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Lot 64
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Lincoln Signs Plus 192 Words, Women's Land Rights, Real Estate Agent Sells Springfield Land For Mary's Family, Unique!
Lincoln Signs Plus 192 Words, Women's Land Rights, Real Estate Agent Sells Springfield Land For Mary's Family, Unique!
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Description:

Abraham Lincoln
Springfield, IL, August 20, 1855
Lincoln Signs Plus 192 Words, Women's Land Rights, Real Estate Agent Sells Springfield Land For Mary's Family, Unique!
Partially printed DS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Partially Printed Document Signed, Mortgage Deed of William S. Viney to Maria L. Bullock, August 20, 1855, Springfield, IL on blue paper. Mortgage filled in by Lincoln and signed by Viney; certification filled in and signed by Justice of the Peace William F. Elkin; endorsement on verso written and signed by James H. Matheny; file note written by Lincoln. 2 pp., 13" x 16". Expected folds; light toning along folds with scattered small separations; soiling at top and bottom edges.

Abraham Lincoln filled in a partially printed mortgage deed form for William S. Viney to sign to secure Viney's purchase of three lots in Springfield, Illinois owned by Mary Lincoln's aunt, Maria L. Bullock. Abraham Lincoln acted as her agent in the sale of twenty-six lots of land in Springfield. When Viney failed to pay the second promissory note, Lincoln sued him on behalf of Bullock to recover title to the lots. This document includes 192 words written by Lincoln.

Excerpts
This Indenture, made and entered into, This twentieth day of August in the year of the Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-five, between William S. Viney of the County of Henry and State of Iowa—party of the first part, and Mrs Maria L. Bullock of the County of Fayette and State of Kentucky—party of the second part,
WITNESSETH: That the said party of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred and sixtytwo dollars and cents, in hand paid by the said party of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, has Granted, Bargained and Sold, and by These Presents, do Grant, Bargain and Sell, unto the said party of the second part, her heirs and assigns those certain tracts of Land, situate, lying and being in the County of Sangamon, and State of Illinois known and designated as follows, to wit: Lots Twentyfour, Twentyfive, and Twentysix, in Bullock's Addition to the City of Springfield, according to the plat thereof.
TO HAVE, AND TO HOLD the aforesaid tract or parcel of Land, together with all and singular the privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining, to the only proper use and benefit of her the said party of the second part, her heirs and assigns FOREVER. And the said party of the first part, for himself heirs, executors and administrators, does covenant with the said party of the second part, that he is lawfully seized, has full right to convey, and will Forever Warrant and Defend the said tract of Land from the claim of him, the said party of the first part, his heirs and assigns, and against the claim, or claims, of any person whomsoever. Nevertheless the above Indenture of mortgage, is upon this express and only condition, that Whereas, the said party of the first part has executed his two several promissory notes of even date herewith, both payable to the party of the second part, both bearing interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from date until paid, each for the principal sum of eightyone dollars, one payable in one year, and the other in two years, after date, the same being to secure a part of the purchase money of said lots. Now if said notes shall be well and truly paid according to their tenor and effect, this deed is to be null and void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect.
In Witness Whereof, the said party of the first part has hereunto set his hand and seal the day and year first above written.
W. S. Viney {L.S.}

[Marginal Note by Lincoln:]
To-day, received eightyseven dollars on the first note, and sent the proceeds, in a draft, to Mrs Bullock, in Kentucky.
A.. Lincoln.
Nov. 5, 1856

[File Note by Lincoln:]
William S. Viney
To } Mortgage
Maria L. Bullock

Historical Background
In 1831 and 1832, physician John Todd, the uncle of Mary Todd Lincoln, gave his unmarried sister Maria Todd an African American indentured servant and her two children, some livestock, household furnishings, a tract of land near downtown Springfield, Illinois, and 35 acres of land near Springfield. Three years later, she married widower Waller Bullock. After he died in 1853, she decided to sell her real estate in Springfield and called on her niece's husband, Abraham Lincoln, to aid her in the process. Acting as her agent, Lincoln sold her Springfield land, divided into 28 lots, to several individuals, some of whom paid for the land with promissory notes. Her agent in Kentucky was Charles D. Carr, a cousin of Mary Lincoln, and Abraham Lincoln and Carr corresponded about the collection of these promissory notes.

When William S. Viney of Henry County, Iowa, failed to pay his promissory notes and taxes for the three lots he had purchased from Bullock in 1855, Lincoln sued him in the Sangamon County Circuit Court in the spring of 1859. After Lincoln had the necessary public notices printed in the newspaper, the court ordered the foreclosure, and when Viney failed to pay the judgment, the court sold the three lots back to Bullock.

In April 1860, one month before he became the Republican nominee for President of the United States, Lincoln sent $503.13 to Bullock for payments and interest he had collected from John Cook for four lots in Springfield that he had purchased from Bullock in 1855. By this time, Lincoln had successfully sold all of Bullock's Springfield real estate except the three lots involved in this case. Bullock owned that property until her death in November 1861.


Maria Logan Todd Bullock (1788-1861) was born in Kentucky and was the older sister of Robert S. Todd, Mary Todd's father. When Mary Todd's mother died in 1825, Maria Todd joined her brother's household to help the family. In 1835, she married Waller Bullock, and the couple lived in Lexington, Kentucky. He died in 1853, and by 1860, she owned four enslaved people. In the late 1850s, Abraham Lincoln aided Bullock with the management of real estate she owned in Springfield, Illinois.

Provenance:
Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Foundation

Reference: Daniel W. Stowell et al., eds., The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases, 4 vols. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), 4:113-136.

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: 13" x 16"
  • Medium: Partially printed DS

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