[ILLINOIS] Jacob Bunn  (1814-1897)  Bunn came to Illinois in 1836 and resided for a time in Springfield. He soon moved to Beardstown, and afterwards to Naples, but returned to Springfield on July 1, 1840, and established the grocery firm of McConnell, Bunn, and Company.  Bunn soon purchased the interests of his partners and established the wholesale house of Jacob Bunn. By 1850, Bunn possessed real estate valued at $17,000. In 1851, Bunn married Elizabeth Ferguson, who died in 1886. They had four sons and two daughters together. In 1856, Bunn was treasurer of the first library association in Springfield. In 1858, his business had assumed such proportions that he decided to add a separate department devoted exclusively to banking. For more than twenty years, he conducted the largest business of its kind in central Illinois. In 1860, Bunn was a banker with real estate valued at $64,000 and personal property worth $135,000. Bunn became a stockholder in the Springfield Watch Company in 1870, and in 1879, he was elected its president and filled that position until his death. Bunn was a pallbearer at Lincoln's funeral.  Jacob would be one of several Illinois Republicans who in 1863 complained to President Lincoln about the behavior of two of his patronage appointees in Springfield - Lincoln's brother-in-law, Ninian Edwards and William H. Bailhache.  Lincoln removed them from office.  Jacob. Bunn was a personal friend of Lincoln. In 1859, Bunn advanced Lincoln $400 for the purchase of the Illinois State Staats-Anzeiger, a German newspaper, published in Springfield which Lincoln later sold for the same price he paid for it.  Jacob Bunn would later perform valuable financial services and advise for Mary Todd Lincoln for which she expressed gratitude in their numerous letters.  Offered here is a 1868 document sent to Bunn but NOT signed by him. 8-1/4 x 7-1/2 in. Left side is sunned [a little darker]. Picture of Bunn is not included.

Left side is sunned [a little darker].