Did Mary Lincoln Die of Diabetes?
This post is meant to highlight an issue I first mentioned in an earlier post detailing Mary Lincoln’s health.
Interestingly, at the beginning of Mary Lincoln’s final pension battle—November of 1881—a Denver paper carried the following item:
“An Illinois gentleman passing through Denver, who has late advices through an intimate connection of the family, states that Mrs. Lincoln . . . is now very seriously ill . . . and that it is merely a question of a little time when death shall relieve her of her sufferings. Mrs. Lincoln, as is probably generally known, has been the victim of diabetes for some time, and it is the culmination of this annoying disease that is now menacing her life.”1
A short time later, circa February of 1882, a man identified as a “relative” of hers stated that “she is afflicted with a disease which will certainly result fatally in a few months, and she can live but a short time.”2
I point this out because it seems likely that her family and close associates believed that she was suffering from a terminal illness, and that this may have influenced their support for her battle for financial compensation.
(And just as an extra tidbit of information, I came across an article that mentioned that at the time of Mary’s death in July of 1882, a relative of Ninian Edwards was visiting the Edwards household. The relative was not named, but she was one of the daughters of Virginia Grey Edwards Worsley, who was herself the daughter of Deborah Ridgley Dorsey and Dr. Charles Guy Edwards.3)
Denver Rocky Mountain News, November 23, 1881. This diagnosis was not generally known, but other comments suggest that this person had inside information. He alleged she was in Ontario, which would be consistent with hearing she was going to Canada for treatment, but not following her press movements. This may have been Ward “Hill” Lamon, who was living in Boulder, or Leonard Swett, who had been retained by a Denver defendant. The comments sound more like something Lamon would say than Swett would, and Lamon’s wife was a Springfield native, who would likely have been in touch with Mary’s relatives. Months before, John T. Stuart had made a visit to Denver, but it does not appear he was still there at this time. Omaha Herald, quoted in the Illinois State Journal, June 29, 1881.
“Mrs. Lincoln’s Craze,” The Inter-Ocean, February 2, 1882.
“Rambler Follows an Old Maryland Road,” “Rambler,” Evening Star, May 18, 1919.