Cora Norwood's special delivery
A chain of goodwill that stretched from Chicago to Maine
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Release Date: December 23, 2025
The wish of a shoemaker’s daughter
Like a lot of girls born into poor, working class families in the mid-1800s, nine-year-old Cora Norwood had mastered the art of knitting early. Knitting meant a ready supply of blankets, sweaters, stockings and scarves, and all the other warm items needed to survive the cold, damp winters in Bucksport, Maine. But for Cora, and likely her mother, Christina, and older sisters, Alice and Lucia, as well, knitting was a cottage industry. Despite the rise of textile factories, quality, handcrafted goods were still in demand, and piece work was an easy way to supplement the salary her father, John, earned at the local shoe factory.
And so, each evening after finishing her schoolwork, Cora would knit, crafting durable mittens and gloves bound for the warehouses of Keith Brothers & Company, Chicago’s largest wholesale supplier of fancy dry goods, hosieries and notions.
In the fall of 1879, whether on a whim or a wish, she tucked a simple note into one of her handcrafted gloves before sending it off to Chicago.
“This pair of gloves were made by Cora S. Norwood, aged nine years, of Bucksport, Maine. As my parents are too poor to give me a Christmas present, I would be much pleased to receive a wax doll for Christmas, and hope that the person who buys these gloves will think enough of it to comply with my request.” 1
Then she packed the gloves up with the other items headed for Chicago, dropped the package off at the Railway Mail Service office, and continued on with her work, totally unaware of what she’d set in motion.
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As a receiving clerk at Keith Brothers & Company unloaded Cora’s package a few days later, her note slipped put, and naturally he read it. Moved by the little girl’s request, he showed it to his co-workers, and finally to the company’s founder, Osborn R. Keith. Osborn had a little girl of his own, and although she was just five, he couldn’t imagine her going without on Christmas morn. He decided then and there that the little girl in Bucksport, ME, wouldn’t go without either. Keith Brothers & Company would make her wish come true.
A beautiful wax doll was purchased using funds donated by employees and management, and then was hand-delivered, along with Cora’s story and note, to the United States Express Company’s headquarters just down the street on West Monroe Street.
When the company’s president, Mr. B. Schermerhorn, heard the story of the little girl who wished for a doll, he, too, was deeply touched, and on the spot vowed to absorb the entire cost of delivering Cora’s package to her doorstep. He even went so far as to fill the waybill out himself.
It was a waybill unlike any which the company had ever sent out, before or since:
“United States Express Co., One box. Consignor, Keith Bros., & Co. furnishing goods, Chicago, Ill, Address, Cora. S. Norwood. Destination, Bucksport, Maine. Advance charges, gift. United States charges, gift. Kansas Pacific charges, gift; collect nothing. Prepaid, with love. Remarks: Be happy.
Schermerhorn then attached Cora’s original note to the waybill and added his own special instructions:
“The letter pasted on, is a request found in a pair of gloves, and this box contains the desired wax doll, being the gift of the employees of the firm selling the gloves. Please let this waybill go through and be delivered with doll. Those who handle the waybill may endorse on the back their Happy New Years, etc.”
Then he signed it, turn it over and penned the first endorsement:
“Merry Christmas to Cora, B. Schermerhorn.”
As the package containing Cora’s doll made its way across America, her story went with it, and soon the back of the waybill was filled with well wishes and holiday cheer:
From the Michigan Southern route:
“Carleton sends his compliments.”
From the Dunkirk and Toledo route:
“Schneider wishes that all your requests in life be granted as readily as this.”
J.C. Rea wrote:
“Heaven’s blessings be with you. Hoping you a Happy New Year.”
A. Shaw, on Train 12 on December 17, 1879, added the longest message:
“To Miss Cora – as you gently glide down life’s Rugged River, be ever watchful of the many deceitful rocks that so thickly line the banks, and you will always have a Happy Christmas.”
From the U.S. Express Company Money Department in New York:
“W.H. Phelon wishes Cora a Merry Christmas.”
In Boston, on December 21–just four days before Christmas – William Hutchinson and his partner wrote:
“A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Cora Norwood.”
And finally, two days before Christmas, and just before Cora’s package was delivered to her door, one final endorsement was added:
I fully concur in the above, A.D. Keith, Boston and Bangor route. Respectfully referred to as Cora’s young man.
It’s not known how Cora or her family reacted to the special delivery package which arrived at their door that Christmas. Surely there was surprise, perhaps even wonder as the box was opened to reveal a carefully wrapped wax doll, a heartfelt gift from strangers half a continent away.
On Christmas Eve, Cora penned another note, this one addressed to everyone who’d made her Christmas wish come true:
Dear Sirs: I received a postal from you Monday, saying that you had sent me a wax doll in answer to my letter I put in a pair of gloves which I knit about six weeks ago. Tuesday, I received the wax doll that I have wished for so many times. It is very pretty, and I thank you over and over again for being so good.
I also got the waybill with many kind endorsements, and I thank them for their pretty compliments.
I wish you, kind employees, and all concerned, a merry Christmas and happy New Year. I have named my handsome doll Lulu Keith. I never shall forget you. Your little friend, Cora S. Norwood
Within days, Cora’s story began to appear in newspapers from California to Maine, and everywhere in between, and it was republished every Christmas for many years after. One paper called it, “a veritable romance, and almost like a fairy tale.” Another declared it “The brightest and pleasantest story of the Christmas season.”
And all agreed it was the perfect Christmas story for such a time as this.
Copyright 2025 Lori Olson White
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End Notes
1 Although Cora’s story doesn’t bear the marks of a syndicator, it was published in scores of newspapers across the country, many under the headline, “A Pretty Christmas Story,” which is how it was titled on the front page of January 20, 1880 edition of The Advertiser-Democrat in Norway, ME.
How touching. I am curious about what happened with Cora - and the doll!
Such a sweet story!