George Washington Hair

George Washington Hair

This plaited lock of George Washington’s hair was collected by Maggie and Mary Meminger and preserved in an 1842 edition of The Life of George Washington, published by the American Sunday-School Union in Philadelphia, PA. The book with marble board cover offers a detailed account of Washington’s life. This book with George Washington’s hair was assembled by M. H. and L. C. Todd, who were workers at the Sunday School-School-Union, that sold this book, as part of a fund raiser, to American Sunday-School Union members Maggie and Mary Meninger. The hair was bequeathed with other George Washington artifacts by Bushrod Washington who was an Officer of American Sunday – School Union. Bushrod Washington was George Washington’s nephew. He inherited Mount Vermon along with Washington’s artifacts from his aunt, Mary Washington, after George Washington’s death in 1832.

Provenance: Robert Adam Meninger Baltimore, Maryland                                                                              William Guthman – Guthman Americana, Westport, Ct;                                                                            Gordon Barlow, Swoope, Virginia (1999)