Person Page 1,622

Ruth A. Lytle was born in March 1853 in Sayre, Bradford, Pennsylvania.¹ She and William Kennard were married about 1875.¹ She died after 1930.

Anna Kennard was born in March 1877 in Sayre, Bradford, Pennsylvania.¹

William Kennard, Jr., was born on 2 November 1884 in Sayre, Bradford, Pennsylvania.^1,2 He and Anna (Anita) Beatrice (?) were married about 1908.³ He died in June 1968, at age 83, in Moorestown, Burlington, New Jersey.⁴

William Kennard, Jr., was a Life Insurance Salesman in Provident Life & Trusr Company.^5,2

Anna (Anita) Beatrice (?) was born on 6 July 1887 in Sayre, Bradford, Pennsylvania.^1,3 She and William Kennard, Jr., were married about 1908.¹ She died in February 1978, at age 90, in Maple Shade, Burlington, New Jersey.³

Louise Bedell was born in April 1849 in New York.^1,2,3 She died in 1915, at age ~66, in Buffalo, Erie, New York.^1,3 She was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery (Section Q, Lot 12), Buffalo, Erie, New York.³

1900 New York Census shows Daniel and Louisa Bedell Lund had 6 children, 6 living.

Grace Everwood Bedell was born on 4 November 1849 in Westfield, Chautauqua, New York.¹ She and George Newton Billings were married about 1867.² She died on 2 November 1936, at age 86, in Delphos, Ottawa, Kansas.¹ She was buried in Delphos Cemetery, Delphos, Ottawa, Kansas.³

Know as "Lincoln's Little Girl" after writing him on how to win the election by changing his appearance and growing a beard. Mr. Lincoln stopped a speech in Buffalo, New York and introduced himself to Grace.

On October 15th, 1860, Abraham Lincoln received a letter from 11 year old Grace Bedell of Westfield, New York. In the letter Lincoln, who had never worn a beard, was urged to grow whiskers by Grace because his face was "so thin." She promised that if he did she would get all her brothers to vote for him.
Her letter:

Hon A B Lincoln...

Dear Sir

My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try to get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter direct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York.

I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye

Grace Bedell

Lincoln responded on October 19th. His letter to Grace Bedell read:

Miss Grace Bedell

My dear little Miss

Your very agreeable letter of the 15th is received - I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters - I have three sons - one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years of age - They, with their mother, constitute my whole family - As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?

Your very sincere well wisher
A. Lincoln

Whether motivated just by Grace's letter or some other cause, Lincoln grew the whiskers and the rest is history. On February 16, 1861, on his way to be inaugurated, Lincoln's train stopped in Westfield NY. Lincoln asked for Grace and showed her his new beard and gave Grace a kiss. Many newspaper articles were written about about Grace and her letter at the time and throughout the years. It has been the subject of at least two books and portrayed in film.
The letter is today owned by the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library.
Grace married George Billings when she was 17 and they moved to Delphos, Kansas. Billings was a former Civil War sergeant who was a farmer and a banker in Delphos.
They had one child, Harlow Drake Billings, who was born on September 16, 1872.
Grace passed away on Monday, November 2, 1936, two days prior to what would have been her 88th birthday..

George Newton Billings was born on 7 December 1845 in New York.^2,3 He and Grace Everwood Bedell were married about 1867.⁴ He died on 23 June 1930, at age 84, in Kansas.³ He was buried in Delphos Cemetery (Section O, Lot 79), Delphos, Ottawa, Kansas.³

1900 Kansas Census shows George and Grace Bedell Billings had 2 children, 1 living.

George Newton Billings was born in east Gaines, New York on December 7, 1845. He was the oldest of three children born to Joseph Drake Billings and Melinda, his wife. Two sisters, Cora May, born in 1859, and Lottie, born in 1861, completed the family of five.

Early in life Mr. Billings formed an intimate friendship with a neighbor boy, George C. Stebbins. The two hunted, fished and played together. When Mr. Billings had finished with common school, his father, who had by diligence obtained an education far above the ordinary, wished his son to have the same opportunity, and so sent him to the Albion Academy. Mr. Stebbins went also and when it came summertime again, the two boys decided to organize a boy's militia, for the Civil War had begun and patriotism was at fever heat. George Billings was made captain, and Mr. Stebbins the first lieutenant, and night after night, the ever-increasing army of youths drilled. The next year, the officers of the troop were the same, and people came from miles around to watch the boys drill. But the troop did not continue the third year, for the captain, becoming of age, had enlisted in the Union Army.

He served through the remainder of the war, first in Company C of the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery, whose tremendous losses earned it the name of the "Bloody Eighth", and at the last of the war, in the Tenth New York veteran volunteers. At the time of his discharge, he was a sergeant in the latter corps.

The war over, he returned home for a few months, and then enrolled in the Eastman business college at Poughkeepsie, New York. Somewhat more than a year later, he was given his diploma by the college, and he returned to Albion to teach penmanship and bookkeeping in the academy, at the same time finishing the course there that he had commenced before the war. There he fell in love with Miss Grace Bedell, then a student at the academy, and in 1867 the two were married.

