On Oct. 15, 1860 - 153 years ago today &mdash 11-year-old Grace Bedell wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln suggesting he grow a beard for the presidential election. Bedell said in her letter that ...

Abraham Lincoln’s legacy ... N.Y., she wrote a letter to presidential candidate Lincoln encouraging him to grow a beard, which Lincoln did. Bedell later moved to Delphos and married banker ...

For reasons unclear there was a change of venue to Champaign County, and it was there Mary retained Abraham Lincoln. At the courthouse in Urbana the jury found Martin Beard “guilty of extreme ...