How
Lincoln's Beard was Born
Oct. 15, 1860: Grace Bedell, age 11, tells Abraham Lincoln
to “let your whiskers grow”
Abraham Lincoln is a face that every American is quick to
regonize. Imagine if he never grew a beard? Lincoln's beard
no doubt helps him be one of the most regonized President's
in United States history.
Have
you ever asked yourself, why did Abraham Lincoln grow
a beard?
Abraham
Lincoln is probably the most famous face, and certainly
the most famous beard, in the history of the world. There
are more portraits of it in existence than of any other
face. Indeed, they outnumber the entire population of flesh-and-blood
human beings who have ever lived on the planet. You probably
have several jingling in your pocket right now, and maybe
another couple folded in your wallet. Millions of years
from now – who knows? – they may still be trapped
under car seats and sofa cushions, long after our species
has gone extinct.
11
Year old Grace Bedell's Letter Convinced Abraham Lincoln
to Grow a Beard
It
was the fall of 1860. Abraham Lincoln was the Republican
nominee for president of the United States. Election Day
was less than a month away. Mr. Lincoln, a lifelong beardless
man, received a letter written by Grace Bedell, an 11-year-old
girl from Westfield, New York. Written October 15th, 1860,
the letter urged him to let his whiskers grow. All the ladies
like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote
for you and then you would be President, the 11 year old
stated.
Grace
Bedell's Letter to Lincoln
N
Y
Westfield Chatauque Co
Oct 15. 1860
Hon A B Lincoln
Dear Sir
My father has
just home from the fair and brought home your picture
and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only eleven years
old, but want you should be President of the United States
very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write
to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls
about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell
her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I
have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you
any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will
try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would
look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All
the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's
to vote for you and then you would be President. My father
is a going to vote for you and if I was a man I would
vote for you to but I will try and get every one to vote
for you that I can I think that rail fence around your
picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little
baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning
as can be. When you direct your letter dir[e]ct to Grace
Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York
I must not write any more answer this letter right off
Good bye
Grace Bedell
Letter
to Grace Bedell from Lincoln
October
19, 1860
Springfield, Illinois
Miss.
Grace Bedell
My dear little Miss.
Your
very agreeable letter of the 15th. is received.
I
regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters. I
have three sons -- one seventeen, one nine, and one seven,
years of age. They, with their mother, constitute my whole
family.
As
to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think
people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were
to begin it now? Your very sincere well-wisher
A. Lincoln
Fun
Facts
As
for what happened to Bedell, she went on to marry a
Civil War veteran by the name of George Billings sometime
around 1870 and took up work first farming, and then
later George switched to banking. She lived to the ripe
old age of 87 years old, dying in 1936.
During
the Civil War, Bedell, now aged 15 in 1864, wrote another
letter to Lincoln, only very recently discovered in
2007. This time, she was asking if Lincoln could help
her find work as her father had recently lost “nearly
all his property” and she wanted to help support
her family, though her parents hadn’t asked her
too. There is no record of whether Lincoln replied or
ever even saw the letter.
Shortly
before Lincoln decided to grow a beard, something of
a beard revolution swept the United States and by the
mid-19th century the formerly predominately clean-shaven
men of America now nearly universally were sporting
beards. In fact, one reporter, doing a story on the
new trend in 1857, walked the streets of Boston and
after counting 543 men that walked by him, found that
62% of them were now sporting bushy beards and all but
4 of the rest had some other type of significant facial
hair. Even those four that lacked any significant facial
hair sported what would later be called Side Burns,
after General Ambrose Burnside.
There
are more portraits of Lincoln's face in existence than
any other face in the world, according to the Times.
Lincoln
looked pretty different without facial hair:
