Ring braided from the hair of Tad Lincoln’s pony

[RJNorton]

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum "has been given a unique personal item that once belonged to Lincoln’s youngest son: a ring braided from the hair of Tad Lincoln’s pony."

Personally, I must say, I have never heard of a lady named Catherine Kelly being a friend of Tad's.

http://www.thexradio.com/news/78-local-n...ngham-ties

[Eva Elisabeth]

I think it possible he made lots of rings from hair strains of his pony - as we used to make them of "our" foster horses hair. However, if he had given it to the soldier instead of the bride I'd find the item's authenticity to a higher degree possible.

[kerry]

One of the articles said she was a wife of Thomas C. Kelly, a government employee, who Mary Lincoln did write a letter on behalf of, so there might be something to it.

[RJNorton]

This article has a photo.

[LincolnMan]

The museum has accepted it as authentic?

[RJNorton]

The museum has accepted it as authentic?

I think so, Bill. My first reaction was to be skeptical, but Kerry's post above made me less so. Kerry, can you post the letter? Many thanks if you can.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I was less sceptic before seeing the photo, this is not the kind of simple DIY ring we used to make and I thought of. (Wonder who wrote that - even "Lincoln" is misspelled although the name is engraved... )

[Susan Higginbotham]

He might have paid to have it braided, just as people paid for jewelry to be woven from human hair.

[RJNorton]

(Wonder who wrote that - even "Lincoln" is misspelled although the name is engraved... )

I don't think it was Tad as Mary said he could not write the letters of the alphabet when he was living in the White House.

[L Verge]

Until prices grew prohibitively, I used to collect hair jewelry (human hair, however). I feel safe in saying that this ring was not woven by Tad, but by someone who knew what they were doing.

It is nicely woven, and at least the clasp was done by a jeweler - just like most of those that were done by an individual or by someone in a cottage industry. There is an art to doing hair jewelry that requires waxing individual hairs and then adding others to form a larger "hair," etc. A few years ago, we had a crafter demonstrating the art at an event at Surratt House. Not too many people know how or have the time to do this now.

I also noted that the written note mentions Tad's "ponies." Did he have more than the one that was killed in the stable fire in 1864?

[RJNorton]

I also noted that the written note mentions Tad's "ponies." Did he have more than the one that was killed in the stable fire in 1864?

Laurie, right after the fire, John Nicolay wrote to John Hay, "Put crepe on your hat. Tonight, at about 8:30, while Cooper was gone to his supper, the stables took fire and burned down. The carriages and coupe alone were saved - everything else went - six horses, including the President's, ours, and Tad's two ponies...Tad was in bitter tears at the loss of his ponies, and his heaviest grief was that one of them had belonged to Willie."

[L Verge]

I also noted that the written note mentions Tad's "ponies." Did he have more than the one that was killed in the stable fire in 1864?

Laurie, right after the fire, John Nicolay wrote to John Hay, "Put crepe on your hat. Tonight, at about 8:30, while Cooper was gone to his supper, the stables took fire and burned down. The carriages and coupe alone were saved - everything else went - six horses, including the President's, ours, and Tad's two ponies...Tad was in bitter tears at the loss of his ponies, and his heaviest grief was that one of them had belonged to Willie."

Stupid me. I knew that Willie's pony was killed in the fire, but never stopped to think that once Willie died, Tad "inherited" his pony.

[Finnigan]

I was at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library during the week when this was donated. I asked Dr. Cornelius, Lincoln Curator, to show it to me on December 29th and he explained more about it too. Following is my recollection of what I saw and heard, some of which is in the published news articles, some of which is not:

First of all, it is quite small! The photos make it look larger than it is. The engraving on the clasp is absolutely minute.

As far as authenticity, that's up to debate, said Dr. Cornelius. It's what makes history so interesting. Besides, it's actually the story behind this artifact that is more interesting.

Yes, the note does appear to read "Tad Lincons ponies" (note misspelling of Lincoln).

There is an explanation regarding the plurality of ponies. Dr. Cornelius showed me the letter from early 1864 that Tad Lincoln dictated (because he couldn't write). In this letter, he talks about getting a new pony. One theory is that some hair from the pony that perished was saved and combined with some hair from the new pony.

Tad gave the ring to a young lady aged about 19. At that time, the White House lawn was more like an open field and this is where Tad rode his pony. The lawn at the time had no fence around it so you could go out to the nearby Treasury Building, and this is where Tad met Catherine. Presumably it was she who wrote the descriptive tag "From the hair of...", but even that is a guess.

Both ring and letter are scheduled to go in the Treasures Gallery at the Presidential Museum. It's a finger ring, so I asked if it would be mounted on a mannequin finger like in a jewelry store. It looks nothing like a ring that we think of today for your finger, and this would better help museum visitors understand how it was worn.

Dr. Cornelius said it is unlikely to be displayed that way, as the conservator would prefer that it remain flat.

He also made a joke, "If someone should claim to have Fido's collar, then we will have to reconcile that with the photos where Fido is not wearing a collar!"