President William Henry Harrison Hair Cut on His Deathbed, with John Quincy Adams Family Provenance

Five strands of hair belonging to President Harrison, the longest measuring 1.75” in length. The hair is secured to a larger sheet of paper within a small card having a plastic overlay. The hair strands are white and grey in color. The hair was cut on April 5, 1841, the day after Harrison’s death, and was presented to Ex-First Lady Louisa Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams. Fine condition. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. John Reznikoff Hair Collection is certified as the Largest Hair Collection in Guinness Book of World Records 2014.

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was elected as the ninth President and served the shortest tenure in U.S. presidential history. He contracted pneumonia after an outdoor speaking event and died just 32 days into his presidency. The provenance for the hair was provided by Joseph Harrod (1785-1875), the brother of Ann Harrod Adams (1774-1845), who in 1805 married Thomas Boylston Adams (1772-1832), John and Abigail Adams’ youngest son. On a note accompanying the hair, Harrod wrote that it was taken from “Genl. Harrison’s head cut in the White House Apr 5 1841, given to Mrs E C Adams who was present when the lock of hair was cut off (from her share) at Willimantic May 7 1872…”

The President’s body was placed in the East Room of the White House, where it could be viewed by mourners until his funeral three days later. At a still unknown point in time, the lock came into the family of William Francis Bartlett (1840-1876), who like Joseph Harrod, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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