By Stephen Anderson

One day before his 197th birthday – and 121 years after his death – Samuel Hubbel Treat received the memorial he deserves as one of the most distinguished jurists in Illinois history.

A monument for Judge Treat, the first marker on his Springfield grave site, was dedicated June 20 in Oak Ridge Cemetery, not far from that of his friend, Abraham Lincoln.

In his tribute, Judge Richard Mills of U.S. District Court noted the irony that legal pioneers Treat, Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were admitted to the federal bar on the same day: Dec. 3, 1839.

Although the lives of Lincoln and Douglas are well marked at historic sites throughout the state, the achievements of Judge Treat and the location of his remains languished in obscurity until Mills brought the oversight to the attention of the bench and bar.

The Illinois Bar Foundation took up the challenge of raising $15,000 for a fitting monument, and did so in several events over a three-year period.

Assistance was provided by the ISBA, the Bar Association of the Central and Southern Federal Districts, the Sangamon County Bar Association, the Abraham Lincoln Association, and the Illinois Supreme Court Legal Historical Society.

Speakers at the dedication last month included Bar Foundation President David B. Sosin, Daniel W. Stowell of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, and Judge Mills, who recounted highlights of Treat’s illustrious judicial career over more than 48 years.

He served for nine years on the old 8th Circuit Court, 14 years on the Illinois Supreme Court, including six year as chief justice, and 32 years on the U.S. District Court. He heard Lincoln argue hundreds of cases in the three venues.

Treat wrote 620 opinions while on the Supreme Court – an incredible average of 44 per year – and at his death was the second oldest federal judge in the country.

“At last, his unmarked grave has a suitable and appropriate marker,” Mills said at the dedication. “Here today we pay homage to a remarkable jurist on Mr. Lincoln’s prairie.”