Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of correspondence between the Lamaster family of Fulton County, Illinois.
Hugh Lamaster (1798-1870) was the editor of a short-lived newspaper in Fulton County, Illinois. The Lamasters were landowners in Fulton County, a crossroads in Putnam Township between Cuba, Illinois and Lewistown, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln sought the support of Hugh Lamaster when he first ran for U.S. Senator in 1854. In 1860, when Lincoln was President-elect, Lamaster wrote his son, Joseph, suggesting that now was the time for him to ask for an appointment under Lincoln. Lamaster anticipated help from Republican Congressman William Kellogg, and planned to consult with both Lincoln and Richard Yates at the inauguration. However, nothing came of the proposed appointment.
This collection contains three letters and their envelopes. The July 19, 1858, letter from E.D. Rice, of Lewistown, Illinois, to his children, mostly regards news of family and friends. An envelope with it is addressed to Joseph E. Lamaster in Clarinda, Page County, Iowa. The November 29, 1860, letter is written from Hugh Lamaster to his son, Joseph, and regards home life, Lincoln's campaign, and political and racial tensions. He anticipated the power of the South would shift to the "Great West." The third letter, written February 2, 1867, from J.E. Lamaster to his wife, Katie E. Lamaster, described his travels eastward to Baltimore, Maryland.
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired this collection and transferred it to the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections in 2014.
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