Lincoln's homeowner's insurance on the Springfield home

[RJNorton]

As president Lincoln continued to make yearly payments for his homeowner's policy on the home in Springfield.

In 1862 what was the amount of the annual premium on his policy?

[Gene C]

I guessed $20, but I looked it up and for 1861, I was low.
Being in insurance, I can tell you, his premium is probably going to go up this year.
(They discontinued the carriage - home discount)

[RJNorton]

(07-10-2012 07:59 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I guessed $20, but I looked it up and for 1861, I was low.
Being in insurance, I can tell you, his premium is probably going to go up this year.
(They discontined the carriage - home discount)

Close enough, Gene! Kudos. It was $24 in 1862. Then in 1863 he paid $24.25. In 1864 back to $24. And in 1865 it was also $24. (All his premiums were paid in February of each year.)

[Joe Di Cola]

(07-10-2012 05:26 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  As president Lincoln continued to make yearly payments for his homeowner's policy on the home in Springfield.

In 1862 what was the amount of the annual premium on his policy?

$24.00 for $3200. worth of coverage.

[Joe Di Cola]

Roger,

In the 1950s the Hartford Insurance Company ran an ad in Life Magazine that read: "For the only home he ever owned, Lincoln chose this Hartford policy," with a drawing of Lincoln holding the policy. They offered a facsimile copy of the policy on heavy card stock if one contacted the Hartford. I still have that facsimile copy, so your trivia question brought back fond memories. Thanks. The Hartford ran a few other ads during the 50s featuring Lincoln, for which one cold contact the Hartford for a copy sent to you in a mailing tube with a screw cap. I still have those, mailing tubes and all.

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(07-10-2012 07:59 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I guessed $20, but I looked it up and for 1861, I was low.
Being in insurance, I can tell you, his premium is probably going to go up this year.
(They discontinued the carriage - home discount)

Gene,

I am not sure where my previous messages to you ended up--somewhere in Outer Finairstis!, so I am trying again in a more conventional way.
I will be going to the cemeteries this Friday and will get back to you on that at a later date since I will be gone for a while.
I took the insurance information from a facsimile copy I got from the Hartford Co. sometime in the 1950s. It seems that Lincoln insured his home in February 1861 in preparation for its protection during the time it was being rented.
Joe

[RJNorton]

Hi Joe. That is fascinating. I did not know the Hartford Insurance Company ever ran such an ad.

Joe, I do hope that you and others won't mind the fact that I am not revealing my source for the amount of Lincoln's insurance premium. I plan on using it for future questions that will take the trivia category to a new low for useless information. (If you know the source I refer to would you be kind enough to let me keep it from forum view, at least for now. Thanks.)

[Joe Di Cola]

(07-10-2012 02:00 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Hi Joe. That is fascinating. I did not know the Hartford Insurance Company ever ran such an ad.

Joe, I do hope that you and others won't mind the fact that I am not revealing my source for the amount of Lincoln's insurance premium. I plan on using it for future questions that will take the trivia category to a new low for useless information. (If you know the source I refer to would you be kind enough to let me keep it from forum view, at least for now. Thanks.)

Mum's the word. Love your characterization--bringing trivia to a new low of useless information! Useless, perhaps; fun, definitely!!

[Gene C]

Thanks Joe,

We insurance geeks really enjoy this kind of information (heaven help us)

[Jennie]

Love this! I give tours at the National First Ladies Library and stuff like this fascinates my male guests, who are often less than thrilled to be on the tour (their wives dragged them...I'm sure present company would be the exception here!).

[LincolnMan]

So I'm now wondering- what would be the insurance premium Lincoln for his home in today's money amount to?

[Dan Pearson]

I know I'm really late in ready some of these posts, but being a newbie, I want to get caught up. Bill's question of the value of $24.00 in 1861 dollars in today's money is a good one. It's something that I teach my 7th graders in middle school economics. I have the students do a little project that uses the following website:

http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

Using this calculator, it shows that $24 in 1862 has the historic standard of living (purchasing power) value of $554 in 2011 dollars. The insured value of $3200 now equates to $73,800. This pretty much stacks up well to current rates in my area of the country.

[LincolnMan]

Thank you Dan!

[Anita]

If Lincoln had a homeowner's policy, why didn't he have a will? He was a lawyer. He took care of issues related to Mary's father's will.
I don't get it.

[RJNorton]

Anita, for one, I don't know why.

Most books also say that Mary died intestate. This is not correct. Jason Emerson researched the topic of Mary's will, and found that there was one. However, it was in the hands of James Bradwell, and he decided not to make it public in 1882 when Mary died.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Roger, I'm just reading "The trials of Mrs. Lincoln" by Samuel Schreiner. He writes:
"Like her husband before her, Mary Lincoln, though surrounded by lawyers and demonstrably concerned about her financial situation, died intestate...She had evidently scrapped the will that Judge Bradwell had drawn for her before Robert brought her to trial, and she had to have known that she was leaving everything to Robert by not making another will."
So this is wrong?

As for the homeowner's policy, isn't that obligatory? Here it is. But maybe it wasn't in those days.