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Jessie Harlan Lincoln
Jessie Harlan Lincoln
Jessie Harlan Lincoln
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Jessie Harlan Lincoln (November 6, 1875 – January 4, 1948) was an American known for being a granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln. She was the second daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln and the mother of Mary Lincoln Beckwith and Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith.[1]

Key Information

Early life

[edit]
Jessie Harlan Lincoln (right), with her siblings Abraham II (top) and Mary (left)

Jessie Harlan Lincoln was born on November 6, 1875, in Chicago to Mary and Robert Todd Lincoln. At the time of her birth, Robert Lincoln was practicing law in Chicago.[2] She was the last of three children of Robert Todd Lincoln.[3] Jessie's sister and brother were, respectively:

  • Mary "Mamie" Lincoln, October 15, 1869 – November 21, 1938
  • Abraham "Jack" Lincoln II, August 14, 1873 – March 5, 1890

Lincoln spent part of her childhood in Washington, D.C., when her father was Secretary of War from 1881 to 1885.[2] She later lived in London, England, when her father was the Minister to Great Britain from 1889 to 1893.[2] Jessie's brother, Abraham Lincoln II, died on March 5, 1890, in London at the age of 16, and three years later, the family returned to America, ultimately to Mary Eunice Harlan's mother's residence in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Jessie and her sister were piano students in the summer session of Iowa Wesleyan in 1886. She was later initiated into the Pleasant Chapter A of the P.E.O. Sisterhood on December 31, 1895, an organization of which her sister, Mamie, had become a member more than 11 years prior.

In 1919, while Lincoln was married to her second husband, her father established a trust for her and her sister, Mary Lincoln Isham. For Isham's trust, he deposited 375 shares of Commonwealth Edison stock worth slightly more than $38,000 (equivalent to $706,000 in 2025) and 1,000 shares of National Biscuit stock worth $85,000 (equivalent to $1,578,000 in 2025). For Jessie, he deposited 1,000 shares of Commonwealth Edison stock worth $101,750 (equivalent to $1,890,000 in 2025) and 1,000 shares of National Biscuit stock worth $85,000 (equivalent to $1,578,000 in 2025). It was purported that Jessie received more because she was often irresponsible with her finances. In 1920, he deposited another 1,250 shares of Commonwealth Edison stock worth than $100,000 (equivalent to $1,607,000 in 2025) into Jessie's trust fund.[4]

Personal life

[edit]

Marriages

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On November 10, 1897, she married Warren Wallace Beckwith, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at 2:30 in the afternoon. Beckwith was a member of the Mt. Pleasant Football Team and Jessie's father, Robert, strongly and bitterly opposed the couple's being together. He believed their relationship had ended until news of their elopement reached him and his family. He hurried to Jessie's room only to find it empty and that Jessie had married several hours before.[5] In Des Moines County, Iowa in 1898, she gave birth to her first child, Mary Lincoln Beckwith (1898–1975). She continued to live in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and on July 19, 1904, had her second and last child, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (1904–1985), named after her father. Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith was the last undisputed descendant of Abraham Lincoln.[1]

In 1907, Jessie divorced Warren Beckwith. Her second marriage was to Frank Edward Johnson[6] in 1915. They divorced in 1925.[7]

In 1926, Jessie married her third and final husband, Robert John Randolph, an electrical engineer[2] of the Randolph family of Virginia.[7] Her later two marriages did not produce any more children.

Death

[edit]

From 1946 until her death in 1948, Lincoln lived at their summer estate, Hildene, in Manchester, Vermont. On January 4, 1948, Jessie Harlan Lincoln died at the age of 72 at Rutland Hospital in Rutland, Vermont.[2]

See also

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References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Jessie Harlan Lincoln

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from Grokipedia
Jessie Harlan Lincoln (November 6, 1875 – January 4, 1948) was an American and heiress, best known as the granddaughter of President and the youngest child of and . Born in , , to the president's eldest son and the daughter of U.S. Senator James Harlan, she was the last surviving member of the immediate to be born bearing the Lincoln surname, following the early deaths of her brothers without issue. Jessie Harlan Lincoln's personal life was marked by three marriages and her role as mother to the final direct descendants of . In 1897, at age 22, she eloped with Warren Wallace Beckwith, a player from , and the couple had two children: Mary "Peggy" Harlan Beckwith (1898–1975), who became an aviator and artist, and (1904–1985), a reclusive heir who was the last undisputed Lincoln descendant. The Beckwith marriage ended in divorce in 1907 amid reported difficulties. She wed Frank Edward Johnson, a businessman, in 1915; that union also dissolved, in 1925. In 1926, she married Robert John Randolph, an electrical engineer, and they settled in the Northeast, remaining together until her death. Much of Jessie's later years were spent in relative privacy near Hildene, the estate in , , which her father had built and where she contributed to its legacy by designing the formal garden in 1908 as a gift to her mother. She navigated the weight of her family's historical prominence while raising her children amid the social circles of America, though she largely avoided public attention. Jessie died at age 72 in Rutland Hospital, Rutland, , from complications related to a long illness.

