(b. December 13, 1818; d. July 16, 1882) Responsible for major renovations of the White House as First Lady during the Civil War, 1861–1865.

Mary Todd was a proud member of a wealthy Kentucky family whose members on both her paternal and maternal sides had fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Intelligent and charming, though quick-tempered, she attended school for twelve years in Lexington before moving to Springfield, Illinois, to live with her married sister Elizabeth Todd Edwards in 1837. There she met Abraham Lincoln, who was at the time an aspiring Whig politician and ambitious lawyer.

In November 1842 Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln married, and by 1853 they were the parents of four sons, three of whom would predecease their mother. During her years as a married woman and mother in Springfield, Mary Lincoln enthusiastically supported her husband's political career, especially in the 1850s, when Lincoln lost...