President Abraham Lincoln was certainly never known for his rugged good looks, rugged maybe, but not good looks. Former Niagara Falls realtor, Max Oppenheim, offered up the following Lincoln anecdote many years ago. It would seem that he possessed a Lincoln vest that came with a very amusing story. Oppenheim received Lincoln’s vest from a man named Wesley West who lived at Willow Avenue and Main Street in the Falls.

The story goes that a general in the Northern Army, a close friend of President Lincoln, was home for a visit and called upon a friend named West. He found Mrs. West in tears and when asked why she was weeping, she pointed to her small son and said that everyone was saying he was so homely he looked like Abe Lincoln. When the general returned to Washington he sought out the Great Emancipator and laughingly retold the incident. The president then sent one of his vests to Mrs. West and told her to give it to her son when he grew up, as a present from the president of the Unites States.

Ann Marie Linnabery
Erie Canal Discover Center
24 Church St.
Lockport NY 14094
716.439.0431
CanalDiscovery@aol.com
www.NiagaraHistory.org