Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Simmons & Leadbeater to Abraham Lincoln, 17 July 18561
St Louis July 17^th 1856A. Lincoln Esq [Esquire]Dr [Dear] Sir
Your name haveing been sent to us as one of the Committee, appointed at the Buffalo Convention, We take the liberty of addressing you, and sending our Card.2

Our identity with the cause, which you as one, espouse, is deemed by us, as sufficiently appology for the same.3

Any service we can be to you, will be most cheerfully granted,4
We are Sir
Yours Respy [Respectfully]Simmons & Leadbeater

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E. SIMMONS. F. C. LEADBEATER.

SIMMONS & LEADBEATER,

SUCCESSORS TO F. A. HUNT & CO. [Company],

Produce, Forwarding & Commission
MERCHANTS,
No. 7 CITY BUILDINGS, ST. LOUIS, MO.
(Entrance, either on Commercial Street or Levee.)
CONSIGNMENTS FOR SALE, STORAGE, OR SHIPMENT, SOLICITED, AND PROMPTLY ATTENDED TO.

Refer to

Messrs. [Messieurs] Chappell & Vallee, St. Louis. E. M Bard Esq., Philadelphia. Messrs. Oglesby & McCalla, N. Orleans.

" Tillam, Rozier & Co., " Messrs. F. A. Hunt & Co.[Company], Kansas Ter.[Territory] Dr. Thomas H. Webb, Boston.

John S. Thompson, Esq., " Gen. S. C. Pomeroy, " George Walter, Esq., New York.

C. B. Hubbell, Jr., Esq., " Messrs^. Sprigman & Brown, Cincinnati.

N. B.5 To secure quick transit, mark packages

Care “SIMMONS & LEADBEATER, St. Louis, Mo.,

General Ticket Agents for Missouri River Steamers.”

1An unidentified representative of the firm of Simmons & Leadbeater wrote and signed this letter.

2Abraham Lincoln had recently been informed by William F. M. Arny that he had been appointed to the National Kansas Committee at the Buffalo, New York convention that formed it, but he apparently declined and recommended Jesse W. Fell in his place.
Francis Milton I. Morehouse, The Life of Jesse W. Fell, vol. 5, of University of Illinois Studies in Social Sciences (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1916), 56.

3Simmons & Leadbeater supported the cause of Free-Soil settlement in Kansas Territory through their work as shipping agents for settlers and in providing travel advice.
The Kansas Herald of Freedom (Lawrence, KS Terr.), 9 February 1856, 2:2; 22 November 1856, 4:5; Lawrence Republican (KS Terr.), 26 August 1858, 3:1.

4No further correspondence between Lincoln and the firm of Simmons & Leadbeater has been located.

5“N.B.” is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase nota bene, meaning “note well” or “note specifically.” It is often used to draw special attention to a point.
Lesley Brown, ed., The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 2:1944.

E. SIMMONS.		F. C. LEADBEATER.
	SIMMONS & LEADBEATER,
SUCCESSORS TO		F. A. HUNT & CO. [Company],

Messrs. [Messieurs] Chappell & Vallee,	St. Louis.	E. M Bard Esq.,	Philadelphia.	Messrs. Oglesby & McCalla,	N. Orleans.
" Tillam, Rozier & Co.,	"	Messrs. F. A. Hunt & Co.[Company],	Kansas Ter.[Territory]	Dr. Thomas H. Webb,	Boston.
John S. Thompson, Esq.,	"	Gen. S. C. Pomeroy,	"	George Walter, Esq.,	New York.
C. B. Hubbell, Jr., Esq.,	"	Messrs^. Sprigman & Brown,	Cincinnati.