Lincoln Detective Uses Artifacts to Track President

James Hickey is known as a hard-working detective who has spent much of his life on the trail of Abraham Lincoln.

Hickey, 64, is the retired curator of the Lincoln collection at the Illinois State Historical Library.

“Everywhere you go in the Lincoln field, everyone knows of Jim,” said Ralph Newman, a Chicago manuscript and rare books collector considered one of the most experienced dealers in Lincoln artifacts.

Expert on Hatmakers

“Jim’s a detective,” Newman said. “It’s not a matter of luck. He’s so familiar with every aspect of Lincoln’s life that, for instance, he can spot whether a Lincoln hat is authentic or not, because he knows the names and labels of Lincoln’s hatmaker in Springfield.”

It began simply enough.

As a young boy on a farm in Logan County, Hickey sought out old-timers to talk with about Lincoln, who had canvassed the area as an attorney. While in grammar school, Hickey met Lawrence Stringer, an Illinois judge, congressman and local Lincoln collector, who inspired him to learn more.

But first there was a brief stint at Western Illinois University, then the Army. During World War II, Hickey worked in a mapping squadron in a message center in the island of Saipan.

Makes First ‘Find’

In August, 1945, he came across one of his first potential “finds,” as he describes any historical discovery.

“I received a message” by cable, Hickey recalled. “It was a message from Truman to drop the bomb. I didn’t know what it meant at the time . . . but a few days later I did.”

Hickey never thought of keeping the cable as a souvenir--a decision he still regrets. But he has been careful not to give up other historical finds.

After the war, he returned to Illinois to take over the farm from his dying father, and he continued searching for information on Lincoln. In 1954, he got a big break.

Hickey was asked by George Bunn, Marine Bank president, to look through the bank’s records for Lincoln items. Hickey knew Lincoln had done much of his banking at the then-Marine & Fire Insurance Co.

Lincoln’s Banking Ledgers

He found that some old documents had been moved to a storage room on the bank’s top floor. Four days of searching that room paid off with the discovery of Lincoln’s banking ledgers and three journals.

The fact that the 16th U.S. President once bought black suit material for $30 and then paid $9 to have it tailored is valuable information to a historian like Hickey. He said it dispels myths.

“Lincoln is always described as a sloppily dressed man,” he said. “But the fact is that Abraham Lincoln bought two new suits every year from the best tailor in Springfield.

“That was almost unheard of then. That was at a time when many lived, died and were buried in the same suit.”

Discovers Insanity File

Hickey’s most recent big find was the discovery in 1975 of the insanity file of Lincoln’s wife, Mary.

He had befriended Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith and Beckwith’s sister, who inherited a summer mansion from Robert Todd Lincoln, the President’s son, in 1926.

Inside a small room off a study was a legal binder with a string neatly tied around it. The folder was marked: “M.T.L.: The Insanity File.” It contained letters from Robert, relatives and doctors, as well as some court records dealing with Mrs. Lincoln’s brief commitment to an asylum.