Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 114, No. 15	April 2, 2008

Re-enactor brings Mary Todd Lincoln to life

Photo by Larry See Jr.
Mary Todd Lincoln, portrayed by Glenna Holloway shows a piece of china used in the White House during her husband’s presidency. Lincoln was visiting elementary students from Payneville and Battletown elementary schools last week.

By LARRY SEE JR.
Messenger Staff

The year was 1863 and the Civil War was in full swing.

President Abraham Lincoln couldn’t take a break to accompany his wife to Kentucky but students from Payneville and Battletown elementary schools heard Mary Todd Lincoln.

Mary Todd, who in real life is Glenna Holloway, the bookstore manager at the Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington, travels throughout Kentucky visiting elementary schools to bring the Civil War to life.

Following her departure from Payneville March 27, she was enroute to Shepherdsville to educate students there.

A member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters, Holloway kept the students enthralled with her hour-long presentation. The association is a union of men and women, throughout the United States, who are dedicated to bringing Abraham and Mary Todd to life.

Her visit was funded through a grant from the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Company, with the school having to pay only for mileage.

Applications are evaluated on the integration of the visit into the classroom curriculum, the number of children served and the current availability of funds.

During her presentation, Holloway mentioned how her father was a successful businessman who served in the state legislature for 24 years. He also was the first president of the Kentucky Bank from 1836 to 1849, she said.

“As president he got to sign the bank notes,” Holloway said. “My parents had seven children and I was the fourth of them.”

He later remarried after his first wife died, and the family had nine additional children, with 14 reaching adulthood.

She remembered how difficult it was to start school at 6 a.m. Attending the Shelby Female Institution, she had to memorize math, poems, and geography nightly to recite in class.

“If we were unable to recite our lessons, we received corporal punishment,” she said. She told the students she was one of the best educated in the area, having attended schools for nearly 12 years.

A pony, who happened to perfom tricks, was purchased for her later, she said. Her dad encouraged her to take the pony to a family friend, Henry Clay, who was reputed to be the best state horse judge.

“I rode two miles to his house on my pony and was told by the servant Mr. Clay was meeting with an important gentlemen,” Holloway said. “I knew he was running for president. I told the servant who I was and that I was a great supporter of him and could he interrupt them.”

The servant did and a few minutes later, Clay and his guest arrived, commented on the pony and she enjoyed dinner with them.

Her first experience with slaves was with those who were mostly household servants, adding it was accepted.

Her father later died, not leaving a will, and the family’s slaves were sold at auction.

“Many of them were split up,” she said. “Three of our important family members were sold at auction. When my grandmother died, she believed in gradual emancipation and allowed every slave to be set free after her death. She also set aside money to educate every single slave she had.”

She met her future husband, while visiting Springfield, adding he asked her to dance.

“My family saw him as a poor man with no future,” Holloway said. “They were excited by Stephen Douglas, but I told them our political ideologies were far different.”

Douglas ran against Lincoln for the presidency but was defeated.

“It took three years to win my family over, but eventually we were married and had four children,” she said.

While living in the White House, each president was given $20,000 to spend to personalize the house. The first lady spent funds on china, which for which she was criticized. She did say, in order to contradict the expenditure, she laid off some servants.

“I also visited the soldiers in the hospital and took them flowers and fruit. I wrote letters to their family from them, but I didn’t sign my name,” she said. “I signed it in their name and told them it was written by a friend.”

“Before we moved there the White House was more like a third-rate hotel,” she said. “Especially when we had visitors from other countries. I felt that it was a bad time for our symbol to be disintegrating. Mr. Lincoln encouraged me to leave Washington altogether, but I didn’t. I did leave from time to time though.”

Holloway closed by saying Lincoln’s number one goal was to preserve the union.

“He wanted to preserve the United States. He wanted one union, undivided,” she said.

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