Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith
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| Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith | |
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| Born | July 19, 1904 Riverside, Illinois |
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| Died | December 24, 1985 (aged 81) Saluda, Virginia |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Spouse | 1) Mrs. Hazel Holland Wilson 2) Anna Marie Hoffman 3) Margaret Fristoe |
Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (b. July 19, 1904 – December 24, 1985) was the great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln.[1] In 1975, he became the last direct descendant of Lincoln when his sister, "Peggy" Beckwith, died without children.
Beckwith was born on July 19, 1904, in Riverside, Illinois to Jessie Harlan Lincoln[2] and Warren Beckwith. As a young adult, he showed little interest in his schooling, passing two uneventful years at his grandfather Robert Todd Lincoln's previous boarding school, Phillips Exeter Academy. He then entered prep school in Washington, D.C., and a military academy in New York. He did not attend college, yet was said to have earned a degree from the National University Law School as an attorney. Despite this, he tended to list his profession as a "gentleman farmer of independent means" rather than as a lawyer. He served in the Coast Guard during World War II, which resulted in a lasting hobby in boating and sailing. He generally avoided the media and publicity. On one occasion, a newspaper published pictures of him smiling as a young man when arrested for speeding in the city of Omaha, Nebraska. On another occasion, he stated that his real interests were boats, cars, and living a semi-wild life.
His first marriage, which lasted 30 years, was to an older widow whose son was only ten years his junior. Beckwith never had any children of his own. His second wife had a child and named him Timothy Lincoln Beckwith, after his supposed father, but the claim was considered inconclusive after she refused for herself and her son to take blood tests.[3] Robert Beckwith lived most of his life in Vermont and Washington, D.C. Robert "Bob" Beckwith died at the age of 81 on December 24, 1985 at around 6:05 pm, ending the direct line of the Lincolns, as Beckwith was the last descendent of Abraham Lincoln.
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[edit] Notes
"Lincoln's Last Descendant Dies," Madison Wisconsin Courier, December 26, 1985, from a clipping in Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum.
