Abraham Lincoln to John D. Johnston, 23 February 18501
Springfield, Feb. 23. 1850Dear BrotherYour letter about a mail contract was received yesterday–2 I have made out a bid for you at $120, guaranteed it myself, got our P. M .here to certify it, and sent it on– Your former letter, concerning some man's claim
for a pension was also received–3 I had the claim examined by those who are practiced in such matters & they decide
he can can not get a pension–
As you make no mention of it, I suppose you had not learned that we lost our little
boy– He was sick fiftytwo days & died the morning of the first day of this month–4 It was not our first, but our second child– We miss him very much–
Your Brother in hasteA. Lincoln<Page 2>
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Feb. 23– 50[1850]
1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter, including the address on the last sheet,
which was folded to create an envelope.
4Edward Baker Lincoln’s cause of death was listed on the U.S. federal census as “consumption.” Although
the precise cause of both his illness and death are uncertain, some believe he had
pulmonary tuberculosis.
U.S., Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885, Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 787 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2010);
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 153.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Andre De Coppet Collection, Box 21, Folder 31, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University (Princeton, NJ).