew she was dying she called the children to her bedside and asked them to be good and kind to their father, to each other, and to the world. On October 5, 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln died at the age of 34. The young and probably confused/ scared (b/c of the loss of his mother) Abraham helped his father carve pegs for his mom's coffin. Thomas Lincoln hauled the coffin, which was made of green pine, on a sled to the top of a hill in the woods and buried Nancy without a formal funeral. This death led to the remarrying of his dad to Sarah Bush Johnston about a year later. More to come...
When the poor guy was 9 years old his loving mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln was stricken with "milk sickness". This was caused by drinking the milk of cows feeding on poisonous plants such as snakeroot. Abraham and his older sister Sarah took care of their mother while she was sick. Their father Thomas had to continue to work to support the family. The 2 children did chores and waited on her. Because she knew she was dying she called the children to her bedside and asked them to be good and kind to their father, to each other, and to the world. On October 5, 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln died at the age of 34. The young and probably confused/ scared (b/c of the loss of his mother) Abraham helped his father carve pegs for his mom's coffin. Thomas Lincoln hauled the coffin, which was made of green pine, on a sled to the top of a hill in the woods and buried Nancy without a formal funeral. This death led to the remarrying of his dad to Sarah Bush Johnston about a year later. More to come...
abraham lincoln:
I was going to start this blog thing outlining Lincolns life in chronological order; but in beginning that, I realized thats not how I do things. I really like Abraham Lincoln. I like that he was a real person with real problems. He had a great sense of humor and tremendous wit. He was a man with little formal education, but took what he had and made the best of it. He was quiet, yet personable. He was a hard worker. He worked hard to be a good husband to his wife Mary Todd (who was very demanding of his attention), and was a loving father that some may say let his children wreak havoc. He experienced many sadnesses in his life in regards to his wife and children. He experienced many losses in politics along his long journey to the Presidency. Lincoln is known as the "Great Emancipator", and is known as the 16th President whose decisions were the cause for the Civil War (1860-1865). To me he is more than all that. Abraham Lincoln is a great guy, that worked hard and experienced a lot.
Heres how its gonna work... This is my blog, I'm the one writing it. I'm going to pick things that interest me about him. As interesting as his presidency, and pre-presidency work is I'm not necessarily going to bore you (whoever you are) with the usual mumbo jumbo people cover when discussing such an historical figure. If you are looking for that type of info you can read that here... http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html
ok where to begin???!
Heres how its gonna work... This is my blog, I'm the one writing it. I'm going to pick things that interest me about him. As interesting as his presidency, and pre-presidency work is I'm not necessarily going to bore you (whoever you are) with the usual mumbo jumbo people cover when discussing such an historical figure. If you are looking for that type of info you can read that here... http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html
ok where to begin???!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
