Petition of W. P. Brown and Others to U.S. Congress, [19 February 1849]1
To the Honorable the Sennate & House of Representatives of the United States
The undersigned Petitioners would respectfully represent to your Honorable Boddy that Coonrod Summers a native of Germany & now a citizen of the United States has been blind for manyy years & until within a year past has supported himself by traveling the country and playing upon his Harp by the aid of a generous sister as a guide; that sister has now left him and in addition to this one-ayed and infirm Father that he has hitherto supported still depends upon his exertions for Subsistance Your Petitioners would therefore ask your Honnorable Body in consideration of his destitute condition & severe affliction to pass a law to [...?] ^grant^ the said Coonrod Summers a hundred and Sixty acres of the Public lands belonging to the United States and situated in the county of Woodford & state of Illinois which by the aid of his manny Sympathising friends and neighbors can be put in cultivation & construct him a home and as in duty bound your Petitioners will ever pray &c[etc.]2
W P. Brown [?] [Behman?]
David Irving T. Cross
John Clark [?] [ ?]
Peter Engle Jacob Joerger
Adam [Wile?] Christian Gingrich
[?] Jakob [De?]
Christoph Heberle [?] [Streit?]
Charles Moliter Michael [?]
Joseph Wenkler [?]
Joseph [?] Peter Engle

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Joseph [Bouhmann?] John J. Perry
John Verekler Andrew Cress
John Engle Benjn W [Kindy?]
[Jakob Bouhman?] Thos P. Sunderland
A Brown Joseph Morley
G. W. Parke
Edward Kipp
J. B. Holland
Joseph [Bürsky?]
Robert Jones
Michal [Ahr?]
A. I. Blakeslee
Sobieski Dye
R. S. Cassell
Abram Grove
Henry Grove
P H. Willard
Asahel Bingham
William McCoy
J. W. Mcarten
Benson D Wood
John W Reynolds
James M Coy
Hiram A [Cool?]

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[ docketing ]
Ill[Illinois]
[ docketing ]
The petition of citizens of Woodford county Illinois, in behalf of Conrad Summers–3
[ docketing ]
02/19/1849
February 19. 1849 Referred to the Committee on Public Lands.
[ docketing ]
Refer to Com. Pub. Lands
A. Lincoln4

<Page 4>
[ endorsement ]
I personally know Conrad Summers, named in, this petition, that he is blind, and that most of the statements of said petition are true.
A Lincoln5
1Abraham Lincoln wrote two instances of docketing on page three of this document, and an endorsement on page four. Lincoln presented this petition in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 19, 1849, and the House referred it to the Committee on Public Lands. It does not appear that the committee acted upon the petition.
U.S. House Journal. 1849. 30th Cong., 2nd sess., 475.
2Many of the following signatures were written using a German script alphabet called kurrentschrift. This, compounded by the handwriting, has made many of the names difficult to decipher.
3Lincoln wrote this docketing.
4Lincoln wrote the stricken text and signed his name.
5Lincoln wrote this endorsement and signed his name.

Autograph Document Signed, 4 page(s), RG 233, Entry 367: Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, Thirtieth Congress, 1847-1849, Records of Legislative Proceedings, Petitions and Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to Committees, 1847-1849, NAB.