#spotlighton

Thomas “Tad” Lincoln was the youngest of the 4 Lincoln children. Born in 1853, Tad was known for being rambunctious and full of energy. Slightly the troublemaker, Tad and his brother Willie were often playmates getting into all sorts of mischief. When Tad and his brother were referred to as “notorious hellions” by Lincoln’s law partner, William Herndon, because they enjoyed pulling apart the law office and dumping books and papers all about the room. 

Tad was 7 when his father accepted the presidency and the White House became his and Willie’s new playground. Multiple of the Taft children came over to play and began to form friendships with the new First Family.

In February 1862, both Willie and Tad contracted Typhoid fever. Tad recovered, but lost his older brother to the illness. It was at this point that Mary Lincoln prevented children from coming to play at the White House because it gave her too much pain to hear children laughing and playing after Willie’s death. 

On April 14, 1865 Tad went to Grover’s Theatre to see the play Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. Tad’s parents were also at the theater that night, but were seeing Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre. When new’s of the assassination reached Tad, he began screaming “They killed Papa” and was escorted back to the White House. 

After the assassination, Tad, Mary and Robert lived together in Chicago. Robert married and moved out and Mary decided to take Tad to Europe to get out of the states for a bit. Tad attended school in Frankfurt, Germany. When Tad turned 18, he returned to Chicago with his mother but managed to get a cold that turned into something much more serious (potentially pneumonia or congestive heart failure). Tad died on July 15, 1871 at the age of 18.