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Notice to Take Depositions in Phares v. Jennings and Oatman, [11 February 1857]1
Allen W. Phares= & Robert P. Kirby= AD 1857=
vs } Assumpsit= De Witt Circuit Court May Term
Jennings & Oatman=
To the defendants=Gents=
You are hereby notified that we will attend at the office personally or by Att[attorney] of Wm M Hitt a notary public in the City of La Salle County of La Salle Ills. between the hours of 10 Am. on 27 day of February AD 1857 and the hour of 6. PM– 1857 for the purpose of taking the deposition of Sidney Darrow ^Mr Keeler station at that place on Ill C RR ^ and any other witness we may see fit to examine to be read as evidence on the part of the pltff[plaintiff] in the trial of the above cause when and where you may appear and cross examine said witnesses
Weldon, Moore pq2
<Page 2>
[ endorsement ]
02/11/1857
The within notice was handed me to-day by Mr Moore; and I did not notice at the time that your first names are not in it– You see what the object is; and you better attend at the time and place of taking the depositions–
I direct to Jennings and Oatman because I can not remember your christian names; and to Eureka, because I rather think that is your nearest office.
Keep this–3
Springfield Feb. 11, 1857A. Lincoln.
1Lawrence Weldon wrote this notice.
Although this notice is undated, the editors infer from context in Abraham Lincoln’s endorsement (shown in the second image) that the notice was most likely created the same day as Lincoln’s endorsement: February 11, 1857.
2“Pq” is an abbreviation for Pro querente. Pro querente is a Latin phrase that means “for the plaintiff.”
Clifton H. Moore wrote the script on the final line of the sheet shown in the first image, including his own surname.
Henry Campbell Black, A Dictionary of Law (St. Paul, MN: West, 1891), 944.
3The above notice and Lincoln’s note are related to the case Phares v. Jennings & Oatman. Both Sidney Darrow and Roswell Keeler were indeed deposed in the case.
In the case, Allen W. Phares sued William A. Jennings and James R. Oatman in September 1856 in the DeWitt County Circuit Court for $6,000 in damages. Phares claimed that Jennings and Oatman failed to pay him for shelled corn and corn sacks that he shipped to them between March and May of 1856. Lincoln, Asahel Gridley, and John H. Wickizer represented Jennings and Oatman; Weldon, Moore, and James Strain represented Phares. The case came before the DeWitt County Circuit Court in October 1856, but was continued at least twice. In March 1857, the parties reached a settlement in which Jennings and Oatman agreed to pay Phares $2,450.
Phares v. Jennings & Oatman, 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=135535.

Copy of Autograph Document Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Association Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).