To Joseph Gillespie1Jump to section
Dear Gillespie--- March 29. 1850
I suppose you are well acquainted at Greenville, and attend court there regularly. There are, at or near that place, two brothers, and a brother-in-law, by the names of Richard Briggs, Henry Briggs, and James Bradford. They have a niece here, a near neighbor of mine, by the name of Stout, formerly Huldah Briggs, who thinks they have wronged her in relation to the estates of her grand-father and grand-mother Briggs---and she is resolved to be righted if possible. I doubt not she confidently believes in the justice of her cause; and she has so far convinced me, that I strongly sympathise with her, and intend to not drop the case till I know more about it. She writes them, and they will not answer her---itself a suspicious circumstance. Now I desire you, as a favor to me, when next you are there, to see them, and tell them of this determination of hers, and notify them to do her justice, either by giving her, her own, or taking the small trouble of convincing her, that they have nothing of hers. Generally, find out all you can, in your own way, about the matter, and write the result to Ebenezer Stout, the lady's husband, at this place. Write him, because I shall be absent on the circuit. The grand-father died in Massachusetts; and the grand-mother in Bond county, whither it is thought she brought effects of her husband, and where she certainly drew a large pension for several years. Whether there was any administration in Bond, of the effects of either, you can readily see.
Please attend to this without failure; and I will do as much, with interest, for you, on demand. Yours as ever A. LINCOLN---
Annotation
[1] ALS, ICHi. See Lincoln's letter to John Tillson, February 15, 1850, supra (II, 73).