List of Items, [1856 - 1857]1
Items we must try to get—
Langdon’s receipt— $7— 71—
correct return of March 31— 1840— 9— 52
Desk. 15— 00—
Mail Bags. 4— 00—
Robert Allen 23— 19—
59— 42
1Abraham Lincoln wrote the list in its entirety.
The list is undated, but editors investigating Lincoln’s legal cases discovered that one William Chauncy Langdon served as a witness in Rugg v. Haines. Langdon gave a deposition in the case on December 20, 1856, and he would have been reimbursed for his time and travel. Robert Allen died in 1854, and his estate was finally settled in May 1857. Based on this fact, the editor dated the document sometime in 1856 or 1857.
Daniel W. Stowell, et. al., eds., The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), 3:258, n. 26; Haines v. Rugg, 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=137748; Allen v. Allen, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=138069.

Handwritten Document, 1 page(s), Private Collection, David L. Nathan.