Warren Wallace Beckwith

Jessie Harlan Lincoln (November 6, 1875 – January 4, 1948) was an American individual known for being a granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln. She was the second daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Eunice Harlan.

Early Life

Jessie Harlan Lincoln was born on November 6, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois, to Mary and Robert Todd Lincoln. During her infancy, her father was practicing law in Chicago. She was the last of three children; her siblings included Mary "Mamie" Lincoln, born October 15, 1869, and Abraham "Jack" Lincoln II, born August 14, 1873.

During her childhood, Jessie spent part of her time in Washington, D.C., when her father served as Secretary of War from 1881 to 1885. Subsequently, she lived in London, England, when her father was appointed Minister to Great Britain, serving from 1889 to 1893. Her brother, Abraham Lincoln II, died on March 5, 1890, in London at the age of 16. After her family's return to the United States three years later, they resided in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, at the residence of Mary Eunice Harlan's mother.

In 1886, Jessie and her sister were enrolled as piano students during the summer session at Iowa Wesleyan. On December 31, 1895, she was initiated into the Pleasant Chapter A of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, an organization her sister Mamie had joined more than 11 years earlier.

In 1919, her father established trusts for Jessie and her sister, Mary Lincoln Isham. The trust funds included shares of Commonwealth Edison and National Biscuit stocks, valued at the time in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, equivalent to over a million dollars each in 2024. It was reported that Jessie received a larger share of the trust, purportedly due to her financial irresponsibility.

Personal Life

Marriages

Jessie Harlan Lincoln married Warren Wallace Beckwith on November 10, 1897, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The marriage was reportedly opposed by her father, Robert Todd Lincoln, who believed their relationship had ended until the marriage was confirmed by news of their elopement.

In 1898, Jessie gave birth to her first child, Mary Lincoln Beckwith, in Des Moines County, Iowa. She had a second child, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, born on July 19, 1904, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith was recognized as the last undisputed descendant of Abraham Lincoln.

Jessie and Warren Beckwith divorced in 1907. She married Frank Edward Johnson in 1915; they divorced in 1925. In 1926, she married her third husband, Robert John Randolph, an electrical engineer affiliated with the Randolph family of Virginia. This marriage did not produce any children.

Later Life and Death

From 1946 until her death, Jessie Harlan Lincoln resided at the Hildene estate in Manchester, Vermont. She died at Rutland Hospital in Rutland, Vermont, on January 4, 1948, at the age of 72.