Nicolay and Hay reproduced it in their biography of Lincoln, and other
publications have made it appear authentic. Messrs. Keys and
Munson, who formed the collection in which the certificate was first
exhibited, called it a duplicate, and Mr. William H. Lambert of
Philadelphia, who owns it now, supposed, in buying it, that it was a
duplicate. Mr. Lambert, however, in showing us the certificate, called
attention to a suspicious circumstance connected with the license.
The seal of the county court stamped upon it was dated "1849." It was
difficult to reconcile this with the fact that the marriage occurred
in 1842. The inconsistency was covered up in certain facsimiles which
have been published, by a stroke of the pen; the date of the seal was
changed to fit the date of the marriage. Mr. Lambert's suggestion led
to an investigation for this Magazine. A search in the county clerk's
office at Springfield brought to light the real and only "original"
license, stowed away in a dusty pigeon-hole, untouched in thirty
years. This is the license which is reproduced above. Beneath the
license is the Rev. Charles Dresser's certificate of the marriage.
The bogus document was made out on the blank form in use in the county
clerk's office in 1865--a form quite different from that used in 1842.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105