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Memorial for Judge Treat to be dedicated June 20After 121 years, the Springfield grave site of Samuel Hubbel Treat, one of the state’s pioneer jurists, has received the appropriate marker it deserves. The Illinois Bar Foundation will conduct a memorial dedication at 10 a.m. Friday, June 20, in Oak Ridge Cemetery. A luncheon at the Sangamo Club will follow. Call (312) 726-6072 for reservations. The Bar Foundation provided a total of $15,885 toward the project from fund-raising events and donations, surpassing the estimated cost of $14,000. The first judge to serve in all three court systems in Illinois – circuit, supreme and federal – Samuel Treat presided in the Southern District court for more than three decades, working until a few weeks before his death on March 27, 1887. A friend of Abraham Lincoln, Treat was buried near Lincoln’s tomb. The administrator of his estate received permission on Dec. 11, 1888, to expend not more than $200 for a tombstone, but the remains had reposed in obscurity until now. Treat heard Lincoln argue 870 circuit court cases and about 162 Supreme Court matters between 1839 and 1855. As a federal judge, he presided in at least 136 more of Lincoln’s cases. “Needless to say, it was quite a shock for me to learn that one of the most distinguished jurists in Illinois history lies buried near Mr. Lincoln ... but has no headstone,” Judge Richard Mills of U.S. District Court in Springfield advised the ISBA in 2005. In response, the Bar Foundation conducted two benefits in Springfield to support a campaign to provide “a fitting monument to one of the greatest jurists on Mr. Lincoln’s Prairie,” in Mills’ words. Proceeds from a September 2005 reception were $2,322 and another $9,063 was realized in a Pillars of the Bar golf outing in 2007. Meanwhile, $4,500 was contributed by individuals. Event co-sponsors have included the ISBA, the Supreme Court Historical Society, the Sangamon County Bar Association, and the Bar Association of the Central and Southern Federal Districts of Illinois.
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