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Conclusion
In 1861, the Lincolns left their home forever. Willie died in the White House in February 1862 at the age of eleven. President Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865. Tad died in 1871 at the age of eighteen. Mary eventually returned to Springfield, but she never again lived in her home. She passed away in 1882 in her sister Elizabeth's house, the same house where she married Abraham Lincoln forty years earlier.
By 1887, Robert was the only living member of the Lincoln family. In that year, he donated his family's home to the State of Illinois on the condition that the public would always have free access to it. He died in 1926.
Today, thousands of visitors come every year to see the Lincoln Home. They must first receive a free ticket at the Visitor Center. (Tickets are free because of Robert's wishes.) The house has been restored by the National Park Service, and appears much as it did when the Lincolns called it their home.
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