[Whittier] was accustomed to say that only two of the teachers who were employed in that district during his school days were fit for the not very exacting position they occupied. Both of these were Dartmouth students: one of them George Haskell, to whom reference has already been made." Dr. Haskell began the practice of medicine at East Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1827, and removed to Ashby, in the same state, in the following year.

Dr. Haskell came to Illinois in 1831, and settled at Edwardsville, and two years later he removed to Upper Alton. While there he became one of the founders of Shurtleff college, of which he was trustee and treasurer. The Doctor built up a large practice, which he soon abandoned. November 7, 1837, the cause of the slave received its first baptism of blood. On that day Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy was murdered at Alton, for his bold utterances in behalf of an oppressed race. Dr. Haskell entertained radical anti-slavery views, and he determined to leave that portion of the state in which the pro-slavery sentiment was largely predominant.

From the time of his arrival in Rockford until his removal from the city about twenty-eight years later, Dr. Haskell was a broad-minded, representative man of affairs. He conducted for a short time a mercantile business on the river bank, as the successor of Platt & Sanford. But his ruling passion was horticulture. He entered from the government quite a tract of land lying north of North street, and built the house on North Main street now occupied by George R. Forbes. He planted a nursery and became an expert in raising fruit. It is said that one year he raised sixty bushels of peaches. The severe winter of 1855-56 killed his trees, and from that time he devoted his attention to more hardy fruits. His later Rockford home was on North Court street, near the residence of Hon. Andrew Ashton. Dr. Haskell was generous and public-spirited. He and his brother-in-law, John Edwards, presented to the city the West side public square, which was named Haskell park, in honor of the former. A street, called Edwards place, forms the southern boundary of the park. A ward schoolhouse in West Rockford also bears Dr. Haskell's name.

In 1853 Dr. Haskell became a convert to Spiritualism, and his long and honored membership with the First Baptist church ceased on the last day of that year. It has been stated that he was first alienated from the church by his lack of esteem for

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Elder Jacob Knapp, who was then a prominent member. Mrs. Haskell followed her husband, and withdrew from the church May 6, 1854. Dr. Haskell entered upon his new religious life with that energy and enthusiasm which had signalized his former adherence to Baptist doctrine. April 15, 1854, he began the publication of the Spirit Advocate, an eight-page monthly. The paper was an able propagandist of the new faith. A complete file of this paper has been preserved in the Rockford public library. Twenty-three numbers were published. In the issue of March 15, 1856, the editor announced that the publication of the Advocate would be discontinued, and that it would be consolidated with the Orient, under the name of the Orient and Advocate, with headquarters at Waukegan. In his farewell address to his constituents, Dr. Haskell said: "While hitherto laboring in the cause of human advancement from the thralldom of bigotry, error and superstition, we have had the consciousness of having acted honestly in proclaiming 'the glorious gospel of the blessed God.' We feel that the cause is of God and must prevail; and the combined force of men and devils can not prevent its final triumph. . . . . The great contest between truth and error has commenced; and the advocates of error and superstition are arraying all their forces to withstand the onward march of truth and harmony; but truth must triumph over all opposing foes."

The best and most charitable commentary upon this prophecy is in the lines of Tennyson:

"Our little systems have their day;

They have their day, and cease to be."

In 1866, Dr. Haskell removed to New Jersey. There he was engaged in founding an industrial school, and purchased with others a tract of four thousand acres, which was laid out for a model community. In 1857 Dartmouth college gave the Doctor the degree of A. B., as of the year 1827.

Dr. Haskell died at Vineland, New Jersey, August 23, 1876. The late George S. Haskell, widely known as a seedsman, was a son; and Mrs. Henry P. Kimball is a daughter. Dr. Frank H., Willis M. and Carl Kimball are grandsons. His nephew, Rev. Samel Haskell, pays him this tribute in Pickard's work, previously noted: "He was a man of scholarship and enthusiasm, a friend of struggling students, many of whom he befriended in his home and with his means."

CHAPTER XXIV.

JAMES M. WIGHT.—JASON MARSH.—OTHER PIONEERS OF 1838-39.

JAMES

AMES MADISON WIGHT was born in Norwich, Massachusetts, in 1810. He was admitted to the bar of Queens county, New York, in 1837, and immediately afterward came west. He first joined his brother, J. Ambrose Wight, in Rockton. But he found no field in that village for the practice of his profession; and he came in 1838, to Rockford, where for a time he taught school. In his early life he served a few terms as city attorney of Rockford. He was one of the pioneer lawyers of northern Illinois, and built up a large practice. He was for many years local attorney for the Chicago & Northwestern railroad and for other corporations. He was also for a time a member of the state legislature, and served on the judiciary committee. Mr. Wight was a member of the constitutional convention of 1870, called to draft a new constitution for submission to the voters of the state. To Mr. Wight, law was not merely a profession; it was an absorbing and delightful study. He was above all, a student; a perfect cyclopedia of general information, familiar with the literature of many languages, which he read in the original, and a passionate lover of classical music and art. Mr. Wight was a cousin of George Bancroft, the famous historian. To many lawyers of today, Mr. Wight's sense of professional honor might seem a little strained; but for him there was only one standard, the standard of a Christian gentleman, and to that conception his business principles were subordinated. Mr. Wight died in Rockford in 1877, leaving to his children the heritage of an honest name, and the memory of a modest, blameless and tender life. Mr. Wight was the father of Mrs. Harriott Wight Sherratt, Miss Mary Wight, and Miss Carrie, who died in 1891. In his religious views, Mr. Wight was a Channing Unitarian. The Wight school in the Sixth ward was named in his honor. His home was the residence now owned by Judge L. L. Morrison.

