Changes

==Personal life==

==Personal life==

Ann Rutledge played a part in stories as being the first woman Lincoln may have fallen in love with.  However, evidence is scant, and what surviving letters and documents there are indicate they were close friends.  She died in 1835 at the age of 22, and the entire community grieved with Lincoln.

Ann Rutledge played a part in stories as being the first woman Lincoln may have fallen in love with.  However, evidence is scant, and what surviving letters and documents there are indicate they were close friends.  She died in 1835 at the age of 22, and the entire community grieved with Lincoln.

[[Image:Lincoln and tad.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Tad Lincoln, striking a typical pose next to his father, who could barely restrain a smile.]]

[[Image:Lincoln and tad.jpg|thumb|200px|left|The irrepressible Tad Lincoln, striking a typical pose next to his father, who could barely restrain a smile.]]

The one true love of Lincoln’s life was a well-educated woman with a quick wit, Mary Todd, from a well-to-do family in Springfield.  Lincoln endured a courtship that lasted two years (and was broken once), before they were married on November 4, 1842.  Together they would have four boys: Robert Todd, Edward Baker (“Eddie”, who died at age 4), William Wallace (“Willie”), and Thomas (“Tad”).  Willie and Tad were the first children in the White House, and the halls and gardens were filled with childish romps, especially from the rambunctious, uncontrollable Tad, who once took a group of office seekers there to see the president on a trip through a confusing maze of hanging laundry; drove a herd of goats inside; got into the attic and rang the servants’ bells for hours; and succeeded in getting his doll executed for sleeping on watch.

The one true love of Lincoln’s life was a well-educated woman with a quick wit, Mary Todd, from a well-to-do family in Springfield.  Lincoln endured a courtship that lasted two years (and was broken once), before they were married on November 4, 1842.  Together they would have four boys: Robert Todd, Edward Baker (“Eddie”, who died at age 4), William Wallace (“Willie”), and Thomas (“Tad”).  Willie and Tad were the first children in the White House, and the halls and gardens were filled with childish romps, especially from the rambunctious, uncontrollable Tad, who once took a group of office seekers there to see the president on a trip through a confusing maze of hanging laundry; drove a herd of goats inside; got into the attic and rang the servants’ bells for hours; and succeeded in getting his doll executed for sleeping on watch.