Lincoln son's manse deepens appreciation for his father's legacy

MANCHESTER, Vt. -- A log cabin was the symbol of Abraham Lincoln's life and career: The man who redefined American democracy as president during the Civil War sprang from the American heartland, and the cabin he grew up in reflected the Western spirit of upward mobility.

Hildene, the 24-room Georgian-revival mansion built by Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, in the sweet mountain air of Manchester, Vt., is thousands of miles from his father's log cabin, literally and figuratively, but it provides a surprising and important coda to the Lincoln legend.

Abraham Lincoln's story, like those of the Founding Fathers and heroic presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt, has been a staple of bestseller lists in the years since Sept. 11, 2001. It's as if Americans, feeling threatened and looking for leadership, are seeking inspiration from their own history. And the life of Lincoln, the greatest of all figures in American history, has become almost a founding myth of the nation he served.

Doris Kearns Goodwin's ``Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" was a hot read last winter and spring. It measured Lincoln favorably against the best politicians of his time. This was no surprise. Lincoln may be the most scrutinized figure in American history, but virtually every writer who examines him comes away brimming with admiration.

Recent books purporting to show evidence of Lincoln's homosexuality and the extent of his mental illness weren't meant to tarnish his reputation, but to show that his greatness sprang from varied roots: There seems to be a point of connection in the Lincoln story for every American.

The question of what happened to the Lincoln family after the president's assassination is a subject of considerably less fascination. But if Lincoln is the protagonist of an important American narrative it makes sense to follow the Lincoln story to the end, and it has indeed ended: The last Lincoln descendant died in 1985.

Those familiar with stories of Lincoln's White House years will recall that he had two young boys romping around the family quarters. Willie, who has been remembered as smart and soulful -- a budding writer who was every inch his father's son -- died of typhoid fever at age 11, a year after his father became president. The loss devastated both Lincoln and his often-fragile wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. Both parents then showered affection on the boisterous Tad, who outlived his father by only six years.

That left the legacy to the eldest Lincoln son, Robert, who spent most of his father's presidency studying at Harvard. If Abraham Lincoln was an up-by-his-bootstraps success story, Robert Todd Lincoln was emblematic of the generation immediately after a family becomes successful. The product of elite institutions, ever-conscious of his social position, Robert Lincoln was a dutiful steward of the family name.

He was a rich Gilded Age attorney and businessman, a pillar of probity and discipline. Largely for his last name, he was recruited to be Secretary of War under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur; later, he became president of the Pullman railroad-car company. His belief in always pursuing the proper course led him astray on occasion: In 1875, he had his mother committed to a mental institution, believing that professional care would do her good.

But the former first lady fought the commitment and ultimately prevailed, and both mother and son suffered permanent damage to their reputations. Their personal relationship also was never the same.

Robert Lincoln built Hildene in 1905 to be what he called the ``ancestral home" of the Lincolns, and set about establishing himself in Manchester as though the Lincolns had lived there for generations. He was president of the local country club and well liked by locals. After his death in 1926 and his wife's demise 11 years later, the home soon passed to Robert's granddaughter, Peggy Lincoln Beckwith, whom tour guides describe as a ``woman ahead of her time."

This is because she engaged in such activities as piloting planes and driving sports cars. She seemed unawed by her Lincoln ancestry and enjoyed the eccentric lifestyle funded by her grandfather's money.

Today, at Hildene, guides are respectful of Robert Lincoln's accomplishments and of his granddaughter's enthusiasms, but the guides don't pretend that these descendants were, by themselves, major historical figures. Hildene is owned by a trust started by neighbors and dedicated to exhibits and activities aimed at educating the next generation of Americans, who can no doubt relate to the very different backgrounds, yearnings, and experiences of Abraham, Robert, and Peggy Lincoln.

Peter S. Canellos is the Globe's Washington bureau chief. National Perspective is his weekly analysis of events in the capital and beyond.