This Indenture made and entered into this 9th day of December in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight hundred and thirty one between John M. Camron and Polly his wife of the County of Sangamon and State of Illinois of the first part and John McNamar of the County and State aforesaid of the second part Witnesseth that the said party of the first
for and in consideration of the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars in hand paid
by the said party of the second part the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have
granted, bargained sold remised released and for ever quit claimed, and by these presents
do grant bargain sell remise release and forever quit claim unto the said party of
the second part his heirs and assigns all their right tittle and interest of in and
to a certain tract of land or lot of Ground situate lying and being in the County and State aforesaid as follows to wit, the west half of the South East quarter of
Section Twentysevenin Township nineteen North of range seven west in the district of lands offered for
sale at Springfield Illinois running one hundred and sixty rods on north & South lines and Eighty rods East &
West containing Eighty acres1 according to the official part of the said land returned to the General land office
by the Surveyor General the same being timbered land, To have and to hold the aforesaid
tract of land or lot of ground together with all and singular the rights profits tenements
and heriditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining to the only proper
use benefit & behoof of the said John McNamar the said party of the second part his heirs and assigns forever. And the said party
of the first part do covenant to and with the said party of the second part that they
will warrant and forever defend the said tract of land from the claim of the said
John M. Camron and Polly his wife the said party of the first part their heirs and assigns and against the
claim or claims of any person or persons whomsoever and further the said Polly Camron doth hereby forever relinquished her right of dower of in and to the aforesaid premises2
In testimony whereof the party of the first part have hereunto sett their hands and seals the day and year first above mentioned
John M. Camron
seal
Polly Camron
seal
[ certification
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Lincoln, Abraham (President)Maltby, Charles
Sealed signed and delivered In presence of
A. Lincoln
Charles Maltby
<Page 2>
[ certification
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12/09/1831
12/09/1831
| State of Illinois | } | Ss |
| Sangamon County |
This day personally appeared before the undersigned a Justice of the Peace in and
for said County, John M. Comron and Polly his wife who are personally known to said Justice to be the real persons who executed
the foregoing deed of conveyance and who then before said Justice acknowledged that
they signed sealed and delivered said Deed freely and voluntarily for the uses and
purposes therein mentioned
Given under my hand and seal this 9 day of December A.D. 1831.
Bowling Green
seal
1The land described here lay in Sangamon County in 1831, but is now situated in the northern part of Menard County.
2“Dower” is a term that refers to the legally protected lifetime right of a woman to
one-third of her husband’s real estate. Dower was intended to provide for the support
of a widow and her children. Thus, a woman had to relinquish her dower right in order
for her husband to sell real estate.
Christopher A. Schnell, “Wives, Widows, and Will Makers: Woman and the Law of Property,”
in In Tender Consideration: Women, Families, and the Law in Abraham Lincoln’s Illinois (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 129; Joan R. Gundersen, “Women and
Inheritance in America,” in Robert K. Miller Jr. and Stephen J. McNamee, eds., Inheritance and Wealth in America (New York: Springer Science and Business Media, 1998), 94.
Handwritten Transcription, 2 page(s), Sangamon County Deed Book F2, 56-57, Illinois Regional Archives Depository, University of Illinois at Springfield (Springfield, Illinois) ,