Lincoln writes to John M. Clark of Vincennes, Iowa, about Lincoln's attempts to collect a debt owed to Clark by a gentleman with the surname of Whitten. Lincoln admits to Clark that he "mislaid the note" that Clark had sent him "long ago." Lincoln informs Clark that he did "not think it could be collected." Lincoln states that Whitten currently works in Chicago, and Lincoln will once again try to collect the debt when he is in Chicago—"in July perhaps." Abraham Lincoln to John M. Clark, 31 May 1858, William P. Palmer Collection, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH.