John McNamar (aka McNeil, 1801-1879),Joshua Zeitz describes McNamar as "a local merchant with a suspect personal history". Zeitz, Josh, "The Man Who Created the Lincoln We Know", PoliticoMagazine, April 14, 2015 was, according to his son, engaged to marry Ann Rutledge.Barker, H. E., quoting a letter dated August 9, 1904, from Andrew McNamar in the forward to Herndon, William H., Abraham Lincoln. Miss Ann Rutledge. New Salem. Pioneering and The Poem.Papers of Abraham Lincoln Digital Library But McNamar left for New York to bring his family to IllinoisJosh Zeitz states that McNamar "claimed that his family was deeply in debt and that he had changed his surname [to McNeil] to make a clean break of things. Now that he had amassed a small fortune, he planned to return east and settle his family's accounts". Zeitz, Josh, "The Man Who Created the Lincoln We Know," PoliticoMagazine, April 14, 2015 and promised to marry Rutledge upon his return. According to his son, "While absent he was taken with a fever and was away three years. In the meantime Ann and Abraham Lincoln became engaged, thinking my father dead.Josh Zeitz states, "they decided to marry—but only after she could break off her engagement to McNamar in person". Zeitz, Josh, "The Man Who Created the Lincoln We Know," PoliticoMagazine, April 14, 2015 My father, however, returned before the wedding came off."Barker, H. E., quoting a letter dated August 9, 1904, from Andrew McNamar in the forward to Herndon, William H., Abraham Lincoln. Miss Ann Rutledge. New Salem. Pioneering and The Poem. For a time Rutledge and McNamar exchanged letters, but his letters became more formal and "less ardent in tone" and eventually ceased completely.Herndon's Life of Lincoln, p. 110 McNamar (who owned the land on which the Rutledges were tenants) never married Rutledge. After she died he married his first wife in 1838.
