Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln, 10 July 18581
Henry Illinois July 10/58A Lincoln Esq[Esquire]Springfield IllsDr[Dear] Sir:Can you form any opinion as to when my case will be called, Powell vs Ament & al[et al.]?2 Please keep me advised.3
Very truly yr obt sevt[your obedient servant]R. Lloyd.<Page 2>
[Envelope]
HENRY Ill[Illinois]
JUL[JULY] 12 1858Abraham Lincoln EsqSpringfieldSangamon CountyIllinois4
JUL[JULY] 12 1858Abraham Lincoln EsqSpringfieldSangamon CountyIllinois4
2The case of Powell v. Ament & Beer involved a dispute over the ownership of land in Adams County, Illinois. The case had commenced in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois in January 1858, with Abraham Lincoln as an attorney for the plaintiff. 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. Although Lloyd’s nephew, Lloyd Powell, was the plaintiff of record on the case, Lloyd seems to have owned the land in question
at one time. No correspondence between Lincoln and Powell has been located, but Lloyd
wrote Lincoln several letters regarding the case and assisted in gathering documentation
for Powell’s claim.
On June 24, 1858, the case had been submitted for trial by judge, with Norman H. Purple appearing for the plaintiff. After hearing the evidence, Judge Samuel H. Treat declined to rule immediately and instead decided to take time to consider the matter.
Judgment was not issued until January 12, 1859, when the court ruled for the defendants.
The case went through two more trials and was ultimately decided in favor of Powell
in 1863. Lincoln’s involvement in the case ended about 1860.
Judge’s Docket, Document ID: 64426; Order, Document ID: 64425; Judgment Docket, Document
ID: 64429, 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), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137595; Inventory, Powell Family Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library,
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00085.frame; Lorraine Janney Kintz, Israel & Elizabeth Janney: Their Ancestors and Descendants
([Richland Center, WI]: [L.J. Kintz], [1985]), 147-48; The Quincy Herald-Whig (IL), 7 January 1940, 14:8; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln; Richard Lloyd to Abraham Lincoln.
3No response to this letter by Lincoln has been located. Lloyd wrote to Lincoln again to inquire about the status of Powell v. Ament & Beer on August 3, 1858.
Autograph Letter Signed, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).