In 1833, Abraham Lincoln and his partner William F. Berry ran one of three general stores in the village of New Salem. When Reuben Radford’s store was ransacked by locals in January 1833, he sold his building and stock to William Greene, who immediately sold it to Lincoln and Berry. Lincoln and Berry signed promissory notes to cover the purchase of their initial business as well as Radford’s building and stock. By April 1833, Lincoln and Berry’s store had failed and in 1835 Berry died, leaving Lincoln to pay the partnership’s debts.