On November 4, 1842, Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois, at the home of her sister, Elizabeth Edwards. Their wedding followed a reconciliation and a secret courtship. In fact, Mary did not tell Elizabeth that she and Lincoln were courting again until the wedding day.
The newlyweds began their life together in a single room at the Globe Tavern, a modest setting for the future president and first lady. Their first son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was born there on August 1, 1843. Reflecting on his marriage in a letter to a friend, Lincoln wrote, “Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me, is matter of profound wonder.”
From those early days in Springfield, Abraham and Mary’s life together would eventually lead to the White House, where he served as the sixteenth president of the United States and she as first lady. Their November wedding marked the beginning of a marriage that would become intertwined with one of the most consequential chapters in American history.
