80 Year Old Teddy Bear

This old fella was my father in law’s bear when he was a child. Now if he is 85 – this old guy must be around 80 years old. He sits on top of my kitchen cabinet enjoying the rest of his life. I thought his nose was missing, but it’s sewn on, so it can’t be removed.

Upon researching teddy bears tonight, it has come to my attention that I may have in my hands and original Teddy Roosevelt bear here.
Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, is the person responsible for giving the teddy bear his name. On November 14, 1902, Roosevelt was helping settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. During his spare time he attended a bear hunt in Mississippi. During the hunt, Roosevelt came upon a wounded young bear and ordered the mercy killing of the animal. The Washington Post ran a editorial cartoon created by the political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman that illustrated the event. The cartoon was called “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” and depicted both state line dispute and the bear hunt. At first Berryman drew the bear as a fierce animal, the bear had just killed a hunting dog. Later, Berryman redrew the bear to make it a cuddly cub. The cartoon and the story it told became popular and within a year, the cartoon bear became a toy for children called the teddy bear.