Presidential House Visit: Springfield Redux

Abraham Lincoln Home
Springfield, IL

I was a little nervous to see the Abraham Lincoln Home in Springfield again. What if it was totally different from how I remembered it? What if it was a big disappointment?

I shouldn't have worried. It was completely different from how I remembered, but it was also a much richer experience. Having seen the Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home so recently, I had a different perspective and a deeper understanding of what this house meant for Abraham Lincoln.

The formal parlor

For one thing, the size must have been a welcome relief. In the cabin where he grew up, the ceilings were too low for his 6'4" frame, and he would have had to crouch to fit. In his home in Springfield, the ceilings are are all twelve feet high. Walking through the house, I could imagine him finally being able to be comfortable in his own home. He had enough room at last.

Abraham Lincoln's Original Writing Desk

Wardrobe possibly made by Lincoln's father

Lincoln's Bed

Another surprise for me on the tour was the focus on Mary Lincoln, as they refer to her at the site. History has been harsh on Mrs. Lincoln, but the home she made for her family is stylish and comfortable, but not ostentatious. Also, I was surprised to learn that Mary did all the cooking for the family herself in the well-equipped kitchen. I always thought of her as a spoiled, difficult woman, but the evidence at Springfield contradicted that assessment.

Mrs. Lincoln's Bed

Kitchen where Mrs. Lincoln did her cooking

The historical neighborhood

While I was in Springfield, I also stopped by Abraham Lincoln's tomb. I was pleasantly surprised to find it much as I remembered it, although now you can no longer go up to the balcony section.

Lincoln's Tomb

But what I was most excited to see at Oak Ridge Cemetery was the John R. Tanner mausoleum. It is still there, in all its beehive glory, although things were not exactly as I remembered it. The grave we thought belonged to John R. tanner's second wife was actually that of his daughter-in-law (the mistake was easy to make considering the words "Wife of John R. Tanner" are emblazoned on the tombstone). His actual second wife was only 11 years younger than him, which is not nearly as large an age difference as my dad had thought. 

John R. Tanner Mausoleum

Daughter-in-law of John R. Tanner (not trophy wife)

Second wife of John R. Tanner, Edith English Tanner

I'm glad I came back to Springfield. I felt like I came away knowing more about Lincoln and the life he chose for himself. 

Presidential House Retrospective: At Home in Springfield

In which the author reminisces on previous presidential house visits. This post chronicles my first ever presidential house visit in 2000.

My first experience with a presidential home was Abraham Lincoln's family home in Springfield, IL. I was eight years old, and my family was in the middle of our Great Tour of the Midwest. We were making the rounds at various spots where our both our living and dead relatives lived. That summer my brother and I learned a great deal about our family history, so it only seemed fitting to fit in some national history as well.

I remember very little about the house itself. It was a cheery yellow color and surrounded by a short fence. The only thing I distinctly recall about the interior was how small the bed was. My image of Lincoln was as more giant than man, and I wondered how such a tall man fit in such a short bed.

What made a real impression on me was Lincoln's tomb, which we visited after we toured the house. The tomb itself is surrounded by an elaborate monument with a balcony and massive statues of horses and soldiers and, of course, the man himself. It is a dramatic structure somewhat at odds with my vision of Honest Abe, the folksy lawyer turned president. It was only later that I recognized that the tomb celebrated Lincoln the martyr to unity and liberty. The problem with martyrdom is that the person's death becomes the climax of your life, with no falling action so what they did in life is marginalized. His humor and intelligence are not present at his tomb like they were in his house.

We were informed that there would be a color guard salute in an hour, and afterward we would be able to go down into the tomb itself. We did what most people with an hour to kill in a cemetery would do: we looked at some gravestones and speculated. I should note that as I child I visited a lot of cemeteries in order to visit various deceased relatives, distant or otherwise, and developed a love of cemeteries. So the prospect of an hour in an unfamiliar cemetery was not necessarily unwelcome.

As we wandered around the grounds, we came across a large mausoleum reminiscent of a beehive. It belonged to John R. Tanner, a former governor of Illinois. Although there was plenty of room inside the tomb, his two wives were buried next to him. From looking at the dates on the tombstones, my dad figured out that Tanner's second wife was significantly younger than him. That was the day I learned the term "trophy wife," and I was both repulsed and intrigued by the concept. I was apparently so taken by the idea that I wrote about it in my diary that night, in the style of a lurid melodrama, as only an eight year old can write a lurid melodrama. 

Transcript (glorious typos intact): 

"John R. Tanner was Governor of Illnois for 4 years. His wife, Laurretta, was peacful untill......They got in Divorce! Then John, had a Trophy wife! 2 years after they married, John died. He is all alone in a tomb shaped like a bee hive. His wives next to his tomb. Unlike Abe. His sons and wife were buried with him. John R. Tanner is now gone."

I recently looked up John R. Tanner on Wikipedia, purveyor of all knowledge. Turns out he was a pretty cool guy and not a soap opera villain. However, I noted with satisfaction that Wikipedia describes his second wife as "socially connected," which is just a nicer way of saying she was a trophy wife. So maybe my version of events was more accurate than I thought.

I learned an important lesson at Springfield-- history is a story. It can be reinterpreted and rewritten, erased and recovered. In my eight year old hands, John. R. Tanner was a lecherous sleazebag, and at Lincoln's tomb, our 16th president is raised to mythical levels.  Lincoln is a national hero deserving of grand tribute, and so his tomb is huge and grandiose to emphasize his importance, not necessarily to reflect his personality. I prefer the Lincoln who couldn't fit in his bed, a man too large for his world. My Lincoln was a gentle giant, whose humility belied a shrewd political mind and incredible strength of character. 

Also, his wife was buried with him, not next to him.