Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln to Joshua F. Speed, 12 December 18551
Springfield, Dec: 12. 1855Dear Speed
Yours of the 7^th accompanied by the deed of P. S. Loughborough, to Laurence Young, is this day received;2 and I answer in haste to say, that I am engaged for James M. Loughborough, and it might not be consistent with my duty to him, for me to to attend to the business for M^r Young–3 I shall therefore hold the deed subject to your order; suggesting that the land is in Champaign county, and that I think H. C. Whitney, of Urbana, would be a very proper person to entrust the business to–

All well– Kindest regards to M^rs S.
Your friend as everA. Lincoln–

[ endorsement ]
12/17/1855
Speed, Joshua F.

wrote Lincoln to send deed to H C Whitney
17 Decr[December] 18554

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[ docketing ]
A. Lincoln about Youngs land

[ docketing ]
(A L)5

1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed this letter.

2Joshua F. Speed’s letter of December 7 and the accompanying deed have not been located.
In 1836, Preston S. Loughborough purchased around 3,000 acres in the western portion of Champaign County, Illinois. In 1845, Loughborough conveyed the majority of that land to J. Graves of Kentucky and the remainder to Lawrence Young. Loughborough did not record either deed at the time. Laurence Young’s deed, dated March 10, 1845, was for 480 acres. Speed requested that Lincoln have it recorded and search for tax-titles. In 1873, Young still owned 400 acres in that county, which he directed to be sold in his will.
Urbana Union (Urbana, IL), 11 March 1858, 3:1; Abraham Lincoln to James M. Loughborough; Kentucky, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1774-1989, 6 January 1873, Jefferson County (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2015).

3James M. Loughborough, Peter S. Loughborough’s nephew, had already retained Lincoln for an unrelated legal matter. The only extant legal case where Lincoln represented James M. Loughborough was a lawsuit against James F. Gamble in the Champaign County Circuit Court.
Lincoln referred Speed to Whitney, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=141359; Loughborough v. Gamble et al., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136571.

4The letter from Speed to Lincoln requesting that the latter send the deed to Henry C. Whitney has not been located. No further correspondence regarding the deed is extant, so the final disposition of the matter is unknown.
Joshua F. Speed wrote this endorsement.

5Speed wrote this and the above docketing.