Stacy Conradt
How Teddy Roosevelt Ended Up With Abe Lincoln’s Hair
by Stacy Conradt - May 19, 2011 - 3:38 PM

John Hay, Lincoln’s private secretary and assistant, was as devastated as the rest of the nation when his friend was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865. He wanted a memento to remember Lincoln by and paid $100 for six strands of hair removed from the President’s head during his autopsy. He later had one of these hairs displayed under an oval piece of glass and mounted into a ring setting. When Teddy Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1905, John Hay – who would become Teddy’s Secretary of State – sent the Bull Moose the ring along with a note that said, “Please wear it tomorrow; you are one of the men who most thoroughly understand and appreciate Lincoln.”

Roosevelt was more than happy to comply. He had always felt a connection to Lincoln and, as a six-year-old boy, even watched Lincoln’s funeral procession through the streets of New York City. He wrote in a letter back to Hay, “Dear John, Surely no other President, on the eve of his inauguration, has ever received such a gift from such a friend. I am wearing the ring now; I shall think of it and you as I take the oath tomorrow.”

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Comments (22)

  1. You have a typo: ‘ you are one of the men who most thoroughly understand’. Should read understood.

    Huh, when I think about Lincoln and Roosevelt, they seem so far apart in history. I guess I didn’t realize they were so close together in time. Amazing. The hair ring is just a tetch creepy though. I went to College of the Ozarks and worked in the Ralph Foster Museum for four semesters. One time we had a big display of mementos made out of people’s hair. Most of them were made out of lots of hair and when you really think about it, it’s gross.

    posted by A. R. on 5-19-2011 at 4:14 pm

  2. Hey A.R. Where’s the typo? That’s taken right from the letter. (If I’m missing something, I apologize!)

    posted by Jason English on 5-19-2011 at 4:28 pm

  3. Hmmm… A.R. Ithink you may have missed the bit about it being a quote from the letter. Not Jason’s typo.

    Anyway, I’ll have to show this to my 10-year-old son. He (being a bizarre kid) rated most of the presidents in order of “Best to Worst” (although I don’t know exactly what his perameters were for this judgment) and he had T.R. and Lincoln tied at the top of the list.

    posted by Christiana on 5-19-2011 at 4:49 pm

  4. If the typo is in the original, it probably should be followed with a (sic) to notate that.

    Anyways, when I first saw the headline and picture, my first thought honestly was “They screwed up carving Mount Rushmore!?” Glad to see that’s not actually the case.

    posted by tkrausse on 5-19-2011 at 4:54 pm

  5. “Understand” is correct. At the time the letter was written Roosevelt was alive and could mentally still process the things that made Lincoln who he was. If it was a quote from a time after Roosevelt’s death then “understood” would have been used to show past tense since Roosevelt can no longer mentally process Lincoln after he’s dead.

    posted by Jessica on 5-19-2011 at 4:57 pm

  6. English majors are so anal. Enjoy the story and shut the heck up.

    posted by jw on 5-19-2011 at 5:15 pm

  7. jw, I would expect intelligent conversation on websites, especially mental_floss. Comment sections are for people to discuss. There is no reason to tell people to shut up.

    posted by js on 5-19-2011 at 5:27 pm

  8. Cool story, but what happened to the other five hairs?

    posted by Shauna on 5-19-2011 at 6:01 pm

  9. Back in Victorian times it was customary to carry a lock a loved ones hair. Since a lock was somewhat difficult to handle, rings, pendants, fobs, etc were made incorporating the hair for easy carrying. What a loved one departed, the hair became even more meaningful because unlike the body, hair doesn’t rot away. So, yesterday’s memorial is today’s “just a tetch creepy.”

    posted by Prism on 5-19-2011 at 6:36 pm

  10. Body parts of dead people are creepy. Could we use it to clone Lincoln?

    posted by Megan on 5-19-2011 at 9:47 pm

  11. To get DNA evidence from hair it has to have the root on it and it can’t be too too old, or so I gather from watching too much TRU TV. So no cloning of Lincoln, Megan. And I suppose no hair extensions for you if other humans’ hair disquiets you so much (unless you think wearing “body parts” of LIVING people not creepy at all.) And no visits to Leila’s Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri, either.

    posted by VM on 5-20-2011 at 1:09 am

  12. Understand is perfectly correct. It fits with the tense of the rest of the sentence. If you were to change it to understood then you would have to change it to appreciated, not to mention the comments above pointing out that its a quote from a letter.

    posted by Bill on 5-20-2011 at 9:10 am

  13. I agree, Jessica. “Understand” is used in the present tense to say that TR currently (at the time) understood Lincoln. For Hay to say “understood” would have implied that TR knew him personally and “got” him when he was alive…seeing as TR was six when he died, I don’t think that’s the case.

    posted by Candy C on 5-20-2011 at 9:11 am

  14. Also, well said js.

    posted by Bill on 5-20-2011 at 9:17 am

  15. Understand/understood are you kidding me? Great story but the debate over wording is not understood. I do however understand presently, so the story is correct (and it is a quote besides).

    posted by Kent on 5-20-2011 at 10:38 am

  16. A great story, very cool.

    Thanks Stacy!

    And have a great weekend!

    posted by Eddie on 5-20-2011 at 10:41 am

  17. Making jewelry out of the deceased’s hair was pretty common back in those days. Which just goes to show that the Victorians were strange people. They weren’t like us!

    posted by Zach on 5-20-2011 at 11:53 am

  18. I was a bit deceived when I read the headline and glanced at the thumbnail. I was expecting the article to be about a mishap in the carving of Mount Rushmore. If I am not mistaken, I may have read such an article online from well, Mental Floss. But, no worries, I wasn’t disappointed.

    It was interesting to read that Hay had kept the hair and held onto it for 2 score years. And, that he gave it because he felt that Roosevelt really understood and appreciated Lincoln.

    A.R.’s comment made me realize on how close in American history that Lincoln and Roosevelt.

    posted by Blake on 5-20-2011 at 2:06 pm

  19. Thanks Blake, you pretty much summarized my exact thoughts.

    As always, great article Stacy.

    Happy Friday flossers!

    posted by izzi on 5-20-2011 at 2:19 pm

  20. tkrausse- I thought the same thing!
    Quite true, Zach. Although now it’s sorta gross.

    posted by Sara in Al on 5-20-2011 at 2:49 pm

  21. What happened to the hair ring after Roosevelt left office? Is it in the Smithsonian somewhere or did it go back to the Roosevelt family (I would guess as a personal item he took it with him when he left). Would be interesting to know where it went…

    posted by Julia on 5-20-2011 at 4:28 pm

  22. Julia, the ring is now preserved at Theodore Roosevelt’s longtime home, Sagamore Hill. An image of the ring is available here: http://www.nps.gov/sahi/photosmultimedia/Historic-Objects-Gallery.htm

    posted by Jared on 11-10-2011 at 2:44 pm

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