Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1.

About this Item

Title
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1.
Author
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press
1953.
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"Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 18, 2024.

Pages

To Joshua F. Speed1Jump to section

Dear Speed: Springfield, May 18th. 1843-

Yours of the 9th. Inst. is duly received, which I do not meet as a ``bore,'' but as a most welcome visiter. I will answer the business part of it first. The note you enclosed on Cannan & Harlan, I have placed in Moffett's2Jump to section hands according to your directions. Harvey3Jump to section is the constable to have it. I have called three times to get the note. you mention, on B. C. Webster & Co; but did not find Hurst.4Jump to section I will yet get it, and do with it, as you bid. At the april court at Tazewell, I saw Hall; and he then gave me an order on Jewett to draw of him, all rent which may fall due, after the 12th. day of Jany. last,

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till your debt shall be paid.5Jump to section The rent is for the house Ransom did live in just above the Globe;6Jump to section and is $222 per year payable quarterly, so that one quarter fell due the 12th. April. I presented the order to Jewett, since the 12th. and he said it was right, and he would accept, it, which, however, was not done in writing for want of pen & ink at the time & place. He acknowledged that the quarter's rent was due, and said he would pay it in a short time but could not at the moment. He also said that he thought, by some former arrangement, a portion of that quarter would have to be paid to the Irwins.7Jump to section Thus stands the Hall matter. I think we will get the money on it, in the course of this year. You ask for the amount of interest on your Van Bergen note of $572.32,8Jump to section and also upon the judgement against Van assigned by Baker. The note drew 12 per cent from date, and bore date Oct. 1st. 1841. I suppose the 12 per cent ceased, at the time we bought in Walters' house which was on the 23rd. Decr. 1842. If I count right, the interest up to that time, was $78.69 cents, which added to the principal makes $651.01. On this aggregate sum you are entitled to interest at 6 per cent only, from the said 23rd. Decr. 1842 until paid. What that will amount to, you can calculate for yourself. The judgement assigned by Baker to you for $219.80, was so assigned on the 2nd. of April 1841, and of course draws 6 per cent from that time until paid. This too you can calculate for yourself. About the 25th. of March 1843 (the precise date I dont now remember) Walters paid $703.25. This, of course must be remembered in counting interest. According to my count, there was due you of principal & interest on both claims on the 25th. of March 1843---$906.70. Walters then paid $703.25---which leaves still due you, $203.45, drawing 6 per cent from that date. Walters is promising to pay the ballance every day, but still has not done it. I think he will do it soon. Allen has gone to nothing, as Butler tells you.9Jump to section There are 200 acres of the tract I took the deed of trust on. The improvements I should suppose you remember as well as I. It is the stage stand on the Shelbyville road, where you always said I would'nt pay Baker's10Jump to section tavern bill. It seems to me it must be worth much more than the debt; but whether any body will redeem it in these hard times, I can not say.

In relation to our congress matter here, you were right in supposing

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I would support the nominee. Neither Baker or I, however is the man; but Hardin. So far as I can judge from present appearances, we shall have no split or trouble about the matter; all will be harmony. In relation to the ``coming events''11Jump to section about which Butler wrote you, I had not heard one word before I got your letter; but I have so much confidence in the judgement of a Butler on such a subject, that I incline to think there may be some reality in it. What day does Butler appoint? By the way, how do ``events'' of the same sort come on in your family? Are you possessing houses and lands, and oxen and asses, and men-servants and maid-servants, and begetting sons and daughters? We are not keeping house; but boarding at the Globe tavern, which is very well kept now by a widow lady of the name of Beck.12Jump to section Our room (the same Dr. Wallace13Jump to section ocupied there) and boarding only costs four dollars a week. Ann Todd14Jump to section was married something more than a year since to a fellow by the name of Campbell, and who Mary says, is pretty much of a ``dunce'' though he has a little money & property. They live in Boonville, Mo; and have not been heard from lately enough, to enable me to say any thing about her health. I reckon it will scarcely be in our power to visit Kentucky this year. Besides poverty, and the necessity of attending to business, those ``coming events'' I suspect would be some what in the way. I most heartily wish you and your Fanny would not fail to come. Just let us know the time a week in advance, and we will have a room provided for you at our house, and all be merry together for awhile. Be sure to give my respects to your mother and family. Assure her, that if I ever come near her I will not fail to call and see her. Mary joins in sending love to your Fanny and you. Yours as ever

A. LINCOLN

P.S. Since I wrote the above I saw Hurst and discover that the note on B. C. Webster & Co does not fall due till the 9th. June. Hurst says it will be paid when due.

Annotation

[1]   ALS, IHi.

[2]   Thomas Moffett (?), a justice of the peace.

[3]   William Harvey (?), Whig.

[4]   Charles R. Hurst. B. C. Webster & Company was a general merchandise store in Springfield.

[5]   Logan & Lincoln obtained judgment for $149.65 in Bell & Company v. Hall, September 16, 1842.

[6]   The Globe Tavern where the Lincolns resided from November, 1842, until shortly after August 1, 1843.

[7]   Robert Irwin & Company.

[8]   See note 7 of letter to Speed, July 4, 1842 (supra).

[9]   Robert Allen; William Butler. For the failure of Allen's business, see note 4 of letter to Speed, July 4, 1842.

[10]   Edward D. Baker.

[11]   Robert Todd Lincoln was born August 1, 1843.

[12]   Sarah Beck (Mrs. James).

[13]   Dr. William S. Wallace, brother-in-law of Mary Todd Lincoln.

[14]   Cousin of Mary.

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