A business ledger acquired by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum sheds new light on Lincoln’s early days as a lawyer, showing him buying materials for a better suit and settling his debts before leaving the little village of New Salem to start over in Springfield.
The previously unknown ledger from a dry goods store was donated to the ALPLM by the family of the late Raymond and Alia Montgomery of Petersburg.
“The simple facts and figures in this ledger offer fascinating details about Lincoln at a critical moment – his transition from restless laborer to promising lawyer. They help paint a better picture of the man who was now on the path that would lead him to the White House,” said ALPLM executive director Christina Shutt. “We thank the Montgomery family for this wonderful gift to the people of Illinois.”
The ledger will be displayed at the ALPLM’s library building (112 N. Sixth Street, Springfield) from Nov. 19 through the end of the year.
The ledger records transactions from Sept. 1, 1836, to Sept. 30, 1837, at a store in Petersburg near Lincoln’s home in New Salem. This was a period when Lincoln was serving in the Illinois legislature but was still working a variety of jobs, including surveyor. He was enough of an unknown that the store’s records sometimes misspelled his name as “Abram” and “Lyncoln.”
Lincoln received his law license on Sept. 9, 1836. In November, shortly before the next session of the legislature, Lincoln bought items to make a new suit or repair an old one – silk thread, vest and pantaloon buttons and several different kinds of fabric. Other entries show him buying boots, gloves and a fur hat.
The next spring, on April 15, 1837, Lincoln left the village of New Salem and moved to Springfield. Until now, our only knowledge of his activities that day came from what he wrote in a brief campaign biography decades later. But the ledger offers a new detail: On the same day he moved, Lincoln stopped by the store to pay off his account there.
“The picture that emerges from this ledger is of a young man ready to start a new chapter after years of trying to figure out his place in the world. He becomes a lawyer, upgrades his wardrobe, settles his accounts and moves to the growing city of Springfield,” said Dr. Ian Patrick Hunt, head of acquisitions at the ALPLM. “It’s incredibly rare to find new sources of information about Lincoln’s activities at this stage of his life. Scholars will be looking closely at this ledger to understand every detail.”
He noted that the ALPLM already owned the store ledgers immediately before and after this one. This donation fills a gap in the ALPLM’s collection that happened to cover a key period in Lincoln’s life.
William Montgomery said his father, Raymond Montgomery, was a local historian who wrote three books about the town of Petersburg. He said his father found the ledger, from a store called John Bennett & Co. and later Dresser, Bennett & Co., decades ago in a box of books at a local auction. He paid $2 for the box. The ledger was kept in a safe deposit box, but the family felt it should go to an institution that would protect it, share it with the public and let experts study it.
“We are proud to make this donation in honor of our parents, Raymond and Alia Montgomery,” said William Montgomery. “They loved Petersburg and its history and would be delighted to know this piece of the past will have a new home at the institution dedicated to studying Abraham Lincoln’s life.”
