Julia Taft Bayne
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March 4, 1845
Julia Taft Bayne | |
|---|---|
| Born | Julia Taft March 4, 1845 |
| Died | December 14, 1933 (aged 88) |
| Subject | Memoir of the Lincoln White House |
Julia Taft Bayne (March 4, 1845 – December 14, 1933) was an American author who wrote a memoir of the Lincoln White House entitled Tad Lincoln's Father (1931), based on her time visiting the household as a teenager with her younger brothers.
Julia Taft was born on March 4, 1845, in Lyons, New York,[1] to Horatio Nelson Taft, an attorney and examiner in the U.S. Patent Office, and his wife. The family lived in Washington D.C. when Julia was a child and young woman.
As the young sons of President Abraham Lincoln 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 on February 20, 1862, the Taft children stopped visiting the White House.
Julia Bayne's half brother Charles Sabin Taft 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. He remained with the President until his death.
Marriage and family
She had a daughter and four sons, all of whom survived her.[1]
