Abraham Lincoln to Jackson Grimshaw, 27 March 18581
Springfield, March 27. 1858.Hon. J. GrimshawMy dear Sir:Herewith I send you a sketch for an agreement in the case we spoke of– You see I ask
you to admit more points for me, than I admit for you; but if you have any more merely
labor-saving points ^(as mine are)^ admitted, add them, sign the paper & send it to me and I will also sign it–2
I forget the names of the parties to the suits; but you and I will have no dispute
about that.
The copy of the Will, I have duly authenticated from Boston, but being a copy, it has no note of it’s record in Adams county, though my man man says it is recorded there–3 The death of one Executor can also be proved, but it would cost some labor.4
Answer soon.5
Yours trulyA. Lincoln2The agreement that Lincoln enclosed here was related to the case of Powell v. Ament & Beer, which involved a dispute over the ownership of land in Adams County, Illinois. The
case commenced in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois in January 1858, with Lincoln representing the plaintiff and Jackson Grimshaw as
an attorney for the defendants.
At issue in the case was title to property which had originally been military bounty
land patented by Jabez Morse and which Jeremiah Evarts claimed to have purchased from Morse, apparently through land agents Moore, Morton & Company. Lincoln’s client claimed ownership originating in Evarts’ supposed title to the
property, and the defendants traced their title through transactions that originated
with Morse’s heirs. The agreement in the case that Lincoln enclosed here has not been
located, but Grimshaw summarized what stipulations relative to the above facts of the case had been agreed upon by
both sides in a letter he wrote to Lincoln on behalf of the firm of Williams, Grimshaw & Williams later in the course of the lawsuit. The agreement was apparently never filed in the
case. Lincoln’s involvement in the case ended about 1860. After three trials, the
case was ultimately decided in 1863 in favor of the plaintiff.
Powell v. Ament & Beer, 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=137595; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln.
3The will under discussion in Powell v. Ament & Beer was that of Evarts, who had died in 1831. Among the property that Evarts disposed
of in his will were nineteen quarter sections of military bounty land in the state
of Illinois, which he directed his executors to sell at their discretion for the benefit of his
family. These sections of land apparently included the parcel that was contested in
Powell v. Ament & Beer. Evarts’ will was recorded in Boston in 1831 and in Adams County in 1847. The copy
of the will that Lincoln mentions here has not been located.
Lincoln’s “man” has not been identified.
David M. Stowe, “Evarts, Jeremiah,” Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. by
Gerald H. Anderson (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1999), 204; Massachusetts, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, February 1831, Suffolk County (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2015); Illinois, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1772-1999, February 1831, Adams County (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2015).
4The deceased executor of Evarts’ estate was Samuel Hubbard, who had died in 1847. His date of death was established by depositions in the course
of Powell v. Ament & Beer.
Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Deposition, Document ID: 64435; Deposition, Document 64436, Powell v. Ament & Beer, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, https://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137595.
Copy of Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Association Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).