Mary Todd was born in 1818 into a wealthy Lexington, Kentucky family, lost her mother at six, and studied French, classical drama and Whig politics at a finishing school. In Springfield she was courted by Stephen A. Douglas but chose Abraham Lincoln; their engagement broke on January 1, 1841, and they married abruptly in November 1842, moving into a single room in a tavern. Their son Eddie died as a toddler, and of four sons only Robert would outlive her.

In the White House she was mocked by Washington elites, had half-brothers fighting for the Confederacy, ran up debts on renovations, china and jewelry, and was bedridden after son Willie died of typhoid. She was holding Lincoln’s hand at Ford’s Theatre when he was shot. As a widow she auctioned possessions, was stung by Elizabeth Keckley’s memoir, and fought for a $3,000 pension. After Tad died in 1871 she carried $56,000 in bonds sewn into her petticoats, and in 1875 Robert had her declared insane before lawyer Myra Bradwell helped win her release.

• Her migraines worsened after a serious head injury in an 1863 carriage accident.
• Some medical historians argue her symptoms fit pernicious anemia, a B12 deficiency, rather than bipolar disorder.
• She visited wounded soldiers in Washington hospitals, bringing fruit and writing letters to their families.
• Queen Victoria sent her a handwritten letter of condolence.
• She died in 1882 at age 63 in her sister Elizabeth’s Springfield house, where she had first met Lincoln.