Author C.J. King; The Spirited Lincoln Women
Peggy Beckwith, the great-granddaughter of Abraham and Mary Lincoln, returns in personae to her Mount Pleasant, IA birthplace, as her biographer C.J. King presents a talk on the Lincoln women in IW’s Chapel Auditorium on October 14th, at 5 p.m.
In a talk entitled “The Spirited Lincoln Women,” King poses as the last female Lincoln, reflecting on the Lincoln women’s spiritual connection to Christian Science, as well as on their individual, spirited personalities, and their family and community relationships.
Peggy Beckwith and the Lincoln women spent many happy times in Mount Pleasant. Living always in the shadow of President Lincoln, they are not well-known, but they were all women of strong spirit. This talk brings each woman out of the shadows and into her own circle of light.
King has a family connection of her own to the Lincoln women. She is a distant cousin of Mary Harlan Lincoln, the President and First Lady’s daughter-in-law. Her book Four Marys and a Jessie: The Story of the Lincoln Women (Hildene, 2nd ed. 2015), includes extensive research conducted in Iowa; Chicago and Springfield IL; Washington, DC; and Manchester, VT, all places where the Lincoln women lived.
A professional writer for 40 years, King is a Vermont resident and a native Hoosier. She holds a B.A. in journalism from Ball State University and an M.F.A. in writing from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.