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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 43, October 21, 2001, Article 5 THIS (PAST) WEEK IN NUMISMATIC HISTORY What would the U.S. cent and five dollar bill look like without Lincoln's beard? On October 15, 1860, 11-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, NY wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard. The text of their exchange is shown here: http://speakernews.house.gov/library/texts/lincoln/bedell.asp According to the web site of the State Bank of Delphos in Delphos, Kansas, " ... she didn't know she was making history. Lincoln replied at once, started growing a beard, and met his "little correspondent" four months later when his inaugural train stopped in Westfield. Eight years later Grace married Civil War veteran George N. Billings. They moved to Kansas (1870), ten years before the founding of the State Bank of Delphos. Grace Bedell Billings kept Lincoln's letter in the bank, where she often did bookkeeping for her husband and later served as a director. She found it hard to believe that her letter would be part of one of the more fascinating human-interest stories in U.S. history. http://www.statebankofdelphos.com/About_Us/aboutusframe.htm Finally, these pages show photos of Grace and pre- and post- beard photos of Lincoln, along with contemporary newspaper accounts of their meeting. http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton1/Lincoln50.html http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/bedell.htm http://www.geocities.com/Clay_Hogg/DelphosKS1.html A search through the Haxby volumes and Steven Whitfield's "Kansas Obsolete Notes and Scrip (SPMC, 1980) did not locate notes issues by the State Bank of Delphos, so maybe the numismatic connection stops with Lincoln's image. "Today, the original of Grace's letter to Lincoln is in the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. Lincoln's letter to Grace is owned by a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous." http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/burton/

Wayne Homren, Editor

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