Abraham Lincoln to Jonathan G. Randall, 16 June 18401
“Springfield, Ill., June 16, 1840.Jonathan G. Randall, Rushville, Ill.My Dear Sir—Your son Richard has just told me of his great loss. The rascally Whigs, through a mistake, took his trunk containing all his clothes off to Chicago, and his heart is almost broken. Make him up some new ones just as you know he needs
and make his heart glad.2
Yours respectfully,A. Lincoln."1The text of this letter has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but the original manuscript
has not been found.
2In 1840, Jonathan G. Randall had apprenticed Richard to Simeon Francis, editor of the Sangamo Journal. During Richard’s first week in Springfield, the Whig state convention met, and the Chicago delegation had traveled down and stored their baggage in the Journal office. Richard
also had all his personal belongings stored in an old hair trunk in the office, and
when the Chicago delegates departed, they inadvertently took Richard’s trunk.
Howard F. Dyson, “Lincoln in Rushville,” Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society 8 (1903), 226.
Printed Transcription, 1 page(s), Howard F. Dyson, "Lincoln in Rushville," Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society 8 (1904), 226.