Scope and Contents:
This collection contains a plat book of Mason, Tazewell, Menard, and Cass County Townships created between 1839 and 1845, a 1933 affidavit testifying to Abraham Lincoln’s involvement in the plat book’s creation, photostat copies of multiple pages from the plat book, and several letters between Helen H. (Mrs. J.D.) Sutter, Donald P. Dow, Mrs. Parsons, James T. Hickey, and R. Gerald McMurtry, dating between 1960 and 1974.
The plat book of Mason County, Tazewell County, Menard County, and Cass County is estimated to have been created between 1839-1845 and is bound with cloth material used as covers. The surveyor responsible for creating this plat book is not identified. In 1952, J.D. Sutter, a landscape contractor from Birmingham, Alabama, purchased the plat book from a Mr. M.K. Gordon, a lawyer from Madisonville, Kentucky. Mr. Gordon had reportedly purchased the plat book at auction in New York.
In 1974, rare book dealer Helen H. Sutter wrote to Lincolniana collector Donald P. Dow assessing his interest in purchasing the plat book due to its apparent connection to Abraham Lincoln. Sutter alleged that, in his career as a surveyor, Lincoln had been involved in the creation of this plat book of Mason County, Tazewell County, Menard County, and Cass County. While several authorities on Lincoln’s surveying career disagreed on Lincoln’s level of involvement (one alleged that Lincoln was the main creator, while another thought he had something to do with only two of the maps), as early as 1933, the prevailing belief was that Lincoln played a role in creating the plat book. In the time since Dow purchased the plat book from Sutter, Abraham Lincoln’s supposed involvement in its creation has been disproven. Several towns included on the maps were not founded until after Lincoln’s career as a surveyor (1834-1837) had ended, and though various letters and numbers on the plat book slightly resemble his handwriting, the resemblance is not enough to attribute the plat book to Abraham Lincoln.
The Manuscript Plat Book of Townships in Mason County, Tazewell County, Menard County, and Cass County collection contains an 1839-1845 plat book of surveyor’s maps depicting land purchase and ownership, a 1933 affidavit certifying Lincoln’s role in the plat book’s creation, photostat copies of pages from the plat book, and correspondence between rare books dealer Helen H. (Mrs. J.D.) Sutter and various associates from 1960-1974.
The Library purchased this collection in 2023 with the support of the Bruce C. Creamer fund.
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