Jessie Lincoln Beckwith, 1883

Jessie Lincoln was born on November 6, 1975, the youngest child and second daughter of Robert Todd and Mary Harlan Lincoln. She would grow up to be the family wild child, eloping against her family’s wishes with a football player from the Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, football team at age 22. In 1881 the Lincoln family moved to Washington, D.C., where Robert served as Secretary of War in the Garfield and Arthur administrations until 1885. This photograph of Jessie was taken there, probably in 1883 when Jessie was 8 years old.