Why Don't People Remember Mary Todd Lincoln?

True story. The support group my father went to for mental illness (my father was bi-polar, BTW) had to find a name for their building. So they decided on Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was probably bi-polar (like my father), so why not use that name?

I thought something interesting when I heard that story though. I think they should have named it Mary Todd Lincoln.

Mary Todd Lincoln was much more crazy than Abe (forgive me if that word seems indelicate). She had full-blown hallucinations and delusions, from what I heard. She once said her problems were caused by an Indian chief pulling wires from her head (which makes no sense--and shows how far gone she was). She was even in a mental hospital for a while.

And she reached a high degree of functioning--and was a good wife and mother, from what I hear.

So why don't we name places after her? And why don't most people even talk about her anymore? It's all Abe-Abe-Abe. I have nothing against Abe. But he wasn't the only mentally ill person in that family.

 

They Most Likely Did For A Few Years, Then She Like So Many Others "Slipped Under The Radar" Of Time.....



Cheers Glen.

 

It could be because that Indian Chief pulled all those wires out of her head...


Or not.

 

The anaemia probably just caused the states of confusion/hallucinations

 

pretty sure mental illness is not the reason 99.9% of people talk about abe.

 

Mary Todd Lincoln was quite emotional and hysterical at times. At the death of her son, when Lincoln was in the white house, she was quite emotionally unstable and hysterical leading to reprimands by the grieving Lincoln himself.

But was Abraham Lincoln mentally ill. I highly doubt it. His words and actions are quite measured and intelligent on a consistent basis, and does not bring into mind any lack of mental health.

 

i thought it was mary tots lincoln