Early years

Birth and family

Jessie Harlan Lincoln was born on November 6, 1875, in , Illinois, as the youngest child of , the eldest son of President , and Mary Eunice Harlan, daughter of U.S. Senator James Harlan of . Her father had established a successful career as a in after serving as U.S. Secretary of War under Presidents and from 1881 to 1885. Her mother's family carried significant political influence, with Senator Harlan having served in 's cabinet as Secretary of the Interior from 1865 to 1866 and maintaining a prominent role in Republican politics. Jessie had two older siblings: her sister Mary Lincoln, known as "Mamie," born on October 15, 1869, and her brother Abraham Lincoln II, nicknamed "Jack," born on August 14, 1873. The family resided in a spacious mansion at 1234 North in Chicago's affluent Gold Coast neighborhood on the North Side, reflecting their elite social status amid the city's growing industrial wealth. As grandchildren of the assassinated president, Jessie and her siblings grew up under the shadow of 's enduring legacy, which brought intense public scrutiny and a strong emphasis on family privacy imposed by their father to shield them from constant attention. Tragedy struck the family in 1890 when 16-year-old Jack died of blood poisoning on March 5 in , , following complications from in to treat a ; the infection had spread despite medical efforts during the family's time abroad. Robert Lincoln had been appointed U.S. Minister to the in May 1889, leading the family on a three-year European residence that began just before Jack's illness and continued after his death as a period of mourning and recovery. This loss, compounded by the ongoing family trauma from Abraham Lincoln's 1865 , deepened the sense of isolation and heightened expectations placed on the surviving children.

Education

Jessie Harlan Lincoln received her at in , an elite boarding institution founded in that catered to young women from prominent families, emphasizing a of , history, languages, and social etiquette to prepare them for societal roles. The school's reputation for fostering intellectual and cultural refinement among daughters of the American elite provided Jessie with a structured environment suited to her family's status during her adolescent years. The death of her brother Abraham "Jack" Lincoln II in in 1890 prompted the family to extend their stay in , embarking on a three-year journey that profoundly shaped Jessie's worldview through immersion in continental culture. During this period, she encountered European art, history, and languages firsthand, particularly while residing in —where the family had been stationed due to Robert Todd Lincoln's diplomatic post—and later in , broadening her perspectives beyond formal classrooms. Upon the family's return to Chicago in 1893, Jessie's higher education remained limited, consisting of informal studies in music and literature conducted at home or through private instruction, in keeping with the era's constraints on women's access to universities for those of her social standing. She did not earn a degree, a common outcome for women from affluent backgrounds who prioritized domestic and cultural accomplishments over academic credentials. Early on, her interests in family history and writing emerged, inspired by her maternal Harlan lineage and the array of Lincoln artifacts preserved in the household, laying the foundation for her later reflections on her heritage.

Personal life

Marriages

Jessie Harlan Lincoln's first occurred on November 10, 1897, when, at the age of 22, she with Warren Wallace Beckwith in Milwaukee, . Beckwith, a star at Iowa Wesleyan College in , later worked as a ; the couple's union drew significant due to the sensational of the courtship and elopement. The marriage faced strong disapproval from her family, particularly her father, , owing to Beckwith's comparatively lower social and economic status compared to the prominent Lincoln lineage. Relational tensions persisted, marked by at least two separations, and the couple divorced in 1907 on grounds of desertion granted to Beckwith. Following her divorce, Lincoln married Frank Edward Johnson, a geographer, explorer, artist, and lecturer, on June 22, 1915, in Manchester, Vermont. Johnson provided a more stable partnership initially, though the relationship was characterized by incompatibility and ended in divorce in 1925. This second marriage produced no children and lasted a decade, reflecting a period of relative calm after the turbulence of her first union. Lincoln's third marriage took place on December 28, 1926, in , to Robert John Randolph, an electrical engineer descended from the historic . The timing followed closely after the death of her father, , on July 26, 1926, and offered enduring companionship in her later years. This union remained intact until Lincoln's death in 1948 and, like her second marriage, was childless.

