Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== History of Mason County, Michigan H. R. Page & Co., Chicago; 1882 -61- HON. SAMUEL D. HAIGHT The late SAMUEL D. HAIGHT was born in the town of Root, Montgomery Co., N.Y., November 16, 1839. He worked on his father's farm in Summer and attended district school Winter until seventeen years of age; afterward teaching Winteres until twenty years of age. In the meantime he attended one term at the Fairfield University. He came to Michigan in 1861 and taught school in Jackson County till January, 1862, when he enlisted in Company A, Ninth Michigan Cavalry. He was pro- moted from the ranks to first sergeant, second and first lieu- tenant. He was in fifty-two engagements; was with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign and "march to the sea," and was mustered out July 5, 1865. He returned to Michigan and resumed teaching and studied law. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar and settled in Ludington. He was married to ELIZABETH SOUTHWORTH, at Ovid, Mich., Octo- ber 3, 1876. In the Fall of 1871 he was elected prosecuting attorney on the Democratic ticket, although the county was largely Republican. In 1872 he was re-elected by an increased majority. He was city treasurer during the years 1873-74, and treasurer of the school board for three years. In 1878 he was elected circuit judge, and had not completed his first term at the time of his death, which occurred very unexpectedly and was proceeded by sickness of only a few days. February 19, 1880, he adjourned court to April 19, and February 25 he breathed his last. The memory of Judge HAIGHT is dear to all who knew him, but dearest to those who knew him best. He was the truest friend of those who most needed friends, the courteous gentleman in all his relations with his fellows, and when he died there were many to share in his bereavement. He came to Ludington a stranger to the people, and unprac- ticed in his profession. His first partnership was with E. N. FITCH, afterward with ISAAC GIBSON, and from 1874 to 1878 with Hon. SHUBAEL F. WHITE. The record of his public life shows that he possessed to a remarkable degree the power of not simply acquir- ing popularity, but of maintaining its hold upon the affections of the public. He was a man of generous impulses, who considered the needs of others greater than his own, and was always ready to applaud the virtues of his fellows and regard their vices with charity. He was a very successful lawyer, and was especially successful as an advocate before a jury. Naturally a pleasing and effective speaker, his thorough knowledge of men and keen insight into human character gave him great power with a jury. His practice was extensive and lucrative, but the latch-string of his purse was always out, and he saved but a small part of the amount he earned. When he took his seat upon the bench, many of his most ardent admirers felt that he was naturally better adapted for the bar than for the bench, but experience showed them their mistake. It was here that he exhibited the great fund of mental resources which he possessed; the ability to adapt himself to any place he was called upon to fill. A short time before his death he had purchased a tract of land, just south of the FILER mill, and built a house upon the high ground overlooking Pere Marquette Lake. He had laid the foundation of a most charming home, such as he was fitted by nature to enjoy, and which was left desolate by his death. At the opening of court on the 19th of April, Hon. J. BYRON JUDKINS presiding, Hon. S. F. WHITE, as the senior attorney of the Mason County Bar, presented resolutions which had been adopted at a meeting of the Bar Association. In presenting them to the court, Mr. WHITE delivered an appropriate address, and was followed by Messrs. SUTHERLAND, BISHOP, FITCH, NEWCOMBE, WING, WHEELER, McMAHON, SAMUELS and DANAHER. A very fitting tribute was added by the court in accepting the resolutions. The addresses were published in full, and were eloquent expressions of the tenderest respect and sincere affection for him whom death had so suddenly taken from their midst. These eulogies portrayed the bereavement of the men who uttered them, and are a singularly clear revelation of the character and intellectual qualities of Judge HAIGHT. Con- spicuous among his qualities as a lawyer and jurist were sited his power as an advocate and genius of intellect; his keen sense of justice, thorough knowledge of law and freedom from prejudice; but above all it was his qualities of heart that endeared him to his fellows; his broad charity, genuine humanity and tenderness of feeling were jewels that outshine the most brilliant scintillations of intellect. There are many incidents still remembered by his friends that illustrate the tenderness of his nature and the genuineness of his benevolence. One day during the time Judge HAIGHT and family were boarding at a hotel, there came into the office of the hotel a boy who had reached Ludington on the cars. He was a cripple, forlorn in appearance and evidently a friendless wanderer. Coming into the hotel at dinner-time, Judge HAIGHT noticed the dejected appearance of the lad and his destitute condition. He told the lad to follow him, and took him into dinner, and after the meal was over took him to a store and fitted him out with an entire new suit of clothes and sent him on his way. Could they be gathered together, incidents similar to the above of his acts of humanity and benevo- lence would fill a volume. They are not all recorded on any printed page, but in the sacred recesses of many a human heart his memory is enshrined in monuments more precious than brass, more enduring than marble. ===========================================================================