Today was National Mad Hatter Day.

Of course this day is to observe the mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

You may  be shocked to find out that he is never called the Mad Hatter, but just the Hatter. However, along with the March Hare he is referred to as being mad.

However, this makes me think of my 4th Great Grandfather.

Absalom Leeper was a preacher in the Christian Church, a farmer and one of the earliest settlers in Iowa.

However, when he was young and lived in Ohio he worked as a hatter.

So, was he a Mad Hatter?

Luckily he did not work long as a hatter and did not have the long term effects of Mercury poisoning that was common with the profession.

In fact, Absalom lived a very long life and died at the age of 98, although his tombstone says 106.

His age was also reported as 108 when he died.

It seems that late in life someone forgot what year he was born, as census records up to 1880 show him at about the correct age.

Someday I will write a proper post about his changing age 🙂

Steven