The Girl Who Gave Lincoln His Beard

In October of eighteen sixty, an eleven-year-old girl in Westfield named Grace Bedell wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln, then the Republican candidate for president. She told him she thought he would look better with a beard, because all the ladies liked whiskers and might convince their husbands to vote for him. Lincoln wrote back four days later, half-joking that starting a beard now might seem like silly affectation, but he let the beard grow anyway.

By February of eighteen sixty-one, when his inaugural train rolled through Westfield on the way to Washington, Lincoln had a full set of whiskers. He called for Grace from the platform, kissed her cheek, and said she was responsible for his new look. The story made national news and has been told in Westfield ever since.

A bronze statue of Lincoln leaning down to greet a twelve-year-old Grace Bedell stands in the village today.