Were Lincoln and Ward Hill Lamon law "partners?"

[Richard Lawrence Miller]

Regarding whether Lamon was a Lincoln law partner, as I recall Lincoln worked enough with assorted lawyers in county seats that these associates sometimes called themselves his partner and even advertised themselves as such. But that would have been a relationship on the circuit, and not handling the swath of cases that came to the Lincoln & Herndon firm. Such as, for example, corporation finance disputes in federal court handled by Lincoln & Herndon. The "circuit partners" had no involvement in that sort of thing.

On side topics: Lamon's ghostwriter Black hated Lincoln. When I read Lamon's biography of Lincoln I noticed a tone of meanness but didn't see all that many outright errors. Indeed, Herndon (who despite his foibles respected truth) liked the book. For the pre-presidential years, however, Lamon is outdated, of interest as a historical curiosity. The presidential years aren't my field, so I can't offer an evaluation of the book's treatment of White House years.

Sandburg's account of Abe Lincoln standing up Mary Todd at the wedding sounds much like Herndon's. I suspect that is where Sandburg got it. I don't think Herndon fabricated the story, but we know that the story is mistaken. If anything like that had happened, political opponents would have given it wide publicity.

[Boboconnor]

I have a copy of a newspaper advertisement from the Danville Citizen newspaper of 1852. It says that "Abram Lincoln from Springfield and Ward Hill Lamon of Danville -- Lincoln and Lamon, Attorneys At Law, having formed a co-partnership with practice in the Courts of the Eighth Judicial Circuit and the Supreme Court and all business trusted to them will be attended to with promptness and fidelity. Office on the second floor of the Barnum Building over Whitcomb's store. Danville, November 10, 1852"

I have also seen copies of 114 cases defended by the law firm from 1852-1856 with the names of both Lamon and Lincoln on each one. The partnership was dissolved in 1856 when Lamon was elected prosecutor for Vermilion County.

I am an author who grew up in Dixon, Illinois and now live in West Virginia. One of my specialties is Ward Hill Lamon who grew up within a few miles of where I now live. I blog as Lamon, give historical first person impressions of him, have written a historical novel about him, and have edited the only book he ever wrote, published for the first time in 2010, "The Life of Abraham Lincoln As President."

Thanks for listening. Bob O'Connor

[Gene C]

Bob, what is your blog address?

In the book section, can you tell us a little about your historic novel and the edited book?
Did you edit the 72' or 95' edition?

[Troy Cowan]

(08-15-2012 11:17 AM)Donna McCreary Wrote:  The story of Lincoln not showing up for his own wedding is fiction -- pure fiction. However, Miss Todd was stood up at her wedding. No, not Mary Todd, but her sister Ann Todd. It has always been my theory that when the gossips of Springfield retold the story of Miss Todd being jilted, the 'historians' of the day assumed it was Mary Ann Todd.

The story of Lincoln jilting Mary Todd is a part of the Davis family oral history. You might rightly complain that the Davis' did not live in Springfield and did not know Mary Todd, so why would it be included in their oral history. Let me explain.
Mary's desire to wed Abraham was not shared by him. He got cold feet and did not show up at the wedding. Depressed and having self doubts, he left for New Orleans. When he got to New Orleans he looked up his brother, Jefferson Davis. Abraham told Jefferson all about how he left Mary at the alter that terrible day of January 1, 1841.
The next day Thuysen Davis came to see Jefferson and now two Davis' know about the wedding. Thuysen caused an argument between Jefferson and Abraham and Abraham returned to Springfield after one day in New Orleans.

[Gene C]

(05-31-2013 08:20 PM)Troy Cowan Wrote:  The story of Lincoln jilting Mary Todd is a part of the Davis family oral history.

Is there anyone else in the Davis family that knows this "Davis family oral history", or are you the only one privey to it?

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(05-31-2013 08:20 PM)Troy Cowan Wrote:  Depressed and having self doubts, he left for New Orleans. When he got to New Orleans he looked up his brother, Jefferson Davis. Abraham told Jefferson all about how he left Mary at the alter that terrible day of January 1, 1841.
The next day Thuysen Davis came to see Jefferson and now two Davis' know about the wedding. Thuysen caused an argument between Jefferson and Abraham and Abraham returned to Springfield after one day in New Orleans.

I'm very skeptical about this. I don't suppose there is another non "Davis family oral history" source that could verify any of this; is there?

[L Verge]

A few nights ago, I did a little searching online about this continuing discussion of Lincoln and Davis being half-brothers. First, I found that Samuel Davis, who is claimed to be Lincoln's "real" father, was born in 1756, so he would have been 28 when Nancy Hanks was even born and 53 when he seduced her. Possible, but...

