Lincoln & Herndon

[Eva Elisabeth]

(06-27-2014 03:06 PM)Gene C Wrote:  3. Do we know what the real cause or beginning of the hard feelings between the Lincoln familly and Herndon?

I am not sure - whom exactly do you mean by the "Lincoln family", Mary? Robert? Both? And what by "beginning of hard feelings"? I assume you don't mean the very beginning, Herndon's comparison of Mary to a serpent, and their general mutual dislike, but the "Rutledge issue" again?!
However, despite their mutual dislike, when in 1866 Herndon asked Mary for an interview for his biography, Mary responded friendly and kindly, and saw him in Springfield then.
On Nov. 16, 1866 he delivered his lecture in Springfield about Lincoln, Rutledge, and New Salem, in which (as you sure know) he claimed and promoted that after Ann Rutledge's death Lincoln never again loved another woman - including Mary Todd Lincoln. I think most people (spouses) would have been upset in her position. Robert's gruge, too, mainly rooted in this, and as he feared further denunciation, he AFAIK tried unsuccessfully to prevent "Herndon's Lincoln" to be published.

(06-27-2014 03:06 PM)Gene C Wrote:  1. What ever happened to Lincolns effects, letters & papers from the law office?

2. Did the Lincoln family take possesion or did Herndon get to keep them as part of the law firm? Were they split up?
[quote='Gene C' pid='34849' dateline='1403895988']
1. What ever happened to Lincolns effects, letters & papers from the law office?

2. Did the Lincoln family take possesion or did Herndon get to keep them as part of the law firm? Were they split up?

4. How long after Lincoln died did the law office stay open?

Gene, I found this:

In 1862, Herndon entered into an informal partnership with Charles S. Zane, one of Lincoln's office boys, who later became judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Herndon's last law partner from 1869 until 1877, when he retired, was Alfred Orendorff.

If you click on the first link on this site, you can search for Lincoln's legal cases/documents:
http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/th...s/series-i

As for the books, this is from the website of the Lincoln Collection/William E. Barton Collection of Books from the Lincoln and Herndon Law Library:

"The Rev. William Eleazar Barton (1861-1930) was one of the early twentieth century's most prominent writers and lecturers on the life of Abraham Lincoln...While acquiring a large collection of books, periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, and ephemera related to Lincoln and the Civil War era, Barton also purchased privately or at auction historical materials amassed by other Lincoln collectors such as John E. Burton and Osborn H. Oldroyd.

In 1926, William E. Barton purchased the available volumes of the Lincoln-Herndon law office library in the hope that they would form a single, important collection of historical interest. Neither Abraham Lincoln nor William H. Herndon had been concerned with accumulating a library. When Lincoln left Springfield, IL for Washington, D.C. to assume the presidency, his law books remained in the office with his partner William H. Herndon. Herndon, in turn, when closing the practice, left behind these books as well as a large number of other volumes, papers, pamphlets and miscellaneous material. His successor, Major Alfred Orendorff, recognized their historical value and kept them as a collection. At the time of Orendorff’s death, approximately 100 of these books remained in the hands of his family. These were purchased en bloc by Barker’s Art Store of Springfield, IL.

Barton became concerned about the collection when he saw books belonging to the partnership appearing in various Lincoln collections. Immediately prior to his purchase, for example, the Pennsylvania State Historical Society had acquired about 25 volumes from Barker’s. Barton contacted Duncan McDonald, Barker’s proprietor, and discovered that 70 volumes from the Orendorff sale still remained.

Of these 70, eight were claimed to have been Lincoln’s own law books before the formation of the partnership and bore the inscription: “A. Lincoln to W.H. Herndon” in Herndon’s hand on the verso of the front cover. Another 52 volumes were law books from the partnership and most bore Herndon’s signature. A final group of ten books was sold to Barton as “miscellaneous volumes.” These included a group of U.S. government publications and a few non-legal, non-governmental books.

After the purchase of Barton’s collection of Lincolniana by the University of Chicago, this core group of 70 volumes was augmented by the inclusion of several other non-law books. The majority are of uncertain provenance, though several do bear Herndon’s signature."

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findi...L.LINCHERN