For two years the two stayed in Albion, where Mr. Billings bought a store, then early in 1870, when a railway had been completed to Cheyenne, started for the Greeley colony in Colorado. The colony did not please him and he took a stage from the small mining town of Denver and started east for Kansas. He homesteaded a farm 3 miles north of Delphos, and in August Mrs. Billings, his wife, came out to live with him in their pioneer home. Their son, Harlow, was born in 1872.

Those first years were hard, and for a time even horses could not be afforded, and practically their sole possessions were their home and a team of oxen. Soon after the town of Delphos was established, Mr. Billings obtained work in the store of Seymour, Simpson and Easley at twenty-eight dollars a month. Here he gained such a reputation for honesty and reliability that when the firm dissolved, he had no difficulty in obtaining work first with one store and then another. He bought a saddle horse and rode in from his farm after doing the morning work, arriving often before daylight to open the store.

In 1880, Frank Sexton established the Bank of Delphos and George N. Billings was made cashier. Later he became a partner in the bank and when it was incorporated under the state laws, he became a stockholder. Much of the time he operated the bank alone, though his capable wife often aided him with the books. As the business grew, others were added to the force at the bank, but still he remained cashier, running the affairs of the growing business with cool competency and at the same time, managing to befriend the needy, the widow and the orphan.

In the meantime, his childhood friend, Geo. C. Stebbins, had become famous as a composer of religious hymns, as a singer and an evangelist. The two remained always the closest friends and exchanged visits. Through much enterprising work Mr. Billings raised subscriptions to build a public meeting house and was made its first manager. Upon one of his visits Mr. Stebbins sang in the meeting house.

Mr. and Mrs. Billings moved to town in 1880 and in 1881 built the residence in which they have lived since. Mr. Billings took a lively interest in public affairs and with "Joe" Smith, a close friend, he organized the first telephone service in Delphos. He was also a partner in one of the first grain elevators here. He was a charter member in the Delphos Masonic Lodge.

The number of friends of Mr. and Mrs. Billings grew. Their son, Harlow, was taken into the bank where he has remained since. It was Mr. Billings' rule that no beggar should be turned away from his door without first being fed of the same that he had for himself. From the time the bank was established until the depression following the World War, the bank, of which he was cashier, did not foreclose a single mortgage, nor did it have a case in court - more than forty years, surely ample proof of his matchless integrity to depositors and borrowers alike.

The ripe age of eighty four years scarcely ever troubled by sickness was Mr. Billing's reward for a clean, good life. The love and respect of those who really knew him has been a great satisfaction to him. A policy of always doing what he believed to be just and right, has made him go with the matchless reward of a pure conscience. A stroke four years ago was the beginning of a gradual decline that ended in his death. The pain of his last sickness has been lightened by memories of the past well spent.

His life was a varied one. Born a farmer boy, he lived out of doors and was always a true sportsman. He was successively a student, a soldier, a pioneer farmer and business man, living up to his ideals of right and leaving this life as a true soldier, unafraid and without regret.

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Grace B. Billings; his son, Harlow; his only remaining sister, Cora B. Lattin of Albion, New York, and his three grandsons, George, Arthur and Roger.

Funeral services were conducted at the home Tuesday evening at sunset, Rev. Paul J. Vielguth in charge. Burial was made in the Delphos cemetery with the Masonic order in charge.

Four members of the G.A.R. were present in honor of their comrade: G.A. Smith, Chas. Neumann, H.B. Goodwin, and J.M. Hare. Honorary pallbearers were I.N. Richardson, Thos. Nelson, Eli Mullinax, W.A. Hale, Robt. Rollings and J.S. Olds. Pallbearers were E.B. Philips, O.L. Young, C.E. Rollings, John Nelson, Jr., Wendell Wilkins and Gurney Paramore.

Music was furnished by Alva Adams at the piano and Mrs. O.L. Young as soloist.

Harlow Drake Billings was born on 16 September 1872 in Kansas.^1,3,4,5 He and Ellarene Bishop were married about 1904.⁶ He and Juliana Voorhees were married in 1918.⁷ He died on 27 August 1964, at age 91, in Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado.^4,5 He was buried in Delphos Cemetery, Delphos, Ottawa, Kansas.⁵

Harlow Drake Billings was a President/ Chairman of the Board in State Bank of Delphos.^6,7 Harlow D. Billings was born September 16, 1872, north of Delphos, on the homestead of his parents, George and Grace Billings. He died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he had lived several years.

His father was a cashier at the Bank of Delphos. Harlow left Delphos in 1893 to participate in the Cherokee strip land rush in Oklahoma. A year later he sold his claim and went to the Eastman school at Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

He later returned to Delphos and began a long career in banking. Mr. Billings retired in 1957 as president and chairman of the board of the State Bank of Delphos. He had worked for the bank 53 years.

Mr. Billings, an expert rifleman and pistol shot, was on many teams from the Delphos area competing in state and national events. He was a life member of the National Rifle Association and was a 32nd degree Mason.

He was first married to Ellarene Bishop, who died in 1914. His second wife, Julianne Blackwell, died in 1930. Survivors included his widow, Persis; three sons, Roger, George, and Arthur; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.