Illinois man's pocketknife may have been Abe Lincoln's

MONMOUTH, Ill. -- The pocketknife is four inches long with one broken blade and a wooden handle.

It looks inauspicious, like something found in an old dresser drawer or tossed in with a box of junk at an auction.

But according to a Monmouth man and an affidavit dated Feb. 29, 1940, it once belonged to Abraham Lincoln.

George Morris keeps the pocketknife and the affidavit in a safe deposit box at a local bank, far away from the skeptics.

"When you say you have an original Lincoln piece, they think you are kooky," Morris said. "They look at you like you are lying."

Since Morris, a licensed appraiser, acquired the pocketknife in the 1990s, he has brought it out of hiding only a handful of times.

But he is a believer and he said it's impossible to say how much the item might by worth.

"There are no comparables to this," Morris said.

In his home, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Morris has a rope bed on which Lincoln reportedly slept while visiting the Phelps home in Oquawka. He also has examples of Lincoln ephemera.

His interest in Lincoln started as boy who when he took field trips to Springfield and New Salem. The story of how he acquired the pocketknife can be traced back to the farm where he grew up in rural Alexis and to the banks of the Mississippi River in Oquawka.

It's widely accepted in Oquawka that Lincoln was friends with Stephen Sumner "S.S." Phelps, a pioneer in the old river town, and that Lincoln visited the historic Phelps home several times.

During one of those visits, Lincoln is said to have handed S.S. Phelps a pocketknife and to have quipped: "Sumner, this knife was given to me to keep until I found a homelier man than myself, so now I present it to you."

Photographs show that Phelps bore a close resemblance to Lincoln.

Will Phelps, the grandson of S.S. Phelps, told this story about Lincoln's pocketknife in an affidavit that was notarized in Rock Island County in 1940.

Morris' family lived near the Boden family of rural Alexis, and years later, members of his family cared for Florence Boden when she lived alone at the family's home. That included Morris going through the family heirlooms in a boarded-up room at the Boden house.

Inside that room, Morris found papers and articles related to the history of Oquawka, as well as the pocketknife and affidavit. Morris purchased the pocketknife and affidavit from Florence Boden.

Still, Morris knows there may be no way to prove the knife truly belonged to Lincoln.

When he contacted the state historical society about the knife years ago, they were skeptical about the authenticity but still offered to take it off his hands for no money.

Morris declined, and now doesn't let the skeptics bother him.