Note i-42 — Chapter I · PINCHING TIMES
Reading edition
William H. Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner, relates (Herndon, i, 100): “He was a long time meeting these claims, even as late as 1848 sending to me from Washington portions of his salary as Congressman to be applied on the unpaid remnant of the Berry and Lincoln indebtedness. But in time he extinguished it all, even to the last penny.”
According to Nicolay (36): “It was not until his return from Congress, seventeen years after the purchase of the store, that he finally relieved himself of the last installment of his ‘national debt.’ ”