George Dent to Abraham Lincoln, 24 February 18491
Hon A Lincoln,Sir:
I send herewith enclosed, by Mr Smith's request, a Letter, recommending Mr Smith, as a suitable person to be appointed Register of the Land Office at Dixon, Mr Smith might I suppose have obtained other names, but did not wish them.2 Mr Wardlaw informed ^me^ that he should have been willing to have signed the letter, had he not have promised his influence or support to Mr Wallace of Ottawa, & written on to you, to that effect a few days since.3 I suppose there will probably be a Petition for a change of Post Masters at this place, sent on in a few days. You have perhaps already recd[received] letters on the subject & will be advised of the whole affair,4
very Respectfully
Your obt servt[obedient servant]
Geo Dent.
1This letter is entirely in George Dent’s hand.
2The referenced enclosure might have been a letter from Dent and Oaks Turner to Abraham Lincoln dated February 24.
3Andrew Wardlaw’s letter is not extant, but in a letter written a year earlier, Wardlaw had endorsed Stephen Smith for the position.
4Neither Smith nor William H. L. Wallace received the appointment. Silas Noble was register at Dixon from 1849 to 1853.
Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), 135; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851), 140; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), 138.

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).