Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1898 — LINCOLN’S DEED AND BOND: [ARTICLE]

LINCOLN’S DEED AND BOND:

Some Old Doeamenta That Throw ' Light on Family History. Parsons & Taft, of Chicago, whc handle farm mortgages, lately came into possession of a collection of papers that included a deed to AJbraham Lincoln from his father and mother, and another deed, or a bond for a deed, from Abraham Lincoln to John D. Johnson. The land was the homestead of Thomas Lincoln, a tract of 40 acres in Coles county. 111. The transactions took place in 1841. says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, in that year Lincoln’s father, Thomas, an old man, lived on the Coles county farm, and was in poor circumstances. The son came to his father’s assistance and bought the old farm. He paid down S2OO in cash and gave the parents the use of the place. Abraham Lincoln, in the same year the property was conveyed to him, made a contract to sell the farm to John D. Johnson for S2OO when the life estate of both Thomas and Sarah Lincoln should be extinguished. Johnson did not long retain hisequity in the property. Thomas Lincoln died shortly after. Mrs. Lincoln did not want to leave the farm, and Johnson was not in a situation to take care of her, so he transferred his bond to John J. Hall, a relative of the Lincolns, who moved with his wife to the Lincoln homestead and took care of the old lady- until her death. For some reason Hall seems to have called on Abraham Lincoln 1o execute the deed and cancel the bond. There must have been some tacit arrangement between them, for his right to the possession was never questioned. He had doubtless fulfilled his obligation to the mother of Lincoln.