Julia Taft Bayne (March 4, 1845 – December 14, 1933) was an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who wrote a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

of the Lincoln

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

entitled ''Tad Lincoln's Father'' (1931), based on her time visiting the household as a teenager with her younger brothers.

Early life and education

Julia Taft was born on March 4, 1845, in Lyons, New York, to Horatio Nelson Taft, an attorney and examiner in the

U.S. Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

, and his wife. The family lived in

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when Julia was a child and young woman. As the young sons of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

had no playmates at the White House, the First Lady Mary Lincoln asked Mrs. Taft if she had children who might come to see them. Mrs. Taft asked her daughter Julia to take 14-year-old Horatio Nelson Jr., or Bud, and 11-year-old Halsey Cook Taft, called Holly, with her to the White House to play with the Lincoln boys. During this time, Julia Taft was befriended by Mary and President Lincoln. After Willie Lincoln died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

on February 20, 1862, the Taft children stopped visiting the White House. Julia Bayne's half brother

Charles Sabin Taft Charles Sabin Taft (August 1835 – December 18, 1900) was a bystander physician who was pressed into service during the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's assassination On April 14, 1865, Taft was watching ''Our American Cousin'' at For ...

was a physician; he was one of the first doctors on the scene when President Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865 at

Ford's Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater bo ...

. He remained with the President until his death.

Marriage and family

She had a daughter and four sons, all of whom survived her.

Publication

In 1931, just two years before her death, Julia Bayne published her memoir, ''Tad Lincoln's Father,'' based on her visits to the White House of the Lincolns. Bayne's memoir provides a unique glimpse into the social and family life of the Lincoln White House. In the work, she wrote of her initial fear of the towering, rough-and-tumble Lincoln, who won her over with teasing. She also discussed an emerging relationship with Mary, who had no daughters and so took particular comfort in Julia's presence. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Frank H. West, in

Champaign Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

, Illinois. In 2001, ''Tad Lincoln's Father'' was reprinted by Bison Books,

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

Press ().

References

External links

"Julia Taft"''Tad Lincoln's Father'' – complete online text
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayne, Julia Taft 1845 births 1933 deaths People from Lyons, New York Writers from New York (state) 20th-century American memoirists American women memoirists American biographers 20th-century American women