Henry Clay Whitney Legal Papers, 1854-1860 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

Scope and Contents:

This collection relates to civil litigation handled by Whitney and illustrates routine legal procedures of his day. Many of the items were endorsed by one of the clerks of the Champaign or Vermilion county circuit courts. There are no documents to or from Abraham Lincoln in the collection, although it contains ten items that were part of cases in which he was involved. Those documents are available in The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition (2000).

Biographical/Historical Context:

Henry Clay Whitney (1831-1905) was an Illinois lawyer, who made the rounds on the 8^th Circuit at the same time as Lincoln did. He was highly regarded by Lincoln as a young lawyer. He was born in Detroit, Maine, but settled in Urbana, IL. Whitney supported Lincoln’s campaign for president, and successfully petitioned Lincoln for a government office during the Civil War, after which he moved to Chicago. After being shot by the wife of a client, Whitney retired from the courtroom, and published a book, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, which sold poorly.

Acquisition Source: The library purchased the collection in 1985 from Charles Apfelbaum, a dealer in Valley Stream, New York. He had in turn acquired the collection at the King Hostick auction in Chicago.