Biography
Born in Greensburg, Kentucky, Herndon and his family moved to Illinois in 1820, and they settled in Springfield when he was five. Herndon attended Illinois College from 1836-1837. In 1840 he married Mary J. Maxey with whom he had six children. Mary Herndon died on August 18, 1860, and the following summer Herndon married Anna Miles with whom he had three more children.
Following college, he returned to Springfield, where he clerked until 1841, when he went into law practice with Lincoln. Both men were members of the Whig Party and joined the fledgling Republican Party after the dissolution of the Whigs. In 1858, Herndon conducted opposition research in the Illinois State Library to be used against Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 presidential race.
Herndon was a much stauncher opponent of slavery than Lincoln and claimed that he helped change Lincoln's views on the subject. He felt that Lincoln acted too slowly against the issue following his election as President. Herndon felt that the only way to rid the country of slavery was "through bloody revolution."
Herndon claimed that through the whole of his partnership and friendship with Lincoln he was never invited to Lincoln's home due to his contentious relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln. He also admitted that his frustration with Lincoln's overly permissive parenting of his two younger sons, Willie and Tad, who he recalled as undisciplined and disruptive brats in the law offices caused some harsh words during their partnership. His final meeting with Lincoln occurred in 1862 when he visited Washington, D.C., hoping to secure a presidential appointment as postmaster for the brother of his second wife. Lincoln received him amicably but he was not invited into the family's private quarters in the White House due to the enmity of Mary Lincoln.
Read more about this topic: William Herndon (lawyer)
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