Abraham Lincoln's Love for Ann Rutledge

Did Lincoln Love Ann Rutledge or Not?

This is a question that everyone interested in Lincoln has wondered about time and time again. I'd encourage anyone interested in Lincoln's early life to read this article and then read the rest of this post.

Ann Rutledge is buried in Petersburg and the mythology of the relationship between Ann Rutledge and Abraham Lincoln is rich in Menard County. It is hard to be from Menard County and not have a pretty distinct opinion of the relationship between Lincoln and Anne Rutledge.

As Wilson points out in this excerpt, "In legend, Ann is always the tavernkeeper’s daughter and Lincoln the love-struck boarder. . . ." This is always the story I've known. They had a crush on each other. They made eyes when they passed each other in New Salem. So what? What young person hasn't had a crush or made eyes at someone else? It doesn't make for a notable love story. This version of the Lincoln/Rutledge love story seems easy for people to digest, since they never married and it would be hard to think about all the complications that truly existed at the time. When the relationship is described in this way, it has little chance of ever being accepted beyond the typical mythological love story that it has become.

But then I was reading Edgar Lee Masters's The Sangamon this morning as I cooked breakfast, and I came across a fascinating story of John McNamar, a man Edgar Lee Masters recalls as forlorn and distant.

John McNamar, who figures in the story of Anne Rutledge as suitor and betrothed husband, bought eighty acres of land on Sandridge in 1831. He rented part of this to James Rutledge, Anne's father, and in a log house on this rented land Anne died in August of 1835 . . . . In September, 1940, when I saw this spot there was a large sign in the yard saying that Anne Rutledge lived here and died here in the log house mentioned.

It's interesting to me, when read in the context of Douglas L. Wilson's excerpt, that the Rutledge family was living in Sandridge on land that was rented from her would-be husband, John McNamar. This, keep in mind, was occurring all while McNamar was in New York tending to family matters and while Abraham Lincoln was making trips to Sandridge to see Anne Rutledge regularly. Also, during this time, John Rutledge was demanding of his daughter that she wait to fully take on Abraham Lincoln as her betrothed until she had a chance to get out of her "contract" with John McNamar, the man she'd promised to marry before he left for New York.

So, this is what we have. Anne Rutledge promised to marry John McNamar

Wilson's excerpt muddies the waters a bit by throwing in the nonsense about the news of McNamar's return killing her. Certainly this may have happened, but it was a coincidence. Ms. Rutledge certainly caught some type of illness, most likely typhoid fever, and she died. The fact that she was embroiled in this tragic love triangle with her soon-returning fiance John McNamar and Abraham Lincoln is purely a coincidence, but one that has made the truth hard to decipher.

Edgar Lee Masters goes on to say this about John McNamar:

Often when driving with my grandfather I saw John McNamar standing at his gate, like a wolf looking from his hole. I do not mean by this simile that he was wolfish. I think he was just contrary. Something happened to him in life, just as a tree can nourish a worm at the root. He was a successful merchant at New Salem; he left New Salem mysteriously for New York. He returned to Illinois about the time that Anne Rutledge died.

I think it's clear from what we know of Lincoln's story that he was deeply affected by the loss of Anne Rutledge. We hear stories of him walking the countryside in a suicidal funk and even of a poem about suicide that is often attributed to him. This story, as Masters tells it, shows that Rutledge also had a deep effect on Mr. McNamar, who spent much of his life alone and living wolfishly until his death in 1879.

One thing I really like about this story is that it happened around the area that became Oakford. That is something I truly didn't know. From what I'd always heard, the Anne Rutledge story played out in New Salem and Petersburg. I had no idea until this morning that her story ended in Sandridge, the birthplace of Oakford.