paying situation which would at least enable me to support myself if not to help my parents, this, at present – is my highest ambition. My parents are ignorant of this application to you for assistance. If you require proof of my family's respectability. I can name persons here whose names may not be unknown to you. We have always resided here excepting the two years we were at Westfield. I have addressed one letter to you before, pertaining to this subject, but receiving no answer I chose rather to think you had failed to it, not believing that your natural kindness of heart of which I have heard so much would prompt you to pass it by unanswered. Direct to this place. Grace G. Bedell Later life and death Bedell later married Union Army veteran George Billings. They eventually moved to Delphos, in Ottawa County, Kansas in 1870 and had one son, Harlow Drake Billings, who was born on September 16, 1872. She died of natural causes at the age of 87 in 1936, two days before her 88th birthday. She was buried at Delphos Cemetery. Legacy The 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. The Great Man's Whiskers, a 1972 American made-for-television drama film, features this story about Abraham Lincoln with Cindy Eilbacher as the young correspondent. Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers, written and illustrated by Karen B. Winnick (1996), tells the story of how 11-year-old Grace Bedell wrote to Mr. Lincoln to "let (his) whiskers grow". The picture book includes the complete letters of both Grace and Lincoln. To mark the 150th 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. See also Julia Sand, a similar presidential correspondent References External links Exhibition of the Lincoln-Bedell letters Original Letter: Lincoln Collection Grace Bedell (film) 1848 births 1936 deaths United States presidential pen pals Women letter writers Abraham Lincoln People from Westfield, New York People from Ottawa County, Kansas