Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd. A Surprising, Enduring Union.

The awkward, lanky bumpkin approached the sophisticated rich girl at a ball in Springfield, Illinois, in December 1839. "Miss Todd," he said, "I want to dance with you in the worst way." Thus began a courtship study in contrast: Mary Todd, 21, was educated; Abraham Lincoln, 30, was barely schooled. She came from a rich, slaveholding family; he was from backwoods poverty. But they also had much in common: born in Kentucky and later transplanted to Illinois, they had both lost their mothers at a young age. Both were fascinated by politics, and, above all else, both were ambitious. 

This 1846 portrait was taken the year he was elected to Congress in Springfield.

 After moving to the home of her married sister Elizabeth Edwards on Springfield's "Aristocracy Hill" (in part because the ratio of suitable women to eligible bachelors was far more encouraging in Springfield than in Lexington, Kentucky.), the blue-eyed, charming Todd allowed herself to be wooed only by young politicians. Lincoln's future rival, Stephen A. Douglas, was among her suitors. Soon, however, she was engaged to the rawboned young lawyer and state legislator she had met at the dance, much to the distress of her upscale relatives, who felt that the awkward Lincoln was beneath her. 

Southern Belle Mary Todd Lincoln in 1846.

The Todd family's concerns seemed confirmed when Lincoln broke off the engagement shortly before the appointed wedding day, January 1, 1841. Lincoln's friend and biographer William Herndon claimed that the future President jilted his fiancée on the wedding day itself, but historians have largely discredited this account. (Herndon and Mary Todd detested each other.) Today, most historians believe that Lincoln was suffering cold feet, perhaps brought on by relentless snubs from Todd's family; others think another belle had turned his head. 

Whatever the cause, Lincoln, who regarded his integrity as "the chief gem of my character," felt that he had behaved dishonorably; for him, no sin could be worse. For the second time, a romance cut short led to a mental breakdown so complete that friends feared he might take his life. He wrote to his good friend Joshua Speed, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth." 

But within a year, friends had intervened to broker a reconciliation. The wife of the editor of the Sangamo Journal arranged to have Todd and Lincoln run into each other "unexpectedly" in her home. Soon, they were meeting regularly (and secretly) there. On the morning of November 4, 1842, Lincoln, now 33, barged in on Charles Dresser, the local Episcopal minister (and Todd's brother-in-law), at breakfast and blurted out, "I want to get hitched tonight. "In a hastily arranged ceremony that evening, the groom handed Todd a ring inscribed with the words LOVE IS ETERNAL. 

Mrs. Lincoln's sights perhaps did not extend so far into the future. When friends asked why she had married so far beneath her station, Mary answered matter-of-factly: "He is to be President of the United States someday. If I had not thought so, I never would have married him, for you can see he is not pretty."

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

James Benton Parsons, first Black Federal Judge; served the Northern Illinois court beginning in 1961.

James Benton Parsons was born August 13, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri, the youngest of four children. His father was an evangelistic minister and his mother a schoolteacher. Parsons moved to Decatur, Illinois as a young child. As a teenager, Parsons dreamed of becoming an attorney; however, it was a dream which would take many years to realize. 

Parsons worked his way through Millikin University as a composing room helper at the Decatur Herald Review . Parsons earned a B.A. in music in 1934. Parsons could not afford law school, so he joined the faculty of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri where he taught music and political science. Parsons served as acting head of Lincoln University’s Music Department from 1938 to 1940. He also continued his education, earning a B.A. in political science from Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri) in 1940. Parsons then accepted a job with the Greensboro, North Carolina public school system as supervisor of instrumental music for the black schools.

In 1942, Parsons enlisted in the United States Navy. He served as a bandmaster from 1942 to 1945. In addition he completed a tour of duty in the Pacific. Before 1942, Blacks were not able to serve in any area of the navy other than as mess attendants. In 1946, Parsons left the navy using the G.I. Bill to earn an M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago. His only son was born in 1947. 

Parsons belonged to several fraternities, including Kappa Alpha Psi as an undergraduate and Sigma Pi Phi as a graduate student. He was also a member of the Phi Beta Phi Honor Society and an honorary member of Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity. In 1949, at the age of 38, Parsons became an attorney upon receiving his law degree from the University of Chicago.

On August 9, 1961, President John F. Kennedy nominated James Benton Parsons as United States District Court Judge for Northern Illinois.

Judge James Benton Parsons

At the time, Judge Parsons, a native of Missouri and the great-grandson of enslaved family, was serving as a judge on the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois. The Senate confirmed Judge Parson’s nomination on August 30, 1961, making him the first Black federal judge in the continental United States and the first African American federal judge with life tenure. Prior to his appointment, Blacks had been appointed solely to fixed judicial terms on the United States District Court for the Virgin Islands.

Judge Parsons went on to accomplish other significant firsts within his position as a district court judge. On April 17, 1975, he became the first Black Chief Judge of a District Court; one month later, he was elected the first Black representative to the United States Judicial Conference. In 1992, after 30 years of service, Judge Parsons retired from active trial duty. 

He died in Chicago, in 1993 at 81 years old. He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur, Illinois. 

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.