Infamous Lincoln Forgery Association.
One of the Earliest Maps of Florida Territory.
An important early map of the Territory of Florida, published by Carey & Lea, with an added inscription on the verso which was the work of master forger Harry Dayton Sickles, one of the more interesting and audacious forgery efforts associated with the Presidential Library of Abraham Lincoln.
This interesting map, issued in 1822, shows Florida only 3 years after it was acquired by the United States from Spain. Settlement is limited to the area around St. Augustine, the traditional capital of East Florida. The southern two-thirds of the state were largely free of a permanent European American presence, as it was still largely controlled by the Seminole Nations that fiercely resisted American encroachment on their lands. Only with the Second Seminole War (1835-42) and the Third Seminole War (1855-58) would much of the state be opened to European American settlement. Florida would not become a state until 1845.
The present map appeared as part of Henry Carey & Isaac Lea's A Complete Historical, Chronological, and Geographical American Atlas (Philadelphia, 1822). It included many important early state maps, along with detailed written descriptions of the present state and history of the states. Carey & Lea were part of the venerable firm, Carey & Sons, the first great American map publishing house, established by Henry's father Matthew Carey in the 1780s.
The map mentions Andrew Jackson's governorship of the territory: "Possession was delivered to general Jackson, the commissioner of the United States, in July, 1821, and the province now forms one of the territories of the United States." He is listed as the governor in 1821 followed by William P. Duvall in 1822.
This map is one of the critical foundation maps of any collection of the cartography of Florida.
Verso Text: Coachman Brown Forgeries
The back of the map bears an inscription regarding the map's supposed provenance from Mary Todd Lincoln to William P. Brown. The so-called Coachman Brown Forgeries are well known in Lincolniana and are covered in this document.
The inscription reads:
This is from the collection of old maps, books, papers etc. given to her coachman Wm. P. Brown by Mrs. A. Lincoln in 1866 / W P Brown / The signatures are genuine / Frank E. Thatcher / Notary Public, Muskegon County, Mich. My commission expires Aug. 13, 1933
The Coachman Brown forgeries were featured on PBS History Detectives (Season 6, Episode 4).
According to research summarized by William Butts, an expert in the field and consultant for the History Detectives episode: Although Eugene Field was a talented poet and journalist, known especially for children's poetry (e.g., Little Boy Blue; Wynken, Blynken and Nod), his son, Eugene II, had no such talent. Accustomed to a life of some comfort, "Pinney," as young Eugene was known, seemed to have no particular focus. Always looking for a way to make money, with his father's untimely death in 1895 at the age of 45, Pinney started selling off his father's library, including many books with fine bindings. But there are a finite number of books in anyone's library, and Pinney began to run out.
Sometime during this period, Pinney crossed paths with Harry Dayton Sickles, a known forger, and the two apparently decided they could "expand" the library by buying antiquarian maps, signing them, and adding a reproduction of Eugene Field's bookplate. They could then have an unlimited library to sell. During the 1920s and 1930s, collecting Lincoln memorabilia went through a surge in popularity not seen since the frenzy immediately after the assassination. In 1931 an article was published about William Brown, who had been Mary Lincoln's coachman and the last person still alive who had been in the Lincolns' employ. Apparently, Sickles and Field saw their opportunity.
They located period items—maps, atlases, documents—and had Brown sign them. They then had a notary from the area, Frank Thatcher, notarize Brown's signature. These two seem to have been "dupes" in this scheme. Field and Sickles apparently convinced Mr. Brown that it was his signature that was of interest to collectors, and Mr. Thatcher was notarizing Brown's signature. Mr. Sickles (probably) then added "A. Lincoln" to those pages sometime later and sold them as having been "gifts" to the loyal coachman from Mary Lincoln. Dozens of these are known.
The forged provenance of these maps highlights the ingenuity and audacity of Field and Sickles. By capitalizing on the renewed interest in Lincoln memorabilia and the public's fascination with figures associated with Lincoln, they created a profitable yet deceitful venture. Their forgeries, once considered valuable collectibles, now serve as cautionary tales in the world of antiquarian materials, illustrating the lengths to which individuals might go to exploit historical figures and their legacies.
Henry Charles Carey (1793-1879) was an American geography publisher and businessman. He was the son of Mathew Carey and carried on the family publishing company in partnership with his brother-in-law, Isaac Lea. Henry worked in his father’s business from a young age. At twelve, he managed a store selling his father’s publications. At fifteen, he was the firm’s financial manager. In 1817, he became a junior partner, which changed the company’s name to Carey & Son.
In 1822, Mathew Carey brought in a new junior partner, Isaac Lea, who had married Henry’s sister, Frances Anne. In the same year, Mathew Carey left the business, with Henry buying out his father’s share. His younger brother briefly joined the business, but left by 1829, when the firm was named Carey & Lea. William A. Blanchard joined the firm in 1833, causing another name change to Carey, Lea & Blanchard. Henry retired in 1835, leaving the firm as Lea & Blanchard.
Henry had outside interests, including political economy. He published Principles of Political Economy in 1837. He also wrote Past, Present, and Future (1848), Principles of Social Science (1858-1860), and The Unity of Law (1872). In the 1850s, he was very active in organizing the nascent Republican Party. He died in 1879.
Isaac Lea (1792-1886) was an American publisher and geologist. Raised a Quaker in Delaware, he turned away from pacifist teachings and joined the militia in the War of 1812. After marrying Frances Anne, the daughter of publishing magnate Mathew Carey, Lea became a junior partner of Carey & Son in 1822. Mathew Carey left the firm in the same year and Isaac Lea worked primarily with his brother-in-law, Henry Charles Carey.
The pair conducted business as Carey & Lea, during which time they published A Complete Historical, Chronological and Geographical Atlas from 1822 to 1827. This work included roughly twenty maps engraved by Fielding Lucas Jr., as well as an American edition of Starling’s Cabinet Atlas. However, the firm increasingly turned away from cartographic publications.
By 1829, after the brief participation of Edward Carey, Henry’s younger brother, the company became known as Carey & Lea. William A. Blanchard joined the firm in 1833, causing another name change to Carey, Lea & Blanchard. Henry retired in 1838, leaving the firm as Lea & Blanchard.
Isaac Lea was not just a publisher, but an avid researcher with aptitude for geology. He was a member of the American Academy of Natural Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He retired from publishing in 1851 and turned increasingly to geological research, results of which he published until his death in 1886.