Description:

Abraham Lincoln
Springfield, IL, January 7, 1840
Abraham Lincoln Cuts His Losses On Debt Case Arising From Virginia Slander
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[ABRAHAM LINCOLN.] Antrim Campbell, Autograph Document Signed, Affidavit in case of Ellison v. Bohannon, January 7, 1840, Springfield, Illinois. 1 p., 7.5" x 12.25". Lincoln's name mentioned four times in text; separation on two folds; partial separation on one fold; minor edge tears.

In this intriguing document, attorney Antrim Campbell swears under oath that opposing attorney Abraham Lincoln had told him that the case before the Sangamon County Probate Justice of the Peace Court could proceed without him. At the time, Lincoln was serving in the Illinois House of Representatives, and he may have understood that his case was a losing one.

Nearly two decades earlier, James P. Kipper allegedly said that Rev. James Ellison kept a lewd woman in a camp in the woods for two weeks until Ellison's wife discovered and ended the affair. In May 1821, Ellison sued Kipper for slander in the Superior Court of Greenbrier County, (West) Virginia. When Kipper failed to answer the charges against him, a jury awarded Ellison $300 in damages in 1822.

Kipper died in May 1837 in Sangamon County, Illinois, and in March 1839, Ellison retained John Todd Stuart and Abraham Lincoln as his attorneys and sued Sarah Kipper Bohannon, Kipper's widow and the administratrix of Kipper's estate, to recover the jury award from Virginia. However, Bohannon produced evidence that Ellison had sold the judgment he obtained in Virginia to John Alderson, who sold it to James Ayres for a tract of land. Two deponents testified that Kipper had paid the judgment to Ayres by giving him a watch as partial payment and the balance in money, but Ayres testified by deposition that he had "never received one cent in payment of Kipper toward said judgment" and said he had assigned the judgement to Lewis Newsom in 1836. James Adams, the Sangamon County Probate Justice of the Peace, declared that the judgment had been paid and ruled for Bohannon.

Complete Transcript
State of Illinois
Sangamon County
A. Campbell attorney for Sarah Bohannon administratrix of James P. Kipper Decd maketh oath & says that he verily believes that Abraham Lincoln is the attorney for James Ellison in a certain cause pending before James Adams Probate Justice of the Peace for the County & State aforesaid wherein said Ellison is Plff. & the Representatives of James P. Kipper Decd are Defendants and that said Campbell who is the attorney for said Representatives as aforesaid having duly notified said Lincoln of the pendency of said suit and of opening depositions [?] well as of the trial said Lincoln have his consent to said Campbell that said depositions should be opened without the said Lincoln being present, and also that said cause should be tried in the same manner waving all error &c.
A. Campbell
Sworn this 7th day of Jany 1840. / J Adams P.J.P.S.C.

Antrim Campbell (1814-1868) was born in New Jersey and came to Springfield, Illinois, in 1838 with his brother David B. Campbell (d. 1855). They both began the practice of law. From 1848 to 1855, David B. Campbell was the state's attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit. In 1849, Antrim Campbell was appointed Master in Chancery for the Sangamon County Circuit Court, a position he held until 1861, when he received an appointment as Master in Chancery for the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois, a position he held until his death.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.5" x 12.25"
  • Medium: ADS

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