The Library › Reel VI · The Roommate
Did Lincoln ask Speed whether marriage was worth it, a month before his own wedding?
VERDICTTRUE
Yes. On October 5, 1842, Lincoln asked Speed: “Are you now, in feeling as well as judgement, glad you are married as you are?” He called it an impudent question from anyone else and asked for a quick answer, and signed off “Yours forever.” He married Mary Todd at the Edwards house in Springfield on November 4, 1842. Speed’s reply has not survived.
The receipts
- Abraham Lincoln to Joshua F. Speed, 5 October 1842, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln
- The Lincolns in Springfield 1837-1847, National Park Service, Lincoln Home National Historic Site
The comedy version
The untold story of Abraham Lincoln and the man who lent him half a bed.
Play The Roommate ☞More from this shelf
- Did Lincoln really move into Joshua Speed’s bed because he could not afford seventeen dollars of bedding?True
- Was it normal for two men to share a bed in the 1830s?True
- What happened on Lincoln’s “fatal first of January” 1841?Disputed
- Did Lincoln really call himself “the most miserable man living”?True
- Did Lincoln visit Joshua Speed’s family plantation in Kentucky?True
- Did Lincoln write that he was jealous when Speed got married?True