He did not give any of the depth of his intimacy of character to Mr. He took Herndon into partnership, and put him in the office at Springfield to build up a local practice if he could, under the name of the firm of Lincoln & Herndon. It was not of much consequence for him to have an office in Springfield. He went on what is called the circuits, following the judges around through the counties. Lincoln had but little local practice in the city of Springfield. It was Herndon’s poverty and hard luck that made Lincoln take to him. “He was a poor, forlorn fellow who got on the right side of Lincoln, and that was one of Lincoln’s abounding traits, that if any person moved his sympathies he would go to their relief. “Herndon was a man that Lincoln picked up,” recalled fellow Springfield attorney Milton Hay, who teamed with Logan at one point.
Herndon was not always better received by fellow lawyers. He had left his father’s home over differences concerning slavery. Billy Herndon was as fervent an abolitionist Whig as his father was a pro-slavery Democrat. Herndon’s father Archer was one of the Long Nine who represented Sangamon County in the State Legislature. Herndon had also clerked at Joshua Speed’s general store and hung around the rear fireplace where local and national political issues were talked through. Lincoln, Herndon had studied law at the firm of Logan and Lincoln.
Stuart and Logan – were both older and in the ways of the law, initially wiser than Mr. Lincoln in New Salem and owned a store there with his brother James. Cousin John Rowan Herndon had been a neighbor of Mr. Archer Herndon – William’s father, a committed Democrat and ardent defender of slave owners – had served in the legislature with Mr. Herndon’s family had many connections with Mr. Lincoln’s colleagues, Herndon was frequently called by his first name. But Herndon was clearly his junior in all things. He was more radical and impulsive in politics. Nothing more was said till the papers were brought to Herndon to sign. Lincoln you know I am too young, and I have no standing and no money but if you are in earnest, there is nothing in this world that would make me so happy. Persistent repetition of the question could hardly gain a hearing but at last Mr. Lincoln,” was the poor fellow’s sole response. Herndon could not understand it, when Lincoln one day darted up the office stairs, and said: “Herndon, should you like to be my partner?” Writing in the Atlantic Monthly in 1867, Dall recounted the story of the legal partnership Hall, Herndon himself understood the incongruity of the match.
Lincoln’s choice of Herndon as a law partner seemed strange to many in Springfield and in the bar. 1 Herndon was the third and last law partner to Abraham Lincoln after partnership with Stephen Logan was dissolved in 1844. Lincoln was the most generous, forebearing, and charitable man I ever knew,” said William H.
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