Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance

City: Springfield

County: Sangamon

State: Illinois

The Illinois General Assembly incorporated a Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance Company in February 1841, but there is no evidence it was ever established. Ten years later, in January 1851, the General Assembly incorporated the Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance Company, appointing Robert Irwin, John Williams, Jacob Bunn, William B. Fondey, and John C. Lamb as commissioners for superintending subscription to the capital stock. In April 1851, books for the subscription of stock were opened and all the stock was taken in six weeks. On June 11, 1851, the stockholders elected a board of directors, consisting of Jacob Bunn, John Williams, James L. Lamb, Robert Irwin, Antrim Campbell, Stephen T. Logan, and Mason Brayman. The next day, the directors elected Campbell as president, Irwin as vice president, and John C. Sprigg secretary. The company opened for business in July 1851. It issued its first insurance policies within five days of the commencement of business, and it also began to make loans of its capital stock. Although incorporated as an insurance company, the Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance Company only issued twelve insurance policies; it essentially functioned as a lending institution. By the close of 1851, the company's loans amounted to an excess of $9,000, and its assets had grown to $140,000. Ten years later loans totaled $190,000 and assets were $380,000. The Springfield Marine and Fire Insurance Company is the oldest bank in Illinois. In 1884, the company changed its name to Springfield Marine Bank. The bank, although under a different name, is still in existence today.

Abraham Lincoln used the bank from 1853 until his death. He also served as attorney for at least two clients who sued the bank in the Sangamon County Circuit Court.

An Act to Incorporate the Springfield Marine and Fire Insurance Company; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 9 February 1841, 2:5; "An Act to Incorporate the Springfield Marine and Fire Insurance Company," 28 January 1851, Private Laws of Illinois (1851), 13-17; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 3 March 1851, 3:1; 12 April 1851, 2:1; 14 June 1851, 3:1; Andrew Taylor Call, Jacob Bunn; Legacy of an Illinois Industrial Pioneer (Lawrenceville, VA: Brunswick, 2005), 162-67; Harry E. Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943), 162-179; Chamblin v. Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance, 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=138722; Williams v. Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance Co., 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=140835.