Judge David Davis

Because Abraham Lincoln died without a will, Mary struggled to live a life she believed to be suitable for the widow of a martyred president. Judge David Davis had control over Lincoln’s estate. Early in 1866, Davis awarded Mary a limited annual estate share of $1,500, not nearly enough to meet her wishes. Mary later received a payment of $22,000 from Congress, an amount equal to Lincoln’s salary for the remainder of his second term. Upon losing her battle for a higher monetary settlement and being forced to rent out the house she had purchased, Mary angrily wrote in a letter to Davis, “It is so painful to me now without sufficient to live upon, and in such a nervous afflicted state to be compelled to give up a home.”