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A Dress, A story, and Mary Todd Lincoln

1957.07.1a1957.7.1 Gift of Mrs. Dudley Pleasants Bowe

In 1957, a dress was given to the Maryland Historical Society with an interesting story attached. The donor, Mrs. Dudley Pleasants Bowe (Lillian Hamilton Thompson) was given a copper-colored silk ball gown as a child by her grandmother, Mrs. Gabriel Ludlow Todd. Her grandmother told her that the dress had belonged to Mary Todd Lincoln. The story goes that Mrs. Lincoln wore the dress when she accompanied the President on a trip to Baltimore sometime around 1863. The Lincoln’s hostess admired the dress, and so Mrs. Lincoln presented it to her as a gift. This story was taken as fact when it was accessioned and interpreted that way for many years, so far as to have a mannequin made up to look like Mary Todd Lincoln.

MaryToddLincolnThe Mary Todd Lincoln dress on display at the Maryland Historical Society in 1976.

Since then, this provenance has been questioned again and again. It is not uncommon for someone to have clothing in their collection that they were told belonged to their most famous ancestor or acquaintance. The story evolves through generations and there is only an echo of the truth when it finally reaches the museum. Fashion history as a field is also still evolving; the dating of garments now is much more reliable than that of the 1950s, as is genealogical research. With these tools, we can now do a more in-depth analysis of the dress and perhaps finally uncover the truth.

1957.7.1a_3.jpg 1957.7.1b_2-326126-edited.jpg 1957.7.1c_2-379377-edited.jpg

 Details of the dress allegedly worn by Mary Todd Lincoln. The day bodice (left) features black and white lace trim and pagoda sleeves. The evening bodice (center) features a more delicate lace trim at the neckline. The skirt (right) unfortunately suffers many incidents of horizontal splits in the silk as seen in the image. 1957.7.1 Gift of Mrs. Dudley Pleasants Bowe.

First, we look at the dress itself. The copper dress came with a skirt, a day bodice, an evening bodice, and a lace collar. The day bodice, which features a pagoda sleeve, black and white lace trim, functional buttons, and a standing collar is in excellent condition. The evening bodice has a bit more wear, it has two shoulder straps and lace along the neckline. The skirt, which would have been worn with both bodices, suffers a lot of splitting from prolonged display. Based on the waist treatment and shape, we can tell that this dress was worn with an elliptical cage. Compiling all of this information, it seems that the dress dates to 1864-1866.

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 A cage crinoline such as this would have been worn under the skirt of the dress. Cage Crinoline, c.1865. LACMA. Purchased with funds provided by Suzanne A. Saperstein and Michael and Ellen Michelson, with additional funding from the Costume Council, the Edgerton Foundation, Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer, Maureen H. Shapiro, Grace Tsao, and Lenore and Richard Wayne (M.2007.211.380). http://www.lacma.org

 This date range raises a few questions early in our investigation. The original story is that Mary Todd Lincoln wore the dress around 1863. The sleeve construction tells us that this gown was not worn earlier than 1864. The shape of the skirt also points to late or post-war fashions. Could the donor’s grandmother be off by a year? Possibly. There is also the timing of President Lincoln’s assassination. President Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 after which Mary Todd Lincoln went into mourning, wearing only black. Therefore, this bright copper dress would not have been worn any time after 1865. This means that Mrs. Lincoln would have had to wear the dress in Baltimore between 1864 and March of 1865.

One of the more notable characteristics of Mary Todd Lincoln was her height. At 5’2” tall, Mrs. Lincoln was noticeably short, especially compared to the 6’4” Abraham Lincoln. It is difficult to judge the exact height of the wearer of our dress. The skirt is too fragile to put on a mannequin and would have to be fitted with an elliptical cage to truly judge how tall the wearer might have been. We can say that our skirt, measures 39” in the front and the majority of our Civil War Era skirts fall around 42”in length in the front, so this wearer was likely shorter than the average woman at the time.

Now that we know the dress could potentially fit into the narrative given by the donor, we can look at the family genealogy. The donor, Mrs. Dudley Pleasants Bowe was born Lilian Hamilton Thompson in 1895. She was the daughter of William B. Thompson (b.1871, Pennsylvania) and Josephine Todd (b.1870, Maryland). The grandmother who gifted her dress was Sarah Brown Todd, wife to Gabriel Ludlow Todd. Despite the appearance of the name “Todd” in the genealogy, there appears to be no connection to Mary Todd Lincoln. Of course, the provenance never claims a familial relation, only that they hosted the Lincolns around 1863. Gabriel Ludlow Todd was born in New Jersey in 1831, but moves to Baltimore at some point. His father, James W. Todd (b.1798, New Jersey) appears on the 1850 US Census as living in Philadelphia, so perhaps the family moved south some years prior. The earliest appearance of Sarah and Gabriel Ludlow Todd in Baltimore is in the 1870 US census. Gabriel also appears in the 1872 directory as a “machinist” living on Burgundy Alley in Baltimore. The family does not appear in the 1861 or 1864 directories. We therefore cannot with certainty say they lived in Baltimore in 1864-1865, but it is possible as they were there just after that time.

1870 Census

The 1870 US Census lists Gabriel Ludlow Todd, Sarah Todd, and daughter Josephine Todd living in Baltimore.

 Armed with all of this new knowledge, we go back to the original provenance:

Mrs. Dudley Pleasants Bowe was given the dress by her grandmother, Mrs. Gabriel Ludlow Todd. Her grandmother told her that the dress was worn by Mary Todd Lincoln when she accompanied President Abraham Lincoln on a trip to Baltimore around 1863. The Lincoln’s hostess admired the dress, and Mrs. Lincoln presented it to her.

First, we see that the grandmother, Sarah Brown Todd, would have been the correct age to receive the gift. While we do not have her dates, we know she gives birth to her daughter Josephine in 1870 in Baltimore. It is feasible that Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Ludlow Todd lived in Baltimore around 1863. The provenance states “around 1863” so our dress’s date of 1864-1866 fits into the story. Again, it would have to be worn before April of 1865, but this fits in with the provenance. In fact, we know President Lincoln and his wife came to Baltimore in April of 1864 to open the Maryland State Fair for U.S. Soldier Relief, though he is said to have stayed at the home of William J. Albert. He also is known to have come through at least once in 1863. We do not however have any evidence that they ever crossed paths with Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Ludlow Todd. Mrs. Lincoln is said to be quite extravagant and after Lincoln’s death she had sold dresses or given them out to family, and potentially some admirers, but again we have no hard evidence.

In the end, we can say that it is not likely the dress came from Mary Todd Lincoln, but it is possible. The story may have been told to a grandchild to add whimsy to the gift of the dress, but perhaps the story did unfold as she described.

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References:

Schoeberlein, Robert. Baltimore Sanity Fair Sesquicentennial. June 16, 2016. Originally Baltimore City Archives Blog, 2014.  https://www.mdhistory.org/underbelly/2016/06/16/baltimore-sanitary-fair-sesquicentennial/

Mitchell, Charles W. “History does not record a horrible crime,” Maryland and the death of Abraham Lincoln.  
https://www.press.jhu.edu/news/blog/%E2%80%9Chistory-does-not-record-more-horrible-crime%E2%80%9D-maryland-and-death-abraham-lincoln
Genealogical research was completed by volunteer Seely Foley