Whiskers or Not? by Cindy Regnier

 

What influence could a little child have on a US president? What could a simple letter stating an opinion have on a political career? Perhaps more than we think. Lets look at the story of Grace Bedell.

Grace Greenwood Bedell was born on November 4, 1848, in Albion, New York. As the story goes her name was inspired by the popular writer and abolitionist of the time, Sara Jane Lippincott who was better known as "Grace Greenwood." Maybe her name had more influence on young Abraham Lincoln than either of them knew.

Beardless Abe

  On October 15, 1860 at the age of 11, Grace Bedell wrote a letter to Lincoln expressing her opinion about what she thought was something very important for Mr. Lincoln to consider in his campaign for the presidency. The letter reads as follows:

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

  Cute letter, huh? I suspect Abe thought so as well for just a few days later, he responded to Grace’s letter:

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

Bedell as a young woman

Though his letter made no promises, about a month later Lincoln allowed his beard to grow. By the time he left Illinois to start his journey to Washington, D.C.for inauguration, he wore a full beard. The train, either by coincidence or careful planning, took Lincoln through New York state, where he requested a brief stop in Westfield on February 16. Once at the train station, he called into the crowd for Grace. A newspaper article tells the story. 


From the Philadelphia Inquirer of February 20, 1861:

At Westfield, Mr. Lincoln greeted a large crowd of ladies, and several thousand of the sterner sex. Addressing the ladies, he said, "I am glad to see you; I suppose you are to see me; but I certainly think I have the best of the bargain. (Applause.) Some three months ago, I received a letter from a young lady here; it was a very pretty letter, and she advised me to let my whiskers grow, as it would improve my personal appearance; acting partly upon her suggestion, I have done so; and now, if she is here, I would like to see her; I think her name was Miss Bedell." A small boy, mounted on a post, with his mouth and eyes both wide open, cried out, "there she is, Mr. Lincoln," pointing to a beautiful girl, with black eyes, who was blushing all over her fair face. The President left the car, and the crowd making way for him, he reached her, and gave her several hearty kisses, and amid the yells of delight from the excited crowd, he bade her good-bye, and on we rushed.

As she recalled the event years later: "He climbed down and sat down with me on the edge of the station platform," she recalled. "'Gracie,' he said, 'look at my whiskers. I have been growing them for you.' Then he kissed me. I never saw him again."

Bedell-Billings

In an 1878 interview with a local newspaper of Westfield, Grace Bedell-Billings recalled what prompted her to write the letter: "We were at that time residing at Westfield, N.Y. My father, who was a staunch Republican, brought one day to me – who followed in his footsteps and was a zealous champion of Mr. Lincoln – a picture of 'Lincoln and Hamlin', one of those coarse exaggerated likenesses which it seems the fate of our long-suffering people in such contents. You are familiar with Mr. Lincoln's physiognomy, and remember the high forehead over those sadly pathetic eyes, the angular lower face with the deep cut lines about the mouth. As I regarded the picture, I said to my mother, 'He would look better if he wore whiskers, and I mean to write and tell him so.'" 

Bedell later married union army veteran George Billings. They eventually moved to Delphos, Kansas in 1870 and had one son, Harlow Drake Billings, who was born on September 16, 1872. As a side note, I have been to Delphos many times as it is near where I live and I can attest that the little town of Delphos Kansas boasts a sign on the highway proclaiming itself “Home of Lincoln’s Little Girl.” Bedell died of natural causes at the age of 87 in 1936, two days before her 88th birthday. She was buried at Delphos Cemetery. The story of Grace Bedell became popular, especially with children, following Lincoln’s tragic assassination in 1865. A statue depicting a meeting between Lincoln and Bedell is located in the center of the village of Westfield and several historical fiction accounts have been written as books and even made into a TV movie.

What’s your opinion? Did a little girl help Lincoln get elected? I’d say so! 

 Scribbling in notebooks has been a habit of Cindy Regnier since she was old enough to hold a pencil. Born and raised in Kansas, she writes stories of historical Kansas, especially the Flint Hills area where she spent much of her childhood. Her experiences with the Flint Hills setting, her natural love for history, farming and animals, along with her interest in genealogical research give her the background and passion to write heart-fluttering historical romance.