Promissory Note from Thomas C. Cantrall to Abraham Lincoln, 29 November 18521
$660—
Springfield, November 29. 1852One year after date I promise to pay Abraham Lincoln Six hundred and sixty dollars, together with interest thereon at the rate of ten
per cent per annum from date until paid; for value received–2
Thomas Cantrall<Page 2>
[ endorsement
]
01/06/1854
01/06/1854
Received, Jany 6, 1854
Sixtysix dollars, the first years interest on this note.
Sixtysix dollars, the first years interest on this note.
[ endorsement
]
02/09/1855
02/09/1855
Received, Feby 9– 1855
Thirty dollars, of interest on this note–
Thirty dollars, of interest on this note–
[ endorsement
]
12/19/1855
12/19/1855
Received, Dec. 19– 1855
one hundred and two dollars, being full balance of interest up to Novr[November] 29– 1855
one hundred and two dollars, being full balance of interest up to Novr[November] 29– 1855
[ endorsement
]
06/22/1858
06/22/1858
Received June 22, 1858– of Charles S. Cantrall, Adm[Administrator] of Thomas Cantrall, eight hundred and twenty nine dollars & twentyfour cents, in full ballance of principal & interest on this note
A Lincoln$829–24
1Abraham Lincoln wrote the script that appears on the sheet shown in the first image,
and Thomas C. Cantrall signed his name. Lincoln also wrote the script and signed his
name on the sheet shown in the second image.
2Harry E. Pratt, author of The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln, claims that, on November 28, 1851, Lincoln loaned Cantrall $600 under the conditions
that it be repaid within two years and was subject to an interest rate of ten percent
per year. Pratt also claims that, to secure this loan, Lincoln assumed a mortgage
on eighty acres of land that Cantrall owned in Menard County, Illinois and that Lincoln released this mortgage on the same day that this November 29, 1852
promissory note for $660 was created. The 1851 promissory note and mortgage document
Pratt refers to have not been located.
Also on November 29, 1852, Cantrall and his wife, Elizabeth W. Cantrall, mortgaged 160 acres of land in Menard County to Lincoln as security on the repayment of the
new debt. After a series of payments were made, the debt was finally cleared on June
22,1858, two years after Thomas Cantrall’s death. His brother, Charles S. Cantrall,
who was the administrator of his estate, made the final payment, and, on October 29,
1858, the deed on the land was released back to the Cantrall family.
Harry E. Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943), 75; Gravestone, Canterbury
Cemetery, Cantrall, IL; Deed record, Document ID: 132080, Lincoln wrote mortgage for Cantrall et ux., 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=141313.
Copy of Handwritten Document Signed, 2 page(s), Box 1, folder 4, Letitia Howe Autograph Collection (Miscellaneous Manuscript Collection), Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).