Children

Jessie Harlan Lincoln and her first husband, Warren Wallace Beckwith, had two children during their marriage, which ended in divorce in 1907. Their daughter, , known as "Peggy," was born on August 22, 1898, in Mount Pleasant, Henry County, . Their son, , was born on July 19, 1904, in Riverside, . Mary Lincoln "Peggy" Beckwith pursued as a hobby in the early , earning her pilot's license in 1931 and owning three airplanes, including a that she flew over a marking the opening of the Highway in on September 30, 1930. She built a landing strip near the family estate in , , and managed the Hildene dairy farm independently after inheriting the property in 1938 from her grandmother, . Beckwith lived a private life focused on personal interests such as , still lifes, and sculpting architectural landscapes; she never married and had no children. She died on July 10, 1975, at Rutland Hospital in , , at the age of 76. Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, the last undisputed direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln, inherited significant family wealth, including financial assets tied to the Lincoln estates, though Hildene itself passed to his sister Peggy upon their grandmother's death in 1938. He lived at Hildene with Peggy until her death in 1975, after which the estate was bequeathed by her to the Church of Christ, Scientist, leading to community efforts to preserve it as a Lincoln memorial. Beckwith married three times—to Hazel Holland Wilson (1927 until her death in 1966), Annemarie Hoffman (1967, divorced 1976), and Margaret Hogan Fristoe (1985)—none of which produced children, and supported philanthropic causes related to historic preservation later in life. He worked as a gentleman farmer and died on December 24, 1985, in Saluda, Virginia, at age 81, marking the extinction of the direct male line from Abraham Lincoln. Following the 1907 divorce, which was granted on grounds of desertion after Jessie took the children to , she received full custody, and Beckwith had no further contact with them. The children were raised primarily by Jessie in and subsequent residences, where she maintained a close yet protective relationship with them, initially incorporating the Lincoln surname into their full names—Mary and Robert Todd —to honor her heritage, though they later used Beckwith predominantly. This upbringing emphasized amid the in their Lincoln ancestry, shielding them from excessive scrutiny. With neither child producing offspring, Jessie Harlan Lincoln remained the final childbearing descendant in the direct line from .

Later life and legacy

Residences and activities

Following her from Warren Wallace Beckwith in 1907, Jessie Harlan Lincoln returned to the family residence on Chicago's North Side, a grand mansion built by her father, , in the late . During this period from 1907 to 1915, she pursued private hobbies such as gardening—evidenced by her design of the formal garden at the family estate Hildene in around 1907–1908 as a gift for her mother, —and collecting Lincoln family memorabilia, which reflected her interest in preserving personal artifacts from her grandfather Abraham Lincoln's legacy. These activities allowed her to lead a low-profile life amid the North Side's affluent community, avoiding the public scrutiny often directed at Lincoln descendants. From 1915 to 1926, during her second marriage to geographer Frank Edward Johnson, Jessie continued to base herself primarily in the Chicago area, though specific relocations remain sparsely documented; she participated minimally in local social circles while steering clear of events tied to her famous surname, prioritizing family matters over public engagements. This era marked a deliberate retreat from media attention, as the Lincoln name continued to draw intense interest, prompting her to focus on personal routines rather than formal social or professional pursuits. In her later years, from 1926 to 1948, following her third marriage to electrical engineer Robert John Randolph and her father's death in 1926, which left Hildene to her mother, Jessie and her husband spent time in the Northeast. After her mother's death in 1938, Hildene passed to her daughter Mary "Peggy" Beckwith. She spent summers at Hildene in , the sprawling family estate overlooking the , and made it her primary residence from 1946 until her death, living with Peggy. There, she oversaw minor preservation efforts, such as maintaining the formal garden she had originally designed, ensuring its geometric hedges and seasonal plantings remained a serene feature of the property. Her daily life emphasized quiet introspection, with no formal career; instead, she engaged in occasional correspondence with historians like Louis A. Warren of the Lincoln National Life Foundation about family artifacts, providing insights into Lincoln heirlooms while guarding her privacy from ongoing media fascination with the lineage. This reclusive approach extended to subtle linked to her maternal Harlan heritage, including support for institutions like , where her grandfather James Harlan had served as president and her family maintained deep ties; she was a member of the , connected through , supporting women's education. By the mid-1940s, she resided more permanently near Rutland, , close to Hildene, until her death there in 1948.

