The Life of Lyman Trumbull Part 37

To sum up his character, it may be said that as a man he was honest, pure, kind-hearted, and sympathetic; as a lawyer, clear-headed, astute, and successful; as a politician, ambitious, shrewd, and fa.r.s.eeing; as a public speaker, incisive, clear, and convincing, often eloquent, clothing his thoughts in the most beautiful and attractive language, a logical reasoner, and yet most unmethodical in all his ways; as President during a great civil war he lacked executive ability, and that resolution and prompt action essential to bring it to a speedy and successful close; but he was a philanthropist and a patriot, ardently devoted to the Union and the equality and freedom of all men. He presided over the nation in the most critical period of its history, and lived long enough to see the rebellion subdued, and a whole race lifted from slavery to freedom. The fact that he was at the head of the nation when these great results were accomplished, and of his most cruel a.s.sa.s.sination, before there was time to fully appreciate the great work that had been done during his administration, will forever endear him to the American people, and hand his name down to posterity as among the best, if not the greatest, of mankind.

Another ma.n.u.script, addressed to Mrs. Gershom Jayne, the mother of the first Mrs. Trumbull, in answer to a communication from her, gives Trumbull's views on religion:

CHICAGO, Apr. 22, 1877.

DEAR MOTHER: I scarcely know how to reply to your texts of Scripture and your solicitude for me. If the fervent prayers of the righteous avail, it would seem as if yours and those of my departed Julia should have their influence, and I sometimes feel as if the spirit of my dear Julia was even now not far away. That I am not what I should be is too true: I feel it and I know it, and yet I trust the influence and prayers of those who have loved me have not been entirely thrown away. I have abundant reason to be thankful to our Heavenly Father for his protection and ten thousand kindnesses to me which I know I have not deserved. How often when the way was dark before me has an unseen hand carried me safely through! And yet, whilst ever ready to acknowledge my own imperfection and impotence, I suppose I know nothing of, or at best see but as through a gla.s.s dimly, that change of heart of which the converted speak, and which comes of a faith it has not been given me to possess.

I certainly hope through the Saviour's interposition for a happy hereafter, but at the same time am obliged to confess that the way is to me dark and mysterious, and by no means as discernible as it appears to some others. I rejoice that they can see it clearly and wish that I could too....

Affectionately yours, LYMAN TRUMBULL.

Three sons of Lyman Trumbull reached mature years: Walter, Perry, and Henry. The latter died unmarried, January 20, 1895.

Walter, the eldest, was married September, 1876, to Miss Hannah Mather Slater. Three sons were born of this union. The first of these, Lyman Trumbull, Jr., died in infancy. The second, Walter S., was born in 1879, married Miss Marjorie Skinner, of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1905, and now resides in New York City. The third, Charles L., born in 1884, married in 1910 Miss Lucy Proctor, of Peoria, Illinois, and now resides in Chicago. Walter Trumbull died October 25, 1891.

Perry Trumbull was married to Mary Caroline Peck, daughter of Ebenezer Peck, judge of the United States Court of Claims, in 1879. Four children were born to them: (1) Julia Wright, married to H. Thompson Frazer, M.D., now resides at Asheville, North Carolina; (2) Edward A., married Anna Whitby, and resides at Seattle, Was.h.i.+ngton; (3) Charles P., married, resides at Las Vegas, New Mexico; (4) Selden, resides in Chicago. Perry Trumbull died December 10, 1902.

Mrs. Mary Ingraham Trumbull, widow of Lyman Trumbull, resides at Saybrook Point, Connecticut.

FOOTNOTES:

[133] Interview, June 13, 1910.

[134] _Diary of Gideon Welles_, III, 21.

[135] Chicago _Times_, June 26, 1896.

[136] Chicago _Times_, June 26, 1896.

[137] Herndon's _Life of Lincoln_, 537, 538.

THE END