Robert Todd Stuart (1810 - 1880)

Born 10 Apr 1810 in Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky, United States

Ancestors

Died 23 Sep 1880 at age 70 in Marshall Township, Platte, Missouri, United States

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Biography

Robert Stuart is Notable.

Robert Todd Stuart was born on 10 Apr 1810 in Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky, United States, son of Robert Stuart (1772 - 1856) and Hannah (Todd) Stuart (1781 - 1834). Robert died on 23 Sep 1880 in Marshall Township, Platte, Missouri aged 70. He is buried in Marshall City Cemetery, Marshall, Saline County, Missouri, USA.^[1]

His siblings were:

• Mary Jane (Stuart) Price (1804 - 1889)
• John Todd Stuart (1807 - 1885)
• David Todd Stuart (1812 - 1868)
• Samuel Davies Stuart (1815 - 1895)
• Margaret Todd (Stuart) Woodrow (1817 - 1916)

Robert Stuart is Notable.

Robert was born in 1810. He was the son of Robert Stuart and Hannah Todd. He passed away in 1880.

Research Notes

The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: A Narrative Overview By John A. Lupton, Assistant Director & Assistant Editor, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln Introduction Abraham Lincoln practiced law for nearly twenty-five years in the Illinois courts. Other than part-time service in the Illinois legislature and the United States Congress, law was his full-time occupation. Lincoln handled cases in almost all court levels: justice of the peace, county, circuit, appellate, and federal. He had three successive formal partnerships: junior partner to John Todd Stuart (1837-1841), junior partner to Stephen T. Logan (1841-1844), and senior partner to William H. Herndon (1844-1861). Like many of his colleagues at the bar, Lincoln was a general practice attorney and represented clients in a variety of civil and criminal actions including debt, slander, divorce, dower and partition, mortgage foreclosure, and murder.

Legal Education While Lincoln lived in New Salem, Illinois, from 1831 to 1837, he had various encounters with the legal system. He wrote legal documents for Bowling Green, the local justice of the peace, appeared in several lawsuits as a witness, and was the defendant in several cases in which creditors sued him to collect debts. Lincoln considered a career in law after he lost the 1832 election for the Illinois General Assembly, but, according to his 1860 campaign autobiography, decided against a legal career because he thought he needed more education to succeed as a lawyer. In 1834, Lincoln won election as a representative for Sangamon County to the state legislature. When he attended legislative sessions in Vandalia, fellow representative John Todd Stuart encouraged him to study law.

Aspiring attorneys typically studied with established members of the bar or served as clerks in law offices to prepare for a legal career. Lincoln had no such opportunity in New Salem. Instead, he borrowed law books from Stuart’s law office in Springfield, twenty miles away, and read them while the legislature was not in session. Lincoln read Blackstone’s Commentaries and legal pleading and practice treatises to become familiar with the forms of action and the legal system. On March 24, 1836, the Sangamon County Circuit Court in Springfield certified that Lincoln was a person of good moral character. This certification was the first of several necessary steps to become a lawyer in Illinois. On September 9, 1836, the Illinois Supreme Court examined Lincoln and issued him a license to practice law in all of the courts in the state, which was the final step to become an attorney.

Stuart-Lincoln Partnership By the spring of 1837, Lincoln had moved to Springfield and accepted Stuart’s offer to become his junior law partner. Stuart was mainly interested in politics and gave Lincoln little legal instruction. Consequently, Lincoln had to learn the practice of law by trying cases in court. In November 1838, Stuart won election to the United States House of Representatives and left Lincoln to handle the legal partnership business alone. Stuart remained in Congress until March 1843.

Stuart and Lincoln’s practice consisted primarily of debt-related matters in the various courts in which they practiced. They also handled a variety of legal actions in the criminal , common law, and chancery divisions of law. Stuart and Lincoln both traveled the First Judicial Circuit. When Sangamon County became part of the newly formed Eighth Judicial Circuit in 1839, Lincoln began to ride that circuit. Stuart and Lincoln concentrated their legal practice in Sangamon, Tazewell, Logan, and McLean counties, but they handled cases elsewhere as well.

The Stuart and Lincoln law office was in an upstairs room along Hoffman’s Row, a group of buildings on Fifth Street in Springfield, one block north of the public square. After the state legislature voted to move the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield in February 1837, the city donated the public square for the new statehouse. As part of their office work, Stuart and Lincoln kept an office fee book as a record of their legal fees from handling cases and nonlitigation activities. On April 14, 1841, Stuart and Lincoln formally dissolved their legal partnership. Stuart had won election to a second term in Congress, and Lincoln was unable to maintain the partnership by himself.

Lincoln partnership Sections pertinent to Abraham Lincoln's law partnership with John Todd Stuart. http://www.mrlincolnandfriends.org/the-lawyers/john-todd-stuart/

Sources

1. ↑ *Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/189700393/robert-todd-stuart : accessed 24 February 2022), memorial page for Robert Todd Stuart (10 Apr 1810–23 Sep 1880), Find A Grave: Memorial #189700393, citing Marshall City Cemetery, Marshall, Saline County, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Cynthia Farmer-Nold (contributor 48293625) .