Autograph Album Containing Signatures of Prominent 19th Century Figures....

Description

Autograph Album Containing Signatures of Prominent 19th Century Figures. An autograph album containing more than one hundred signed pages, containing signatures beginning circa 1859. The album comes to us from the collection of Elizabeth Dole, wife of William Palmer Dole, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Abraham Lincoln. 5 1/4 x 8 inches, bound in original red leather; upper cover stamped in blind and gilt, rear cover stamped in blind, all edges gilt.

Before his appointment to the Lincoln administration in 1861, Dole became active in the emerging Republican Party while living in Illinois and served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1860. As William and Elizabeth did not marry until 1861, the autograph album may have been started by William or another family member as there are signatures that date from circa 1859.

Begun prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, the album gathers signatures from prominent Northerners and Southerners alike, including:

President Franklin Pierce, signed "Franklin Pierce," laid in on a piece of paper measuring 4 x 1 1/4 inches; President Andrew Johnson, "Andrew Johnson / Tenn"; Texan President Sam Houston, "Sam Houston / Texas"; Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, "H Hamlin / Maine"; Justice Andrew Wylie, "Andrew Wylie / Justice of Sup: Court of D. C. / February 1865"; Vice President Schuyler Colfax, "Schuyler Colfax / South Bend / Ind."; Illinois politician Stephen A. Douglas, "S. A. Douglas / Chicago / Ills"; Union General Winfield Scott Hancock, "Winfd S. Hancock / Major Genl U. S. Vols"; Senator Solomon Foot, "Solomon Foot / Vermont"; Secretary of War Simon Cameron, "Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania"; artist Albert Bierstadt, "Albert Bierstadt"; and Confederate General Reuben Davis, "Reuben Davis."

Condition: Moderate wear to covers. Spine defective with only remnants present. Endpapers lightly toned with minor loss, not affecting signatures; a few leaves and gatherings detached; some soiling to inner pages.

Provenance: Elizabeth Dole and by descent, to our consignor.

More Information: Elizabeth "Lizzie" Dole was the wife of William Palmer Dole, Lincoln's Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Born in Bedford, New Hampshire, Lizzie married William Dole in 1861 after the death of her first husband, Frank Allis. When William was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs on March 12, 1861, the newly married couple moved to the nation's capital. With her husband now a member of the Lincoln administration, Lizzie found herself at the very center of Washington's political and social elite; a marked change from the small-town world she had left behind.

According to The History of Edgar County, Illinois (1879), William "was on the most intimate relations with the President so long as Mr. [Abraham] Lincoln lived." However, we can only speculate as to exactly when the two men were first acquainted. Born in 1811, he was two years younger than Lincoln, and in his youth traveled along the Mississippi River by flatboat selling produce. Lincoln similarly worked as a flatboat laborer during the same years. Dole moved to Paris, Illinois in 1854, and Lincoln spent time in Edgar County while riding the Eighth Judicial Circuit from 1847 to 1859. What is in the historical record is that Dole was an early member of the Republican Party, served as a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention, and was an ardent supporter of Lincoln's nomination for President.

Lots 47146 to 47164 were assembled by Lizzie during her years in Washington. They speak to the access she had as a member of Lincoln's inner social circle and capture significant moments of both triumph and anguish. In addition to the two printed passes to the East and North rooms for Lincoln's funeral, note the quickly handwritten pass jotted by Mary Todd Lincoln's cousin, John Blair Smith Todd allowing entrance to the White House a day earlier on April 18, 1865. None but the most intimate of friends would have been welcomed by Mary on such a grievous occasion. An autograph album she began in the 1860s includes signatures as late as an 1898 signing by William McKinley; and so diverse as to include two signatures by "Kit" Carson, six associate Supreme Court Justices, and King Kamehameha V of Hawaii. The countless letters and calling cards collected are the story of a rich life that crossed paths with one of America's most cherished presidents.

The items have been passed down through multiple generations and are now offered here for the first time.