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If the stories are true, this dress witnessed President Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Ball on March 4, 1865, in Washington, D.C. An engraved invitation in the museum's collection is addressed to “Miss Rose Howe.” It has been long assumed that this refers to Frances’ and Rose’s mother, Rose Bailly Howe, and that, according to the story, together the three women attended the ball, with fourteen-year-old Frances wearing this dress. It isn’t clear why the family was invited, but there is speculation that it was actually the 22-year-old daughter Rose, a distinguished early graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Academy in 1860, whose honor was requested.