Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln

David Davis filed his final report as administrator on November 13, 1868 just one year after the distribution, and it was approved on December 11. Under his handling, a net estate of $83,343.70 had in|creased to $110,974.62. Not only had he enhanced the value of the property while it was in his control; he had also incurred no expense. He made no claim for the six per cent fee, or $6,600, to which he was entitled under the law, employed no attorney, and made no charge for personal expenses.

His fine achievement was appreciated. On November 18, 1866, Mrs. Lincoln wrote in a letter to him: "Permit me to say, that in no hands save your own, could our interests have been so advantageously placed. Please accept my grateful thanks for all your kindness to myself and family."8 1.1 A half century later Robert expressed himself in much the same tone. In a letter to Thomas Dent, September 12, 1919, he wrote: "I cannot remember when I did not know Judge Davis, first as the Cir|cuit Judge of whom I heard as a boy everything good from my father and who was very kind to me. Upon my father's death I went to Judge Davis as a second father, and this he was to me until his death. I am deeply indebted to him for counsel and affectionate help on many oc|casions and revere his memory."9 1.2