Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith was born on July 19, 1904, in Riverside, Illinois. He was the son of Jessie Harlan Lincoln and Warren Wallace Beckwith. His maternal grandparents were Robert Todd Lincoln, the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln, and Mary Eunice Harlan. Jessie Harlan Lincoln eloped in 1897 with Warren Beckwith, a college classmate and football player at Iowa Wesleyan College. Before their divorce in 1907, Jessie and Warren Beckwith had two children: Mary Lincoln Beckwith and Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith.

Beckwith attended several educational institutions, including a private school in Washington, D.C., the New York Military Academy in Cornwall, New York, and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent two years. He later obtained a law degree from what is now Georgetown University.

In his adult life, Beckwith was known to enjoy boating and sailing. He generally avoided publicity and media attention. An incident in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was arrested for speeding, resulted in photographs of him being published, but there are few reports of media coverage otherwise. After his mother’s death in 1948, Beckwith identified himself as a "gentleman farmer of independent means," inheriting a working farm in Middlesex County, Virginia.

Beckwith participated as a representative for Illinois Day at the 1964 New York World's Fair. In June 1965, he received an honorary doctorate from Iowa Wesleyan College, his maternal grandparents’ alma mater. The same year, he was a guest of honor at Chicago's centennial observance of Abraham Lincoln's funeral. In 1967, Beckwith stated that he was not particularly interested in his ancestors' time in the White House. He retained some Lincoln memorabilia, much of which he donated to the state of Illinois and the Smithsonian Institution. Among these items was Lincoln's rifle, which he later presented to the Smithsonian.

Beckwith married three times. His first marriage was to Hazel Frances Holland, formerly Wilson, in March 1927; she died in 1966. His second marriage was to Annemarie Hoffman in November 1967, which ended in divorce in September 1976. His third marriage was to Margaret Elizabeth Hogan, formerly Fristoe, in 1979. Beckwith did not publicly acknowledge paternity for any children. However, Hoffman alleged that her son, Timothy Lincoln Beckwith, born in 1968 during her marriage to Beckwith, was his biological child. The court ultimately declared that Beckwith was not the father, considering evidence that he had undergone a vasectomy prior to Timothy's birth. Despite this, Timothy Beckwith claimed rights to Beckwith’s estate; after Beckwith’s death in 1985, charitable organizations offered him a settlement of US$1,000,000 in exchange for relinquishing claims.

Timothy Beckwith has worked as an assistant state's attorney in West Palm Beach, Florida, since 1995. Posthumously, questions and speculation regarding his paternity and potential Lincoln lineage have persisted.

Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith died on December 24, 1985, in Hartfield, Virginia, where he had resided in a nursing home. He spent much of his life between Vermont and the Washington, D.C., area.