Death and historical significance

Jessie Harlan Lincoln died on January 4, 1948, at the age of 72, at Rutland Hospital in , , after a period of declining health related to her advanced age. Her remains were interred at Dellwood Cemetery in Manchester, . Her funeral was a private service held on January 14, 1948, at 2:00 p.m. at Hildene, the family estate in Manchester, Vermont. Following her death, her estate—substantial due to family inheritances—was divided among her two surviving children, and , with particular attention to safeguarding documents and artifacts for posterity. As Abraham Lincoln's last surviving granddaughter and the final member of the direct lineage to bear children, Jessie Harlan Lincoln's life marked the symbolic close of the presidential family's reproductive line, a poignant endpoint to a storied American dynasty. She contributed indirectly to the preservation of Lincoln history by supporting the family's ongoing donations of artifacts and papers to the , including letters and memorabilia that enriched national collections, and by backing efforts to maintain memorials honoring her grandfather. Her children's childless lives culminated in the extinction of the direct Lincoln bloodline in 1985 with the death of her son, . Despite her prominent ancestry, Jessie remains underrepresented in popular historical narratives, largely owing to her reclusive lifestyle and preference for privacy in her later years at Hildene. Recent scholarship has begun to redress this, notably through C.J. King's 2005 book Four Marys and a Jessie: The Story of the Lincoln Women, which illuminates the roles and challenges faced by women in the across generations. Jessie's experiences epitomized the constraints on elite women, who navigated immense inherited wealth and social expectations of seclusion while grappling with limited personal autonomy in matters of , , and public life.

References

  1. https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/lincolnchronology.htm
  2. https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/education/roberttimeline.htm
  3. https://www.lincolncollection.org/
  4. https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/Blog/Posts/100/Abraham-Lincoln/2021/1/A-Lincoln-descendant-takes-to-the-skies/blog-post/
  5. https://www.tumblr.com/lincolncollection/99916250369/the-last-lincolns-the-beckwith-family
  6. https://hildene.org/pages/formal-garden
  7. https://hildene.org/pages/the-lincoln-family-home
  8. https://www.geni.com/people/Jessie-Lincoln/6000000001768142157
  9. https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/sites/harlan.htm
  10. https://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/residents-visitors/cabinet-vice-presidents/cabinet-vice-presidents-james-harlan-1820-1899/index.html
  11. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LCPC-MHL/jessie-harlan-lincoln-1875-1948
  12. https://classicchicagomagazine.com/tag/robert-todd-lincoln/
  13. https://www.historynet.com/in-his-fathers-shadow/
  14. https://www.geni.com/people/Abraham-Lincoln-II/6000000001768142038
  15. https://www.lincolncollection.org/collection/curated-groupings/category/women-of-the-lincoln-family/
  16. https://www.amazon.com/Four-Marys-Jessie-Story-Lincoln/dp/0975491725
  17. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33418929/jessie_harlan-beckwith_johnson_randolph
  18. https://www.nytimes.com/1900/12/22/archives/mrs-w-beckwith-divorced-robert-t-lincolns-daughter-no-longer-wife.html
  19. https://www.myjournalcourier.com/features/article/Descendants-lives-differed-from-Lincoln-s-12581214.php
  20. https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/05/21/dont-let-iowas-remarkable-connection-to-abraham-lincolns-family-fade/
  21. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/02/28/last-of-the-lincolns
  22. https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&n=lincoln&p=jessie%2Bharlan
  23. https://www.askart.com/artist/Frank_Edward_Johnson/124921/Frank_Edward_Johnson.aspx
  24. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lincoln-504
  25. https://www.clearfielddescendants.com/getperson.php?personID=I24812&tree=tree1&sitever=mobile
  26. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L7F5-H6N/mary-lincoln-beckwith-1898-1975
  27. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L66D-DDC/robert-todd-lincoln-beckwith-1904-1985
  28. https://hildene.org/pages/peggy-beckwith-exhibit
  29. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14367820/mary_harlan_lincoln-beckwith
  30. https://hildene.org/pages/our-history
  31. https://www.geni.com/people/Robert-Beckwith/6000000001768255798
  32. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/12/25/Robert-Todd-Lincoln-Beckwith-the-last-direct-descendant-of/1962504334800/
  33. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L7F5-HCW/warren-wallace-beckwith-1874-1955
  34. https://hildene.org/pages/the-lincoln-family
  35. https://www.uvm.edu/extension/news/hildene-vermont-historical-landmark
  36. https://www.lincolncollection.org/collection/creator-author/item/?cs=R&creator=Randolph%252C%2BJessie%2BLincoln%2BBeckwith%2BJohnson%252C&view=image&item=100096
  37. https://www.facebook.com/Lincoln.Museum/posts/-on-nationaldaughtersday-we-remember-robert-lincolns-daughters-mary-mamie-lincol/1277561421082997/
  38. https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/12/26/great-grandsons-death-ends-lincoln-family-line/
  39. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/26/us/last-escendant-of-lincoln-81-years-old-dies-in-virginia.html
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