Bessie’s Hair

One of the more peculiar findings in my grandfather’s papers was inside a folded piece of paper tucked away in a  folder with the papers of Ellie Stoneroad Patterson, my delightfully name great great great grandmother. It’s a lock of hair from a woman who died the same year the U.S.A. celebrated its first centennial.

The very matter-of-fact note reads:

Bessie died Sep. 1 1876
Myrtle” Oct ”
Bessie’s hair
A leaf that was on her corpse +
a piece of her’s and Myrtle’s shroud
A piece of hair and shroud