lincoln's stepmother, sarah bush lincoln, commented that he "never took much interest in the girls". however some accounts of lincoln's contemporaries suggest that he had a strong but controlled passion for women. lincoln was devastated over the 1835 death of ann rutledge. while some historians have questioned whether he had a romantic relationship with her, historian john y. simon reviewed the historiography of the subject and concluded that "available evidence overwhelmingly indicates that lincoln so loved ann that her death plunged him into severe depression. more than a century and a half after her death, when significant new evidence cannot be expected, she should take her proper place in lincoln biography."