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To James H. Hoes1Jump to section
My Dear Sir Washington, December 17, 1863.
I have received from the Sanitary Commission of Chicago, the Watch which you placed at their disposal, and I take the liberty of conveying to you my high appreciation of your humanity and generosity, of which I have unexpectedly become the beneficiary. I am very truly yours A. LINCOLN
James H. Hoes Esq
Annotation
[1] LS, CSmH. As managers of the Northwestern Sanitary Fair at Chicago, Mrs. Abraham H. Hoge and Mrs. David P. Livermore, wrote Lincoln on November 26, 1863: ``Among the many remarkable incidents of our recent Fair, not one has been more pleasant, than the duty that devolves upon us, of consigning to you, on this National Thanksgiving Day, the accompanying watch; of asking you to accept it, as a memorial of the Ladies N. Western Fair. During the progress of the Fair, Mr. James H. Hoes, Jeweller of Chicago, a most loyal and liberal man, after giving very largely himself, in order to stimulate donations from others, proposed through the columns of the Tribune, to give a gold watch to the largest contributor to the Fair. . . . Emancipation Proclamation . . . was sold for $3,000, the largest benefaction of any individual. . . .'' (DLC-RTL).