Jason Marsh was born in Woodstock, Windsor county, Vermont, in 1807. At the age of sixteen he removed to Saratoga,

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New York. In 1831 he was admitted to the bar in Adams, Jefferson county, where he first practiced. In 1832 Mr. Marsh married Harriet M. Spafford, a sister of Charles, John and Catlin Spafford. Mr. Marsh came to Rockford in 1839. He was accompanied by his wife and children, a brother and wife, and his three brothers-in-law. Soon after his arrival he and the three Spafford brothers built the brick house three miles south of State street, on the Kishwaukee road, now occupied by F. J. Morey. A large farm was attached. Mr. Marsh drove daily to the village, where he practiced his profession. His later home was the residence subsequently owned by the late W. W. Fairfield, on East State street. These beautiful grounds are now subdivided. In 1862 Mr. Marsh entered military service as colonel of the Seventy-fourth Illinois infantry. He was severely wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge in the autumn of 1863, and returned home. Two months later he again went to the front. In the campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta his old wound troubled him, and he resigned. Colonel Marsh was a man of fine presence, rather above medium height, portly, and perhaps slightly pompous, with blue eyes. The corner of the left eye was slightly marred by a wound received in his younger days. He was accustomed to comb the hair low over the eye, and thus unconsciously gave to the eye a little wicked expression. Colonel Marsh was very courteous, and extremely fond of society. He delighted in picturesque costumes. His favorite suit was a blue dress coat with gilt buttons, buff vest and light pantaloons. Colonel Marsh was a lover of games; chess was his favorite. He forgot everything when engaged in a game of chess, and spent long afternoons and evenings at this pastime, oblivious of everything else; much, of course, to the detriment of his business. Colonel Marsh, or 'Squire Marsh, as he was often called, was a gentleman of striking characteristics. He preserved the courtliness of the old-school gentleman. His social nature was of a generous kind. He was at home either in long-continued argument, or he could adapt himself to the lighter conversation of gallant and graceful nothings of fashionable society. His habitual attire combined the present and the past with striking effect. His blue swallow-tail coat, buff vest and gold-headed cane are intimately associated with his sturdy personality in the minds of all who remember him. Colonel Marsh was a man of well-stored mind, and made his mark as a lawyer at an early day. His last years were

spent on his farm near Durand. His death occurred at the home of his daughter in Chicago, March 13, 1881. He was buried in Rockford with military honors. His surviving children are: Mrs. E. H. Baker, formerly of Rockford; Mrs. William Ruger, of Batona, Florida; and Cerdric G., of Chicago. Ogden C. died soon after his father. J. M. and Volney Southgate are nephews.

Francis Burnap was born at Merrimac, New Hampshire, January 4, 1796. He belonged to one of the old historic families of New England. His mother was a sister of Major-General Brooks, of Revolutionary fame, who was afterward governor of Massachusetts for seven terms. His father was Rev. Jacob Burnap, who for fifty years was pastor of the First Congregational church of Merrimac. Mr. Burnap settled in Rockford in August, 1839, and began the practice of law in Winnebago and neighboring counties, in the state supreme court, and in the federal courts. His industry and patient persistence in his profession were proverbial. He loved chancery practice, and in the knowledge of this department he had few equals in the state. Mr. Burnap was a man of integrity, and boldly avowed his opinions, however unpopular. He belonged to the Liberty party in its early days, and proclaimed his radical anti-slavery sentiments when abolitionism was a term of reproach even in the free north and west. He was also a believer in total abstinence and woman suffrage. Mr. Burnap was a thorough student. His books were his beloved companions. He was a fine linguist and was proficient in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and German. As a friend, he was kind, courteous, and dignified in all his social intercourse. While he was affable in manner, he was firm in his principles, even to sternness. The tenacity with which he clung to his opinions, and earnestly defended them, sometimes excited enmity. He practiced in his profession until 1864, when ill health compelled him to retire. Mr. Burnap died in Rockford December 2, 1866. He was the senior practitioner of the Rockford bar, which adopted resolutions of respect at his death, and attended his funeral in a body. In the forenoon preceding his death he dictated his will, in the full possession of his mental faculties. Mr. Burnap never married, and he lived a somewhat isolated life. Mrs. Lucy M. Gauss, of St. Louis, formerly a teacher in the Rockford schools, is a niece.

Duncan Ferguson was a native of Scotland. He was born in Glasgow, in November, 1810. He attended the University of Glasgow two seasons; was employed several years in the