How many sons did abraham lincoln have

At five p. Elizabeth Keckly, the former slave who designed Mrs. Lincoln's beautiful wardrobe, washed and dressed him. When the president gazed at him, he mourned, "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him so. It is hard, hard to have him die!

He startled the half-dozing secretary with the news: "Well, Nicolay, my boy is gone -- he is actually gone!

Mary Lincoln was inconsolable in the loss of her favorite son. To add to the anguish, Tad, her youngest son, lay seriously ill in another room. Both children apparently suffered from typhoid fever, a common illness in disease-ridden Washington, D. Willie was the third son born to the Lincolns in Illinois, arriving on December 21, , the same year their second son died. Now with Willie's death, the family circle grew smaller yet.

Robert, a student at Harvard College, was the eldest son, the only one who would outlive his parents. In the words of a government official's wife, "The White House is sad and still, for its joy and light have fled with little Willie.

He was a very bright child, remarkably precocious for his age, and had endeared himself to every one who knew him. Brown and Alexander handled the embalming, a procedure they would perform three years later after the president's assassination. Willie lay in a flower-covered metallic coffin designed to resemble rosewood, with his name and date of birth and death inscribed on a silver plate.

Friends came to pay their respects on February 24, the morning of the funeral. Just before the service the Lincoln family gathered around the coffin for a private farewell. Lincoln, I am told, was terribly affected by her loss and almost refused to be comforted. The funeral began at 2 p. Family played an important role in the Lincoln White House.

Lincoln was devoted to his wife and three sons — a fourth son had died over a decade earlier. There was a large gap between Robert, who was 17 when his father entered the White House, and the much younger Willie 10 and Tad 7. He was entirely devoted to Taddie who was a gay, gladsome, merry, spontaneous fellow, bubbling over with innocent fun, whose laugh rang through the house, when not moved to tears. Quick in mind, and impulse, like his mother, with her naturally sunny temperament, he was the life, as also the worry of the household.

There could be no greater contrast between children. Lincoln grieved. Lincoln went back to work. Robert went back to Harvard University. And Tad pretty much did as he pleased. This appalled the self-disciplined Robert on his occasional visits home.

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