Cause of death Blood poisoning Other names "Jack" | Name Abraham II Role Robert Todd Lincoln's son | |
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Born August 14, 1873 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Resting place originally the Lincoln Tomb (1890–1930),
Arlington National Cemetery section 31 (May 27, 1930 – present) Known for being a namesake and grandson of President Lincoln Died March 5, 1890, London, United Kingdom Parents Mary Eunice Harlan, Robert Todd Lincoln Grandparents Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, James Harlan Great-grandparents Nancy Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, Elizabeth Parker, Robert Smith Todd Uncles Tad Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln, Edward Baker Lincoln Similar People Abraham Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln, Mary Eunice Harlan, Mary Todd Lincoln, Mamie Lincoln | ||
Abraham "Jack" Lincoln II (August 14, 1873 – March 5, 1890), was the middle of three children of Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Eunice Harlan, and the only grandson of Abraham Lincoln. He died in Europe at the age of 16, after an infection from a wound.
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Life, illness, and death
After President Lincoln's assassination, the former first family relocated to Chicago, Illinois, where Robert Todd Lincoln settled and married a U.S. senator's daughter, Mary Eunice Harlan. Abraham II was born in 1873, the second of three children, and was nicknamed "Jack". Jack and his sisters were described as "bright, natural, unpretentious children, well liked by the people of the town". It was claimed that Jack was much like President Lincoln.
At the age of 16, Jack was in Versailles to study French in preparation for an entrance examination for Harvard University. His family was in England while his father served as the last U.S. Minister to Great Britain, before the position was retitled "Ambassador". Jack fell ill with blood poisoning after infection set in following surgery in Paris to lance a carbuncle that had formed under his arm. He was moved from France to England on January 16, 1890, where his father wrote that he might be seen by the noted physician Thomas John MacLagan. A second surgery was performed on February 27, 1890, though it gave no relief and Jack died six days later at the family residence in London.
A 20th-century biographer wrote that while Jack was weak, he had been recovering. Jack's father, Robert, was said to be in their sitting room with Henry White when daughter Mary rushed in with the words, "Go upstairs quickly." Robert returned ten minutes later with the news of Jack's death. He later wrote, "We had a long & most anxious struggle and at times had hopes of saving our boy. It would have been done if it had depended only on his own marvelous pluck & patience now that the end has come, there is a great blank in our future lives & an affliction not to be measured."
Burial
On May 8, 1890, The Pall Mall Gazette reported that a funeral service was held "in the drawing-room of the United States Minister at Cornwall House", attended by the entire Legation and marked by "an immense number of floral tributes from friends and American citizens in London". The service was conducted by the Rev. J. Munro Gibson, the Presbyterian minister who had baptized Jack, and married his parents. The registers of the General Cemetery Company record that the remains of 'Abraham Lincoln' were deposited in Catacomb Z, beneath the Dissenters' Chapel of Kensal Green Cemetery on March 7, 1890. His father accompanied the coffin back to Illinois, where Jack was buried in the Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois on November 8, 1890. His mother later decided on burial at Arlington National Cemetery and Jack's remains were re-interred there in May 1930 near those of his father, who had died four years earlier. Jack's name was not added to his father's memorial until 1976, or 1984 according to The Washington Post.