Lincoln's Little Girl
A True Story

Fred Trump

President Abraham Lincoln only had sons. Yet there was one girl who was referred to as his little girl. Her married name was Grace Bedell Billings, but as an eleven-year-old, Grace Bedell she wrote a now famous letter to the presidential candidate that he should consider growing whiskers.

This book is Grace's biography. It covers not only the letter writing incident, but a bit of her early life, the president-elect's reaction to the letter, and her adult life. This woman's every day ordinary life was punctuated with interesting incidents. She and her husband moved west in response to Horace Greely's admonition to "Go West!" Wild Bill Hickock was a visitor in their home. And she never let go of the letter of reply she received from Lincoln.

This is a charming book. It gives an interesting feel to politics and the mood of the country in the mid-1800's. Before this book I did not realize that in that era presidential candidates did not travel around promoting themselves before the election. That was frowned upon as self-aggrandizement. Instead, they stayed home and let others stump for them. Horace Greely was the first man to stump on his own behalf.

Lincoln's Little Girl is an interesting slice of American History. .