PEKIN, Ill. — A historical document that connects Abraham Lincoln to central Illinois is on display at the Tazewell County Clerks Office in Pekin.
The document is a mortgage that was recorded in 1844 for 234 acres of farmland at the corner of Allentown and Springfield Rd. in Tremont as collateral for Abraham Lincoln. The owners of the property at that time, John and Isabella Morrison, owed Lincoln and his partner Stephan Logan $284.94 for legal services.
John Ackerman, the Tazewell County Clerk, said he hopes that when people see the document, they understand that Lincoln was here.
“Lincoln walked the streets that we are traveling on today, Lincoln was right amongst us at the time. So we have that personal first hand touch that many parts of the nation don’t have,” Ackerman said. “It’s a special treasure that we hold here, not only in Tazewell County but throughout central Illinois.”
The document has traveled around the area, as it was originally written in Tremont.
“The courthouse in 1844 was in Tremont, so this book has traveled from Tremont here, probably on horse and buggie, when they built the new courthouse here and then downtown here the offices moved quite a bit,” Ackerman said.
More historic names are in the document that is important to Illinois.
“The Morrison’s was the County Clerk at the time, a popular family in Tremont. Another name on there, Benjamin James, his father founded the town of Tremont,” Ackerman said. “Another one on there is Littleton Garth who was the business partner of the Morrison’s.”
Ackerman said that the document has found by the staff at the office.
“We heard rumors that it existed, we went looking for it, they went looking for it, so Lisa Dunnigan, Sharon Sciortino, the other staff at the Recorder of Deeds Office, they do fabulous work everyday,” Ackerman said.
The document is on display until 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, then Ackerman and Susan Rynerson will give a presentation to the public at 5:00 p.m. at the Ehrlicher Research Center in Pekin.
