Benjamin and Helen Edwards Went to the Lincoln Wedding

Abraham Lincoln's wife's sister Elizabeth was married to Benjamin Edwards's brother Ninian. On paper this looks like about six degrees of separation, but in antebellum Springfield this meant that the Lincolns and Edwardses were practically family. In fact, Benjamin and Helen Edwards were among the small handful of guests invited to the Lincolns' wedding.

Lincoln and Mary had first gotten together sometime in late 1840, but early the following year they seem to have broke up. Historians are not sure why the split occurred, but there are several theories, ranging from a suggestion that Lincoln may have fallen in love with another woman to the idea that Ninian and Elizabeth might not have approved of him. Whatever the case, Lincoln and Mary's acquaintance was not renewed until the summer of 1842. Fearing the town gossips, they decided not to meet openly, but instead met in secret at the home of their mutual friends, Simeon and Eliza Francis.

On the morning of November 4, 1842, Lincoln stopped Ninian Edwards in the street and announced that he and Mary would be married that evening at the Episcopal Church. Ninian replied that this would never do; Mary was his ward, and she must be married from his home. He went home and broke the news to Elizabeth, then seven months pregnant with their second child, that she had until the end of the day to arrange an entire wedding. Then Ninian went straight to his brother Benjamin's house.

He was greeted by Benjamin's wife, Helen. "My wife wants you all to come to our house this evening," Ninian announced. When Helen asked what was going on, Ninian explained that Mary and Lincoln would be married in his parlor that evening, adding "I left Elizabeth crying, but [neighbor] Mrs. Levering has gone in to see if she can help her." Elizabeth later told Helen that she was hurt Mary had not confided in her about the romance, nor given her much time to prepare a proper wedding celebration.

"Mary, you have not given me much time to prepare much of a wedding entertainment for our friends," Elizabeth had told her, "I shall have to send to old Dickey for some gingerbread and beer." Mary, still smarting from a comment someone had made earlier about Lincoln's humble background, tartly replied "Well, that is good enough for plebeians, I suppose."

With Helen Edwards's help, Elizabeth pulled together a simple yet elegant wedding. Helen later recalled that although the bride had neither veil nor flowers in her hair, "The wedding was what might be called a pretty one, simple yet impressive." Only 30 or so people attended, mostly family and close friends. When Helen died in 1909, she was the last adult living who had attended the Lincoln wedding.

For more stories of Springfield's 19th century social life, including the connections between the Edwards and Lincoln families, come to Edwards Place for a tour!