词条 | Grace Bedell |
释义 |
| name = Grace Bedell | image = grace-bedell.jpg | image_size = | caption = Grace Bedell in the 1870s | birth_date = November 4, 1848 | birth_place = Albion, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1936|11|02|1848|11|04}} | death_place = Delphos, Kansas, U.S. | other_names = | known_for = Convincing Abraham Lincoln to grow a beard }} Grace Greenwood Bedell Billings (November 4, 1848 – November 2, 1936)[1] was an American woman, notable as the person whose correspondence, at the age of eleven, encouraged Republican Party nominee and future president Abraham Lincoln to grow his iconic beard. Lincoln later met with Bedell. EventBackgroundOn October 15, 1860, a few weeks before Lincoln was elected President of the United States, Grace Bedell sent him a letter from Westfield, New York, urging him to grow a beard to improve his appearance.[2][3] Lincoln responded in a letter on October 19, 1860, making no promises. However, within a month, he grew a full beard. 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.'"[4] Grace Bedell's letterHon A B {{sic}} 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 11 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 yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you 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 husbands to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to {{sic}} but I will try to 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 direct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chautauqua County New York. I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye Grace Bedell Lincoln's responseLincoln made no promises in his reply to Bedell's letter: Springfield, Ill Oct 19, 1860 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 silly affectation if I were to begin it now? Your very sincere well wisher A. Lincoln Lincoln visits BedellShortly after this exchange, Lincoln allowed his beard to grow. By the time he began his inaugural journey from Illinois to Washington, D.C. by train, he had a full beard. The trip took him through New York state, and included a stop in Bedell's hometown of Westfield, New York, where thousands gathered to meet the president-elect. There, Lincoln asked to meet Grace Bedell by name. The February 19, 1861 edition of the New York World recounted the meeting as follows:
Bedell recalled the event years later:
Contemporaneous Lincoln photos{{Gallery|title= Lincoln Grows Whiskers |width=200 | height=300 | lines=3 |align=center |File:Abraham Lincoln O-36 by Butler, 1860-crop.jpg|August 13, 1860 The last beardless photo of Lincoln. |File:1860 Abraham Lincoln O-40.png|November 25, 1860 One month after Bedell's letter. |File:Abraham Lincoln O-43 by German, 1861.jpg|February 9, 1861 Ten days before visiting Bedell en route to his Inauguration. }} The story spreadsThe anecdote became a popular children's story following Lincoln's assassination. A statue depicting a meeting between Lincoln and Bedell is located in the center of the village of Westfield, at the intersection of US 20 and NY 394.[6] Second letterBedell wrote a second letter to Lincoln in 1864 when she was 15. She asked for Lincoln's help gaining a job with the Treasury so that she could financially support her parents. This letter was discovered by a researcher in 2007:[7] Pres Lincoln, AfterwardBedell later married a Union Army veteran. They eventually moved to Delphos in Ottawa County, Kansas. There she died of unknown causes at the age of 87 in 1936, two days before her 88th birthday.[9] She was buried at Delphos Cemetery. FilmTo mark the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the events surrounding the letter, Mark Esslinger and Eric Burdett produced a short film, Grace Bedell (2010), starring Lana Esslinger as Grace Bedell.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} See also
References1. ^Timeline; Grace Bedell Foundation website; retrieved . 2. ^[https://www.nytimes.com/1966/08/09/archives/kansas-honors-girl-who-urged-lincoln-to-grow-whiskers.html Kansas Honors Girl Who Urged Lincoln To Grow Whiskers]; August 9, 1966; The New York Times; accessed . 3. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1861-02-16&r=L0NhbGVuZGFyWWVhci5hc3B4P3llYXI9MTg2MSZyPUwwTmhiR1Z1WkdGeUxtRnpjSGc9|title=The Lincoln Log|website=www.thelincolnlog.org}} 4. ^{{Cite news|title=Lincoln's Whiskers |newspaper=Westfield Republican |date=November 13, 1878 |url=http://nyheritage.nnyln.net/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/VXU002&CISOPTR=6152&REC=6 |archive-url=https://archive.is/20130221215259/http://nyheritage.nnyln.net/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/VXU002&CISOPTR=6152&REC=6 |dead-url=yes |archive-date=February 21, 2013 |postscript=. }} 5. ^{{cite news | title=Woman Urging Lincoln's Beard Passes in West |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |publisher=Daily Gazette Company |location=Schenectady, New York |date=November 4, 1936 |page=17(col 3) |pages= |at= }} 6. ^{{cite news | title=Statues of Lincoln, Young Girl Celebrate Link |author= |first=Frank |last=Terry |authorlink= |url= |newspaper=The Buffalo News |location=Buffalo, New York |date=July 11, 1999 |page=C5 |at= |accessdate= |quote= |ref= }} 7. ^{{Cite news|last=Hadsall |first=Joe |title=Writing to President Lincoln w/ Grace Bedell letters and photos |newspaper=Joplin Globe |date=November 5, 2007 |url=http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_309205053.html |archive-url=https://archive.is/20130127114044/http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_309205053.html |dead-url=yes |archive-date=January 27, 2013 |postscript=. }} 8. ^Grace Bedell – Second Letter {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085541/http://www.betheltownshippreservationsociety.com/Newsletter-December-2010.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }}; Grace Bedell Foundation website; retrieved . 9. ^News release; 2004; NoDak website; accessed . External links
7 : 1848 births|1936 deaths|United States Presidential pen pals|Women letter writers|Abraham Lincoln|People from Westfield, New York|People from Ottawa County, Kansas |
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