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Abraham Lincoln's Friend David A. Smith Autograph Letter Signed Mentioning His Relationship with "A. Lincoln, Esqr., Solicitor for myself and others..." Smith Signs Three Times!

February 7, 1851-Dated, Autograph Letter Signed Three Times by David A. Smith, "David A. Smith" and 2x "D.A. Smith, referring to his longtime colleague and evoking his name, Abraham Lincoln, regarding an 1851 legal case, Very Fine.

Signed Three Times by David A. Smith, "David A. Smith" at the conclusion of the main letter, and 2x "D.A. Smith" on the Top right Cover with "Paid" and on the reverse side Docket. This is an original Autograph Letter Signed, 2 pages, with Integral Address Cover Panel (Signed) measuring to10" x 8". Several passages of the letter underlined in pencil, two short 2" tears when opened to blank portions address leaf, normal folds. David A. Smith was a Jacksonville, Illinois lawyer, was a long-time colleague of Abraham Lincoln, living only some 30 miles away in Springfield. Lincoln and Smith were associated on some 68 Legal Cases as either co-counselors or opposing attorneys. This letter is in regard to the granting of the charter for the Illinois Central Railroad, a contentious process argued before the Eighth Judicial Circuit. This Letter sheds light on Abraham Lincoln's involvement in the struggle for the charter, before his well-known service as counsel to the railroad from 1853 until his nomination for President in 1860.

David Smith writes to Hon. John McLean in Washington (D.C.). It reads, in part:

"A. Lincoln Esqr., solicitor for myself & others in a very important chancery case decided at the last term of the circuit of U.S. for this state, has just addressed a telegraphic dispatch to you inquiring when the supreme court will probably adjourn and you will leave Washington... The Central Rail Road charter has been just passed confirming upon our value from Judge Lockwood the office of one of their trustees...".

David A. Smith, a Jacksonville attorney and colleague of Abraham Lincoln, had this two-story, Federal-style house built between 1852 and 1854. When Lincoln had legal business in Jacksonville, he used Smith's law office as his headquarters. Records indicate that Lincoln and Smith were associated with 68 cases as either co-counselors or opposing attorneys. In one of their more famous cases, Lincoln represented wealthy Jacksonville businessman Colonel James Dunlap, while Smith represented Jacksonville newspaper editor Paul Selby. Selby sued Dunlap for $10,000 in actual and punitive damages after Dunlap and some of his associates allegedly battered him. Ultimately, the jury found for Selby, but only awarded him $300 in damages.

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