The Fathers and Saviors of Our Country: A Presidential Sale

One page, 8vo (318 x 203 mm), old folds, small pinholes at corners.

In full: "This Indenture made this eleventh day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and fiftyfour, by and between Ritta D. Sylva, of the City of Springfield, County of Sangamon, and State of Illinois, of the one part, and Abraham Lincoln, of the City, County and State aforesaid of the other part, witnesseth: That the said Ritta D. Sylva, for, and in consideration of the sum of one hundred and twenty five dollars, to her in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, has granted, bargained, and sold, and by those presents does grant, bargain and sell unto the said Abraham Lincoln, his heirs and assigns forever, the following described lot of ground, to wit: Lot Five, in Block Six in Wells & Peck's addition to the late town, now City of Springfield, Illinois. To have and to hold to the said Abraham Lincoln, his heirs and assigns forever, the above described lot of ground, together with all and singular the privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or to belong. Yet upon condition that whereas the said Ritta D. Sylva has executed her promissory note of even date herewith, for the sum of one hundred and twenty five dollars, with interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum, payable to the said Abraham Lincoln, Four year after date - interest payable annually. Now, if said note shall be paid according to its tenor and effect, the above conveyance is to be null and void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect. In testimony whereof the said Ritta D. Sylva, has hereunto set her hand and seal the day and year above written."

WITH ADDITIONAL ENDORSEMENT IN LINCOLN'S HAND: "Satisfied in full Nov. 24 1858. A. Lincoln." Additionally signed on verso by Springfield County Clerk Noah W. Matheny ("N.W. Matheny") accompanied by the following statement in Matheny's hand: "Before me the undersigned Clerk of the County Court for said County personally appeared Ritta Angelica Da Silva who is personally known to me to be the identical person by whom and in whose name the foregoing term of mortgage is subscribed and by whom and in whose name the same is prepared to be acknowledged the execution of the same to be her fair and voluntary act and deed for the aim and purposes therein recorded. Given under my name and seal of office at Springfield this 11th day of August AD 1854."

Having never forgotten the poverty in which he was raised, Lincoln was known to have given small loans throughout his life to those in need, always at the same interest rate of ten percent. These loans were always made to men, with the sole exception being two small loans given to Ritta Angelica da Silva, described in contemporary records as a Portuguese woman recently emigrated to Springfield. She took out her first loan from the future president on 11 August 1854, mortgaging her property on the south side of Miller Street between Ninth and Tenth, an area then primarily occupied by Protestant Portuguese, to do so; six months later, she executed a second mortgage to take out another loan in the same amount. The first was discharged on 26 November 1858, the second on 9 June 1860 - a few weeks after Lincoln accepted the 1860 Republican presidential nomination.

REFERENCES:
Basler, 2:224-225; Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln, p.77