Kentucky Pioneer Document, 1812, written by Ben Helm, his signature appearing in the text of this document. Hardin County [Elizabethtown] Kentucky. Legal matter concerning: William Allen, Jonas Gray, Nicholas Miller, William Scott, John F. Williams, Walter Mudd, William Glass, Joseph Scott to appear in behalf of John H. Gibbs. Signed on the verso by Robert Bleakley. Approx. 6-1/4 x 5-1/4".Robert Bleakley, opened a store in Elizabethtown with William Montgomery, another Irishman. Their establishment is said to have been the first such operation in the pioneer village that could ready be called a "store." Montgomery was an Orangeman, who was engaged in the rebellion In Ireland in 1798. He was arrested and confined in a prison from which men were taken and executed daily He was released from prison through the efforts of his aunt, who was married to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on the condition that he would emigrate to America. Wm. Montgomery and Bleakley opened adry goods store. In 1806 they hired the father of Abraham Lincoln [Thomas] to take a flatboat down the Mississippi river with their merchandise to be sold in New Orleans. They paid Tom Lincoln 16 pounds gold and a credit of 13 pounds in gold. Their store account books show Tom Lincoln buying "two twists of tobacco & one pint of whisky." And thebooks also show that in May 1806, Thomas went on a buying spree, purchasing silk, linen, scarlet cloth, dozens of buttons, etc. Earlier that year he had purchased an aristocratic beaver hat & a pair of silk suspenders for $1.50. He was, at this time, courting his future bride Nancy Hanks [Abe Lincoln's mother]. After the wedding he made his home in a cabin close to the courthouse in Elizabethtown. He then purchased at their store, knives, forks, spoons, thread, needles, silk & tobacco. Carl Sandburg wrote about Bleakley and Lincoln.

Fine for its age