Public Notice regarding the Establishment of a Public Road between Springfield and
Beardstown, [11 February 1856]1
Notice
Public notice is hereby given that at the March term of the County Court of Sangamon County, a petition will be presented to said Court, praying “that the route from the Western
termination of Jefferson Street, of the City of Springfield, to the bridge over Spring Creek, on the road to Ber Beardstown, as it was opened by Thomas Rucker several years ago, and as smaller bridges were placed at several points along the
same, last autumn, be established as a public-road; and that so much of the present
Beardstown road, as lies between said Spring-Creek-bridge, and the junction of said
road, with the Jacksonville road, leading from Springfield, by the Western termination of Washington Street,
be vacated.2
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[ endorsement
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02/11/1856February 11th 1856
02/11/1856February 11th 1856
This memorandum goes to show That I have posted up three notice’s of which this is a true copy— one upon the court house door in Springfield Ills[Illinois],— the other two within the vicinity of the within named road in the most public places.3
Josiah Broadwell41Abraham Lincoln wrote this document. The document is undated, with possible date of
February 11, 1856 conjectured from the dated endorsement on verso.
2In February 1857, the Illinois General Assembly appointed Joseph K. Lewis, William Jayne, and Moses K. Anderson commissioners “to view, mark and locate a state road from the western termination
of Jefferson street, in the city of Springfield, in the county of Sangamon, to the
bridge across Spring creek on the Beardstown road.” The commissioners were ordered
to make a report accompanied by a plat to the County Court of Sangamon County, and
to assess damages owed to property owners for right of way. The court approved the
road as platted and awarded damages to Erastus Wright and P. N. Tainter.
“An Act to Locate a State Road Therein Named,” 7 February 1857, Laws of Illinois (1857), 78-79; Lincoln wrote public notice for Sangamon County Court, 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=141402.
3Section eleven of the general law on public roads, enacted in February 1841, required petitioners wanting to vacate a public road to
give twenty days’ notice, by written notice, posted in the most public place in each
road district through which the road would pass.
Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Meisei University (Tokyo, Japan).