Check of William L. D. Ewing to Abraham Lincoln, 14 November 18441
AUDITOR'S OFFICE ILLINOIS, Springfield, Novr 141844$ 5 00/100
No 12225
Treasurer of the STATE OF ILLINOIS, Pay to A. Lincoln or order, the sum of five dollars andcents, it being in part for his services as Bearer of the presidential poles from Lawrence County to the Seat of Government2
Countersigned and Registered.
M. CarpenterTreasurer.W L D EwingAuditor of Public Accounts.<Page 2>
1William L. D. Ewing filled out the blanks of this partially-printed check. Milton
Carpenter also signed the check. Abraham Lincoln endorsed it on the back.
2From October 24 through election day on November 4, Lincoln traveled through Indiana giving campaign speeches in support of Henry Clay in the 1844 presidential election. On October 30, he was in Rockport, on the Ohio River in southern Indiana. It is likely that Lincoln traveled through Lawrence County,
Illinois, on his way back home. Auditor Ewing paid Lincoln using multiple checks,
for a total of $17.60. Three of the checks are extant.
Check of William L. D. Ewing to Abraham Lincoln; Check of William L. D. Ewing to Abraham Lincoln; Summary of Speech at Rockport, Indiana; Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 1:342, n1; Harry E. Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, IL: The Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943), 99; Michael Burlingame,
Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:224-29.
Partially Printed Document Signed, 2 page(s), Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).