Her headaches became more frequent after she suffered a head injury in a carriage accident during her White House years. She suffered from severe headaches, described as migraines, throughout her adult life, as well as protracted depression.

The President was very angry over the cost, even though Congress eventually passed two additional appropriations to cover these expenses. She refurbished the White House, which included extensive redecorating of all the public and private rooms as well as the purchase of new china, which led to extensive over-expenditures. She had difficulty negotiating White House social responsibilities and rivalries, spoils-seeking solicitors, and baiting newspapers in a climate of high national intrigue in Civil-War Washington. Her second son, Eddie, had died of tuberculosis in 1850 and her third son William (Willie), died of typhoid fever in the White House in 1862. Several of her half-brothers served in the Confederate Army and were killed in action, and one brother served the Confederacy as a surgeon. During her White House years, she faced many personal difficulties generated by political divisions within the nation.

Her husband became famous for his position on slavery, which generated national support for him. Douglas and others, she chose to marry Abraham Lincoln, a rising circuit lawyer, in November 1842. She was popular among the gentry of Springfield, and, though she was courted by the rising young lawyer and Democratic Party politician Stephen A. Edwards, the son of a former Illinois governor he served as her guardian. In October 1839, she moved to Springfield, Illinois, and lived with her oldest sister, Elizabeth Porter Edwards, who was married to Ninian W. By age 20, she was regarded as witty and gregarious, with a grasp of politics. She attended Madame Mantelle's finishing school at an early age where she learned to speak French fluently and studied dance, drama, music, and social graces. Her father remarried and had nine additional children. Born the fourth of seven children into an affluent family, her father was a banker, and the family owned slaves. She was the wife of 16th United States President Abraham Lincoln and was the First Lady from March 1861 until April 1865.

Mary by Janis Cooke Newman