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Survey of Section 16 in Township 17 North, Range 6 West, 10 May 18361
Map in Lincoln’s hand.
corners Bearing
trees 		Inches
Diam[Diameter] 		Course Links
Dist[Distance]
1 W.[White] Oak 18 N[North] 59 W.[West] 132
2 W. Oak 24 S[South] 5 W 66
3 W. Oak 12 S 74 W. 19
4 Ash 14 N 51 E[East] 55
5 Post & Mound
6 Elm 16 N 86 E. 410
7 Post & Mound
8 Elm 16 S 24 W 417
9 Hick[Hickory] 6 S 84 W 25
10 S. Oak2 36 N 73 E 16
11 Maple 7 S 60 W 21
12 Sycam[Sycamore] 30 N 26 W 47
13 Sycam 24 S 30 W 15
14 Cotten[Cottonwood] 10 S 6 W. 30
15 W. Oak 10 N 10 W 37
16 W. Oak 3 N 33 E 8
17 Hick 12 S 24 W 58
18 Hick 3 N 66 E 9
19 B.[Black] Oak 32 S 9 E 79
20 Post & Mound
21 W. Oak 22 N 88 W 3
22 Elm 14 N 44 E. 29
23 B. Oak 22 corner
24 Post & Mound
25 Ash 24 N 80 W 4
263 Hick 12 corner
27 Elm 15 corner
28 B. Oak 12 S 37 E. 23
29 Post & Mound
30 Lynn4 11 N 50 E 20
31 Hick 14 N 50 W 17
32 Hick 8 N 32 W 8
33 W. Oak 22 corner
34 cotten 17 S 25 E 7
I certify that the foregoing are an accurate Plat and Field Notes for Section 16. in Township 17 North of Range 6 West of the 3rd Principal Meridian; as surveyed by me5
A. Lincoln
for T. M. Neal. S.[Surveyor] S. C.May 10th 1836
[ certification ]
05/10/1836
We certify that the forgoing is an acurrat plat and valuation of section 16 Town[Township] 17 north of range 6 west of the ^3d^ principle meridian given under our hands this 10th of may 1836—
Matthew Moorhead } Trustees
Fleming Hall
Benjamin Wiseman
<Page 2>
[ docketing ]
Plat of Sec 16 Town 17. R[Range] 6 W
Entered of Record Page. 114
[ docketing ]
Boston
[ endorsement ]
30 May
Wm Strawbridge wants 200$ S. F. this Week & 300$ if.
Wm B. Brown " 100 S. F.th"We"
1This document includes a survey map, which has not been transcribed here. On the map, all the text is in Lincoln’s handwriting, except the “valued at ___” additions, which are written vertically. The decimal numbers written in the spaces between each lot vertically and horizontally represent the dimensions of each lot boundary in feet. The whole numbers 1 through 34 correspond to the landmarks laid out in the succeeding table. The table transcribed here was written entirely by Lincoln. Lincoln also wrote and signed Neale’s certification.
2This likely refers to a Swamp White Oak or a Shumard Oak; both are indigenous to Illinois.
3“6” written over “7”.
4This likely refers to a Linden tree.
5The land described here is located in present-day southern Menard County.
In 1818, when Congress passed the act enabling the Illinois Territory to become a state, it granted to every township in the state the proceeds of the sale of land in each township’s Section 16. This money became known as the common school fund. Before the land in any county’s Section 16 could be sold, the county commissioners court had to first authorize a survey.
“An Act to Enable the People of the Illinois Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of Such State into the Union on an Equal Footing with the Original States,” 18 April 1818, Statutes at Large of the United States 3 (1846):428-31; W. L. Pillsbury, “Early Education in Illinois,” Sixteenth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1886), 106-7.

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