Ring that belonged to Abraham Lincoln’s youngest son now in the hands of Lincoln library

Posted on December 27, 2017
Tad Lincoln ring
Abraham Lincoln’s youngest son, Tad, used to own this ring. It’s braided with hair from a pony Tad used to ride on White House grounds. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum photo)

By Howard Packowitz

SPRINGFIELD – A unique piece of jewelry has been donated to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, which the library collection’s curator said is a never-seen before keepsake of the pets kept by the 16th president’s family.

The president’s youngest son, Thomas “Tad” Lincoln, often rode his pony near the White House, where a Union officer was stationed.

The boy gave to the officer’s wife a ring braided from the pony’s hair. The officer died a few years later. His wife remarried and moved to Effingham, where her descendants, the Broom family, held onto the ring until now.

William Broom the third, a Carbondale attorney, donated it to the library earlier this month.

The ring has a small clasp engraved with the name Thomas Lincoln.

Collection curator James Cornelius said the artifact is a wonderful reminder of Tad as little boy playing with his menagerie of animals on White House grounds.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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