CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – You just never know what you’ll find in the historical archives.

An author researching the life of President Franklin Pierce came across an odd piece of correspondence sent to Pierce’s wife, Jane: a letter containing a lock of hair from a friend who had just passed away.

The friend was Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, widow of Alexander Hamilton. She had outlived her husband – who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804 – by some 50 years and spent her later life in Washington, preserving his memory.

The letter, dated Nov. 9, 1854 – the day she died – was sent to Mrs. Pierce by one of Mrs. Hamilton’s sons, James. It presented her with the hair “of her venerable and truly pious and excellent friend,” and thanked the Pierces “for their kindness and attention to his sainted mother.”

Mrs. Pierce documented the item in her own handwriting on a piece of paper found with the letter, and on an envelope that contained it. A short poem written on the inside of the envelope says “the spirit of the loved and the departed are with us.”

Giving someone a lock of hair was very common in the 19th century, said Wes Balla, the New Hampshire Historical Society’s director of collections and exhibitions. For example, if a husband and wife were separated from one another due to travel, they might keep a portrait miniature along with a lock of hair of their beloved. “It’s a physical reminder of a bond,” he said.

Peter Wallner, who just published Part I of a Franklin Pierce biography, recently found the letter in the Pierce papers stored at the historical society.

“Each generation finds new things and new meaning in the collections,” Balla said.

For the historical society, the items confirmed a relationship between the then-first lady and a woman who had a direct link to one of the founding fathers of the United States. It was known that the two had corresponded, but there are no surviving letters.

“One of the points of connection between the two women was that they were both very religious, pious people,” great readers of the Bible who believed in charity and good works, Balla said.

Mrs. Hamilton herself was an important social figure. “She’s a very modest religious person but she also had a sense of her husband’s and her role in the making of the nation,” Balla said. “By the 1850s, when she’s living in Washington, Americans of all sorts are coming to visit her.”

Hamilton, a signer of the Constitution and the nation’s first treasury secretary, fought in the Revolutionary War, was a confidant of George Washington and became an author of the “Federalist Papers.” As treasurer, some of his economic plans were met with opposition by Jeffersonian Republicans, a force that gradually grew stronger than Hamilton’s Federalist Party.

There was turmoil in Hamilton’s personal life, as well. He was accused of having an affair and he also had an ongoing feud with Burr. Even though he didn’t like Jefferson’s policies, Hamilton supported him for president over Burr and came out against Burr when he ran for governor of New York, all leading up to the duel.

Mrs. Hamilton spent many years defending her husband’s reputation and works. “Her role in many ways was to keep his contribution and his vision of America alive,” Balla said.

AP-ES-08-20-04 1316EDT