Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters is a work of fiction inspired by history. Certain events and people that appear in the historical record have been omitted to better serve the story.
I am deeply grateful to Maria Massie, Rachel Kahan, Alivia Lopez, Molly Waxman, Camille Collins, Cynthia Buck, and Jennifer Hart for their contributions to Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters and their ongoing support of my work. Geraldine Neidenbach, Heather Neidenbach, and Marty Chiaverini were my first readers, and their comments and questions about early drafts of this novel proved invaluable. As ever, Nic Neidenbach generously shared his computer expertise to help me in crucial moments.
I am indebted to the Wisconsin Historical Society and their librarians and staff for maintaining the excellent archives on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison that I rely upon for my research. The sources I found most useful for Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters include:
Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1987.
Clinton, Catherine. Mrs. Lincoln: A Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
Emerson, Jason. The Madness of Mary Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2007.
Epstein, Daniel Mark. The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008.
Fleischner, Jennifer. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship between a First Lady and a Former Slave. New York: Broadway Books, 2003.
Furgurson, Ernest B. Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War. New York: Knopf, 2004.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Green, Maureen Helm. “Emilie—Abraham Lincoln’s Sister in Law.” Kentucky Ancestors, vol. 4, no. 1, 2008, pp. 4–16.
Helm, Katherine. The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1928.
Hoffmann, John. “The Lincoln Ox Yoke at the University of Illinois.” For the People, vol. 16, no. 2, 2014, pp. 1–7.
Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes. New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., 1868.
Miers, Earl Schenck, ed. Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology. Washington, DC: Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, 1960.
Turner, Justin G., and Linda Levitt Turner, eds. Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters. New York: Knopf, 1972.
I consulted several excellent online resources while researching and writing Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters, including the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov/collections/abraham-lincoln-papers/); the archives of digitized historic newspapers at Genealogybank.com (www.genealogybank.com) and Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com); and census records, directories, and other historical records at Ancestry (ancestry.com).
As always and most of all, I thank my husband, Marty, and my sons, Nicholas and Michael, for their enduring love, steadfast support, and constant encouragement. You make everything worthwhile, and I could not have written this book without you.