Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President . Autograph manuscript signed ("A. Lincoln," with his name in full in the text), Sangamon County, Illinois, 12 January 1844. 1 page, oblong 4to, 150 x 205mm. (6 3/4 x 8 1/8 in.), faintly browned at extreme edges of the sheet, neatly matted with an etched portrait, framed . A LINCOLN AFFIDAVIT INVOLVING THE FATHER OF JOHN HAY. The document, entirely in the young lawyer's hand is headed: "State of Illinois Sangamon County," and subscribed and signed by three witnesses at bottom right. It reads: "Abraham Lincoln, being first duly sworn states on oath that Nathaniel Hay is about to commence a suit in chancery in the circuit court of the county...against Nicholas Bryan and George Bryan Sen r. and that said George Bryan Sen r. resides without the limits of the State of Illinois A. Lincoln." Provanence : Circular label of Thomas P. Madigan, New York, on back of frame. Nathaniel Hay was the son of John Hay, and a partner in the family brick-making business; his son, John Milton Hay (1838-1905), who became Lincoln's trusted personal secretary in the White House, was at this date some six years old. Hay vs. Bryan dated back to 1841; Lincoln's law firm, Logan and Lincoln won the case for the defendant on July 28, but the defendant defaulted. On 3 August a jury awarded damages (see Lincoln Day by Day ; this present affadavit is apparently a new suit being brought by the defendant.