As the older portions of the collection were being worn and lost, by loaning them to relatives and friends, copies were made of all the more important documents, and the remaining originals were then placed in the hands of Dr. J. M. Peck, who was at the time pastor of the Bethel Church, to be deposited in the private safe of a friend of his in St. Louis. As the slavery question was then (1851) at white heat, it is not surprising that Dr. Peck advised the family to carefully preserve all the facts and documents relating to their father's anti-slavery efforts "until some future time," lest their premature publication should disturb the peace of his church. As late as 1857 he writes of "that dangerous element in many of the old letters bearing on the anti-slavery contest of 1818," and adds, "With some of those interested in that contest, in fifty years from this time, the publication of these letters would create trouble between the descendants of many of our old pioneer families."[6]
A man by the name of J. M. Smith is suggested by Dr. Peck as the custodian of the originals. When this gentleman died, the documents in his care are supposed to have been either lost or appropriated by parties unknown to the Lemen family. Mr. Joseph B. Lemen relates that a certain party at one time represented to the family that he had located the papers and offered, for a suitable consideration, to recover them. This proved to be merely a scheme to obtain money under false pretenses.[6] Various other accounts are current of the disposition of the original papers; but as yet none of them have been located.
The transcripts of the collection, made by James Lemen, Jr., came into the hands of his son, Joseph Bowler Lemen, who is responsible for the publication of various portions of the story, including some of the letters entire. Even these copies, however, are not accessible at the present time, except that of the Lemen Diary, as located by the present writer. Joseph Lemen's account of the fate of the elusive documents is given in full at the end of this publication. He there states that every paper of any value was copied and preserved, but even these copies were dissipated to a large extent. He also claims that all the facts contained in these documents have been published in one form or another, "except a very few, including Rev. James Lemen's interviews with Lincoln, as written up by Mr. Lemen on ten pages of legal cap paper." This Joseph B. Lemen is now far advanced in years, has long been a recluse, and has the reputation of being "peculiar." In a personal interview with him, the present writer could elicit no further facts regarding the whereabouts of the "Lemen Family Notes." Nevertheless, the discovery of the copy of the Lemen Diary and the manuscript of Dr. Peck's "History" gives encouragement to hope for further discoveries, which should be reported to the Chicago Historical Society.
DOCUMENTS
I. DIARY OF REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR.
Ridge Prairie, Ill. June 4, 1867.
The within notes are a true copy of the notes kept by the Rev. James Lemen, Sr., when in the siege at Yorktown. The original notes were fading out.
By his son, Rev. James Lemen, Jr.
Near Yorktown, Va. Sep. 26, 1781.
My enlistment of two years expired some time ago, but I joined my regiment to-day and will serve in this siege.