Samuel H. Treat was the son of Samuel Lancton and Lydia (Sheldon) Treat. He was born on December 17, 1815 in Portsmouth, N. H. , being descended through Gov. Robert Treat of Connecticut, from the Treat (Trott) family of Somerset, England.
Education
Treat's preparatory education was obtained at a public high school in his native town. At the age of 16 he completed his education at that school, and for one year thereafter he was employed as assistant teacher in the same school. In 1833 he entered Harvard University, graduating with a BA in 1837, followed by an M. A. in 1840. He was the first example in New England of a student who entered Harvard University directly from a public school, without having passed through an intermediate training school.
In 1838 he commenced the study of the law in the offices of Jeremiah Mason and Charles B. Goodrich, the former the contemporary of Parsons, Story and Webster. During the time of pursuing his legal studies Judge also taught as a professor in the Weld school at Jamaica Plains, near Boston.
Career
In 1841 he went to St. Louis and was admitted to the Missouri bar.
Sent as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention of 1848, he was elected secretary. He was also a delegate to the national railroad convention of 1849, held at St. Louis, and introduced the resolution which resulted in a formal petition that the federal government build a telegraph line and railroad from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1849 Treat became judge of the St. Louis court of common pleas. He served in this capacity until 1857, when he was appointed federal district judge for eastern Missouri by President Pierce.
In the judicial history of Missouri Treat stands out as the chief expert in admiralty, a branch of federal law significant locally in his time because of the great though temporary importance of steamboating on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The advent of the Civil War, with St. Louis becoming a fortified camp and half of Missouri a huge battle ground, brought to his tribunal novel and delicate questions.
After the war, by charges to grand juries and by fearless handling of criminal trials, he combatted the spirit of lawlessness which undoubtedly prevailed in Missouri during the era of the outlaw Jesse James and the so-called "whiskey ring" of St. Louis. Of his published opinions the most widely cited is In re McDonald, decided in May 1861, upholding the jurisdiction of federal courts at that particular time to issue writs of habeas corpus to military authorities.
In 1853 Treat became one of the incorporators and original directors of Washington University, St. Louis; in 1867, cooperating with Henry Hitchcock, he helped to organize the law school of that university, and for twenty years he was a member of its faculty as professor of admiralty law.
He remained on the bench until failing sight forced his retirement in 1887. He maintained his home in St. Louis until his death, though he spent much of his time in later years with a daughter in Rochester, N. Y. , where he died.
Achievements
Politics
Before 1843 he was recognized as an influential member of the Democratic party.
Treat himself attributed his early prominence to an encounter with the state leader of the Whig party, Henry Sheffie Geyer. The latter had publicly disparaged New Englanders, of whom there was a considerable group in Missouri--some Democrats and some Whigs; Treat publicly defended New England and was afterwards regarded as the political champion in Missouri of that section.
Personality
He was a competent, hard-working, urbane, courageous, respected trial judge.
Connections
On August 21, 1841 he married Caroline Bryan of Geneseo, N. Y. , who with one daughter survived him.