Betty Boles Ellison: The True Mary Todd Lincoln

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(Released June 10, 2017) PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE Betty Boles Ellison: The True Mary Todd Lincoln: a Biography June 15, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. 2017 History Dinner Series Oldham County History Center Mary Todd Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President and to some, an unpopular first lady. She was born on December 13, 1818 in Lexington, Ky into a prominent family. She married politician and lawyer Abraham Lincoln on November 4, 1842 and they had four children. Mary drew attention and criticism from many around her throughout her life. When the Civil War began her family supported the South, but she remained a fervent Unionist. After the death of her husband, she fell into a deep depression; as a result, her only surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln, had her temporarily committed. Lexington, KY author Betty Boles Ellison has written a biography that provides a startlingly different picture of Mary Todd Lincoln. Preconceived myths about the former first lady are factually disproved in The True Mary Todd Lincoln: a Biography. At times her judgment was faulty; in other instances it was brilliant. Mary Todd Lincoln had a brilliant mind, a caring heart and an exuberant personality and she was, in every aspect, a true partner to Abraham Lincoln. The biography “was written to correct 150 years of erroneously collected history,” said Ellison. “Mrs. Lincoln was an exceptionally intelligent and educated woman for her time. Her political instincts were invaluable to her husband’s political career. She is to be, perhaps, most admired for refusing to let others make her a victim.” Ellison is a journalist turned historian. She was a newspaper reporter, travel writer, editor and media consultant to a national prize-winning newspaper before returning to the University of Kentucky in 1986 to complete a BA in American History and a MA in Kentucky History. While still in graduate school at UK, Ellison was a staff member and contributor to The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Her first book, Kentucky’s Domain of Power, Greed and Corruption, took six years to research and detailed a century of athletic abuses at the college campus. In 2003, Ellison wrote Illegal Odyssey, 200 Years of Kentucky Moonshine. The book was based on her oral history project, “Moonshiners and Revenuers.” A Man Seen But Once is a biography Ellison wrote of Cassius Marcellus Clay. She actually classified the book as a thirty-five year project since she first began researching Clay when working with former First Lady, Beula C. Nunn, on the restoration of Clay’s home, White Hall, in 1970. She also worked as a researcher for a six-hour PBS documentary by David Grubin entitled, Abraham and Mary Lincoln, A House Divided. Ellison will present a program about her book on Thursday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Oldham County History Center as part of the History Dinner Series. Each program begins with a light meal, followed by a presentation from an author about their book. Cash bar available. Program takes place inside the Rob Morris Educational Building located at 207 W. Jefferson St. in La Grange. Cost is $20 for members of the Oldham County Historical Society and $22 for non-members. Registration is required. Future History Dinner Series programs include: Thursday, August 17 – Eddie Price, author of One Drop—A Slave! Thursday, October 19 - Rona Roberts, author of Classic Kentucky Meals: Stories, Ingredients & Recipes from the Traditional Bluegrass Kitchen.