It is just a simple table made in the Midwest with a poplar top and a walnut base, marked by ink stains and scratches, nails evident and dovetails that were re-glued long ago. The 19th century table had not been restored and was certainly not costly when new. Its owner was not known to be frivolous and would have disapproved of ostentation and over-spending on a utilitarian object.
Yet it was received recently in Chicago with all the wonder and awe that the rarest of court furniture would not draw. Knowledge that the table was purportedly the very spot where its owner— Springfield, Illinois Lawyer, Abraham Lincoln— penned the words of “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand” in 1858, drew a crowd of avid Lincoln fans, filling the Chicago gallery at Heritage Auctions.
A full house of guests joined renowned Abraham Lincoln scholar and author, Harold Holtzer, and collection part-owner, David Webster, for the first stop of the display of all documents and furniture from the Alfred Orendorff Archive. Alfred Orendorff was a subsequent law partner of Lincoln’s last and most famous law partner, William Herndon. Upon Lincoln’s leaving for Washington in 1861, Herndon inherited all of the law office property, who bequeathed a portion to his subsequent law partner, Alfred Orendorff. The property was miraculously preserved by the Orendorff family line for over 150 years and is now up for auction; thirty lots of never-before-offered furnishings, legal manuscripts and documents from the law offices of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln would have used the table during his partnership with William Herndon, a lawyer who would became mayor of Springfield.
“Even in the world of Lincoln scholars, no one knew that these 30 pieces even existed, and it was so apropos for the tour before the July 30th auction at Heritage’s Dallas headquarters to start here in Lincoln’s home state,” Heidi Calkins, Chicago Director, Business Development, told us. “We know how many broadsides of the Declaration of Independence there are, just how many superheroes comics exist but it was such a surprise to know that these rare pieces existed. The provenance is just so strong. There is no other office furniture out there in the public sphere known. Some pieces we know were sold in the 19th century, one piece we know was burned in a fire.”
In addition to the furniture lots which are the last in the sale is a land grant to the first piece of land that Abraham Lincoln ever purchased before going to Springfield. The auction house even found the exact 47-acre plot that he purchased along the Sangamon River.
“This remarkable offering brings bidders inside Lincoln’s formative years as a working lawyer, strategist, and rising statesman with his autograph fee book from the Stuart & Lincoln firm, handwritten legal analysis tied to the Illinois Central Railroad, and his keen examination of the pivotal 1858 Senate race against Stephen A. Douglas,” Caroline Tamposi, Consignment Director in Heritage Auctions’ Historical Department said. “Equally compelling are the furnishings from the Lincoln and Herndon law offices. Together, these manuscripts and objects illuminate the disciplined intellectual, practical judgment, and quiet integrity that would later define Lincoln’s leadership through America’s greatest crisis.”
“This landmark archive presents collectors and institutions with a rare opportunity to acquire primary-source material revealing Lincoln not as a myth but as a lawyer, colleague and working man. He was known for a certain nonchalance and there are stories of his eating watermelon on the couch in the office. He, however; was a very shrewd lawyer who worked on some 5,000 cases during his practice; a powerhouse lawyer in the state of Illinois. Through the archive, we see him in the arc of his progression, growing into a senior partner and becoming one of the most adept legal minds in the nation,” Tamposi said.
Heidi Calkins told us:
“Two lots deal with the Illinois Central Railroad which was Lincoln’s biggest client and a client he sued. The first deals with 19th century pre-emption law and is his legal opinion on who had the right to own land during the western expansion, the second is his $5,000 fee complaint and trial strategy against the Illinois Central Railroad. Lincoln won the ICR hundreds of thousands of dollars, which in today’s money would be tens of millions of dollars. He charged ICR a legal fee of $2,000, which the ICR refused to pay, claiming that even Daniel Webster, a celebrity lawyer at the time, wouldn’t even charge such an astronomical amount, and so Lincoln sued them for $5,000. Not only did he win the case, the ICR liked him so much that they kept him on as their lawyer!”
The consigner David Webster is the great grandson of Alfred Orendorff and is a descendent of Julia Orendorff McPherson Webster. The collection was handed down through the family and nothing was subsequently restored. When Lincoln went to Washington, his law partner Herndon kept watch over the collection of ledgers, papers and furniture, assuming that Lincoln would be back in Springfield one day. The firm changed locations during and after Lincoln’s time but each office was in downtown Springfield. At least one office remains and is about three blocks from the capitol. Orendorff succeeded Lincoln in the practice with Herndon.
Harold Holzer, a prolific and highly regarded author on Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era, told the audience that Herndon greatly admired Lincoln, becoming an early biographer. He noted that all of Lincoln’s relationships with his various law partners ended amicably.
Tamposi told us:
“Just on its own, Lincoln was a great lawyer, but it was pivotal for the nation that he accomplish much more. He used his legal mind to write laws to stand the test of time.
“In the year where we celebrate America 250, we have to look at Lincoln the lawyer and the skills he developed to save the nation and keep it together, drawing on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”
The Archive is offered entirely with no minimum bids. The Alfred Orendorff Archive: Treasures from the Law Offices of Abraham Lincoln, Sale 6342, will occur in Dallas, Texas at 11:00 A.M. central standard time. Individuals may attend the sale and bid in-person, set up phone bids, or bid online. The sale is currently open for bidding, which you can visit at HA.com/6342. For additional sale and bidding information, please call the bid department at 214-528-3500.
