Grave of Ann Rutledge. This is the grave of Ann Rutledge which is located in Petersburg, Illinois. Lincoln supposedly had a love affair with Ann Rutledge while he was living in New Salem, Illinois.

3. Mary Todd was not Lincoln’s first wife – he was married before he met her.
True
False

FALSE. Mary Todd was Lincoln’s first and only wife, but he was romantically involved with other women and even engaged before he met her. The two most notable women from Lincoln’s early life were Mary Owens and Ann Rutledge. Mary Owens was a young woman from a wealthy family in Kentucky. She and Lincoln met and courted in New Salem in 1833, but she had to return to Kentucky. She returned in 1836, with the understanding that she and Lincoln would be wed. However, by this time they were both having second thoughts about their relationship, and broke it off.

The story of Ann Rutledge is more ambiguous. Lincoln befriended Ann in New Salem while she was engaged to another man. Ann’s fiancé left for New York and never returned, and it is speculated that during this time Ann and Lincoln developed a romantic relationship and decided to marry each other. Ann wanted to break off her current engagement in person and waited for her fiancé to return; unfortunately, she died of what was likely typhoid fever in the summer of 1835. There is no documented proof of any romantic relationship between Lincoln and Ann Rutledge, only hearsay and oral histories. After Lincoln’s death, his friend and law partner William Herndon made the story of Ann Rutledge public, claiming that Ann was the great love of Lincoln’s life, and that Lincoln fell into a deep depression after her death.