Maine Memory Network

George Washington, general and president of the American republic, died on December 18, 1799, plunging his countrymen into grief.

One month later on January 19, 1800 Elizabeth "Eliza" Wadsworth of Portland, wrote to her father, Peleg Wadsworh, a Congressman in Philadelphia, "Papa I will tell you what I want-more than anything I think of at present - it is a scrap of General Washington's hand writing...perhaps his name...I should value it very highly."

She also asked, "Papa, had he hair? A lock of that I should value more highly still."

A silhouette of Peleg Wadsworth, 1748-1829, father of Eliza Wadsworth and congressman in Philadelphia during this correspondence with his daughter.

Peleg Wadsworth conveyed his daughter's wish to Mrs. Washington, "...will you admit the partiality of a father for his daughter in an apology for this intrusion?"

Peleg Wadsworth wrote the following to his daughter, "...ever holding the laudible wishes of my children sacred, I cast about in my mind for some time how I should gratify your earnestness to the full - I dare not let you know my plan till its accomplished."

Martha Washington's secretary wrote the following on behalf of Mrs. Washington, "...the ardent wish expressed by your daughter - and the earnest desire for its gratification which the feelings of a parent naturally suggest, have induced Mrs. Washington to comply with the request by sending the lock of hair ..."

Peleg Wadsworth sent the following to Tobias Lear, Mrs. Washington's secretary to express his thanks, "When I beheld the inestimable relic, a lock from the head of the venerable Sage, a thril of Awe & reverance ran thro my whole frame ... but - it shall be preservd for posterity."

Eliza Wadsworth, having received the lock of hair, wrote to her father, " O Papa...My heart was so filled with thankfulness to you, and when I opened the Sacred paper with veneration and awe, that for a moment I could not even shed a tear and my first thought was to acknowledge to Mrs. Washington herself the deep sense I had of my obligation to her for so invaluable a gift, but your delicacy in not troubling her again by writing your acknowledge occurred to me, and silenced the thought ... How shall I duly honor the relic? ... I am singularly happy."

Peleg Wadsworth wrote to his daughter, Eliza Wadsworth how he felt requesting such a gift from Mrs. Washington, and admonishing her not to "give it all away -- hair by hair -- Isabella must not have more than One--"

Eliza Wadsworth died in 1802. She willed the precious relic to her sister Zilpah, requesting that it eventually be placed among the treasures of the people of Maine.

Zilpah gave the lock of hair to her son, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

In 1850 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had George Washington's lock of hair enclosed in a gold locket, which is inscribed on the back with its history.

In 1899, through his daughter Alice, the locket and the letters that brought it to the Wadsworth-Longfellow family were given into "the safekeeping of the Maine Historical Society in accordance with Eliza Wadsworth's desire and bequest."