I also found this:

Many have claimed relationship to Jefferson DAVIS through descent from sisters of his father, Samuel Emory DAVIS, yet no one has ever proven that Samuel Emory DAVIS had any sisters (or full brothers). Samuel Emory DAVIS did have two half brothers (viz., Isaac WILLIAMS and Daniel WILLIAMS), who were sons of his mother, Mary EMORY, by a former husband (identity unknown).
Many have claimed relationship to Jefferson DAVIS through descent from siblings of his grandfather, Evan DAVIS, Jr., yet of Evan Jr.'s five siblings, three have been proven not to have had any children (no children are named in their wills), and there is no evidence that the other two ever married or had children. To quote the leading authority on the genealogy of Jefferson DAVIS:

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"The outstanding characteristic of the Davis family seems to be that its members were as short lived as they were unprolific."

Only two of Jefferson DAVIS's siblings left descendants named DAVIS beyond one generation, namely, Samuel A. DAVIS (b. 1788/9) and Lucinda (DAVIS) DAVIS (b. 1797). So, the bottom line is that if your surname is DAVIS and you have traced your DAVIS ancestry back into the 1800's without connecting to the grandsons of Samuel or Lucinda, it's probably time to bury the family legend of being cousins to Jefferson DAVIS. You have a better chance of being blood-kin to Jefferson DAVIS if your surname is BRADFORD, MITCHELL, SMITH, or WHITE than you do if your name is DAVIS.

This comes from dgmweb.net/JeffDavisHome.html.

I believe that Mr. Cowan cited two aunts, Jane Davis and Roberta Davis, as being the sources for the oral history. Those names appear nowhere on the cited source.

[Troy Cowan]

I came across the web site several years ago that contained this sentence:

"The outstanding characteristic of the Davis family seems to be that its members were as short lived as they were unprolific."

I thought then as I do now that it was a mean thing to say. There are no living descendents of Abraham Lincoln, couldn't the same thing be said of him? For me, that site is misleading and evasive. I don't know of anyone claiming to be a descendant of Jefferson Davis. Samuel Davis was the father of Jefferson Davis and he doesn't fit the description of unprolific.

Samuel Emory Davis had twelve children. Ten by his wife Jane--five boys and five girls. I once tried to count his grandchildren. I gave up at fifty. One of his granddaughters had twelve children and another had thirteen. There are hundreds of descendants of Samuel Davis living today. Unfortunately, none of them carry the Davis name. The Davis girls took their husbands name and the family line of the Davis boys at some point failed to have a son.

[L Verge]

Then who were the Jane and Roberta DAVIS ladies that you cite as the source of your oral history?

My apologies to the rest of this forum, but I just have to give this one more stab...

[Troy Cowan]

(06-03-2013 11:36 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Then who were the Jane and Roberta DAVIS ladies that you cite as the source of your oral history?

My apologies to the rest of this forum, but I just have to give this one more stab...

Jane Roberta Davis said that her grandfather was John Riley Davis. When President Jefferson Davis was talking to John he referred to him as cousin. It was Joseph Davis that made arrangements with John to take Jefferson's half breed granddaughter and raise her as if she were his own.

[L Verge]

Now Jefferson Davis has a half-breed granddaughter? I missed something along the line, and I am certainly not going to retrace it. Good luck with selling your ideas to the unsuspecting Mr Cowan. They will need a scorecard to keep up...

[Gene C]

Was that Patti Davis, the "rebel" daughter of former President Reagon?

[Troy Cowan]

Laurie said, "Now Jefferson Davis has a half-breed granddaughter? I missed something along the line..."

Laurie it hasn't been discussed on this forum, but incase there is one who is curious, I will explain. This information was passed down in the Davis families oral history and known only to them. There is no way to verify it that I know of, so I ask that you receive it as just a story.

Jefferson Davis had three wife's: Sarah, Novella, and Varina. When Sarah Knox Taylor died after only three months of marriage, Jefferson when into a deep depression. He boarded up their home--the Briarfield--and became a recluse. He went to live at his cabin in the woods. There he came across an Indian maiden named Novella. They were married and nine months later, Novella died in childbirth. The baby boy lived. Jefferson named him Finis. Years later when Jefferson wanted to go into politics, he realized that he could not be elected if it were known that he had married an Indian and had an Indian son. Jefferson convinced his son to call him cousin. Many years after Novella died, Jefferson met his third wife, Varina, at the home of his brother, Joseph Davis.