Browning, Eliza

Born: 1807-10-XX Richmond, Kentucky

Died: 1885-01-23

Alternate name: Caldwell

Eliza Caldwell married Orville Hickman Browning in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1836. Afterwards, the couple settled in Quincy, Illinois. Eliza was a devoted Presbyterian, and she was known for her charm and hospitality. In 1850, she and her husband lived in Quincy, where the family owned real estate valued at $30,000 and employed five domestic servants. Eliza and her husband were close personal friends of Abraham and Mary Lincoln, and that friendship continued after the Lincolns moved to Washington in 1861. The Brownings were frequent guests in the White House and were present during Willie Lincoln's illness, death, and funeral.

Gravestone, Woodland Cemetery, Quincy, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Adams County, IL, 261; Obituary, Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 26 January 1885, 4:3; Mark E. Neely, Jr., The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia (New York: Da Capo, 1982), 39.