Lewis, Johnson & Company

City: Springfield

County: Sangamon

State: Illinois

The Springfield, Illinois partnership of Lewis, Johnson & Company was formed on February 1, 1848 by Thomas Lewis, Willis H. Johnson, and John B. Moffett and dissolved six months later. Prior to the addition of Moffet, Lewis and Johnson were partnered as the firm of Lewis & Johnson and operated a foundry and machine shop in Springfield. The articles of agreement for Lewis, Johnson & Co. stated that Lewis was to supply the foundry and machine shop, Johnson was to devote himself to the mechanical interests of the firm, and Moffett was to work on both mechanical and financial interests. Moffett was also to receive an interest in a patent pump of Willis’s design, a share of an atmospheric churn designed by Lewis and Johnson pending patent approval, and a share in an electromagnetic machine that Lewis and Johnson were in the process of building. After the firm dissolved, the men argued over distribution of commissions for sales of the churn, and Moffett retained Abraham Lincoln to sue his former partners. The firm was succeeded by that of Lewis, Adams & Company, which consisted of Lewis, Johnson, and Lucien B. Adams.

Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 6 August 1846, 2:2; 22 October 1846, 3:5; Illinois Journal (Springfield), 8 June 1848, 1:5; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 15 July 1850, 3:1; Moffett v. Lewis & Johnson, 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=139630; Lewis v. Moffett, 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=139631; Lincoln & Herndon v. Moffett, 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=139661.