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Lot Essay
Lincoln attempts to find employment for two "loyal and worthy" young women from Illinois.
Writing to the Postmaster General on behalf of two women from his home state, Lincoln offers his recommendation: "These young ladies, Miss Dugger and Miss Beattie, are from Illinois, & want employment. They are loyal and worthy, and I shall be very glad indeed if places can be found for them." While Lincoln frequently attempted to find government employment for citizens (especially for his acquaintances or their relatives), most of these letters concerned men's careers. Most of his appeals for women focused on navigating military bureaucracy, aiding male relatives or Union soldiers, or finding missing family members.
One of the women referenced, Miss Susan Dugger of Carlinville, Illinois, secured a job in the Post Office Department, later transferring to the Treasury Department.1 Record of Miss Beattie's employment has not been found, though she is a presumed relative of Charles J. Beattie (1824-1911), one of Livingston County's delegates to the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention that nominated Lincoln as the party's candidate for the U.S. Senate. In April 1859, Lincoln would endorse Beattie as prosecuting attorney for the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, a post Beattie assumed later that month.2
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1 Basler, Collected Works, 7:257-8.
2 Beattie, Charles J. Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Accessed May 27, 2026. https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/persons/BE35179.
Writing to the Postmaster General on behalf of two women from his home state, Lincoln offers his recommendation: "These young ladies, Miss Dugger and Miss Beattie, are from Illinois, & want employment. They are loyal and worthy, and I shall be very glad indeed if places can be found for them." While Lincoln frequently attempted to find government employment for citizens (especially for his acquaintances or their relatives), most of these letters concerned men's careers. Most of his appeals for women focused on navigating military bureaucracy, aiding male relatives or Union soldiers, or finding missing family members.
One of the women referenced, Miss Susan Dugger of Carlinville, Illinois, secured a job in the Post Office Department, later transferring to the Treasury Department.1 Record of Miss Beattie's employment has not been found, though she is a presumed relative of Charles J. Beattie (1824-1911), one of Livingston County's delegates to the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention that nominated Lincoln as the party's candidate for the U.S. Senate. In April 1859, Lincoln would endorse Beattie as prosecuting attorney for the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, a post Beattie assumed later that month.2
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1 Basler, Collected Works, 7:257-8.
2 Beattie, Charles J. Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Accessed May 27, 2026. https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/persons/BE35179.