Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd: Love is Eternal

On this day in 1842, during their second engagement, Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Anne Todd at her sister’s home in Springfield, Illinois. Episcopal minister Reverend Charles N. Dresser officiated their marriage ceremony.

Mary’s gold wedding ring was inscribed with the words “A.L. to Mary, Nov. 4, 1842. Love is eternal.”

Although, the rainy day seemed to capture the storminess of their courtship and marriage. Please continue reading below the family portrait.

First, the Lincolns were both abolitionists, though most of Mary’s family fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Then, they lost their 11-year-old son Willie in 1862. Biographers believed they both suffered from depression.

Finally, Mary Todd sat next to her husband Abraham as he was assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.

Lincoln’s Last Words

Later, in 1882, Mary Lincoln told Baptist Pastor Noyes Miner that Lincoln’s last words, as he leaned in close to whisper to her:

“[W]e will not return immediately to Springfield. We will go abroad among strangers where I can rest. We will visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior.”

Those few words say quite a lot. Now, see Our “Abraham Lincoln Bible” t-shirt to learn he felt about “this Great book…”