Harvey B. Hurd
Encyclopedia
Harvey B. Hurd was a prominent Chicago
lawyer
, abolitionist, and social reformer.
, where he became an apprentice at the Bridgeport Standard, a Whig
newspaper
. In 1844, he was one of a group of ten young men who immigrated to Illinois
. He spent a year studying at Jubilee College in Peoria County, Illinois
. He then moved to Chicago
, finding a job at the Evening-Standard newspaper and later the Prairie Farmer. In 1847, he read law with Chicago lawyer
Calvin De Wolf. He was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1848.
Hurd began practicing law
in 1848, initially forming a partnership with Carlos Haven, then with Henry Snapp
, and then, from 1850 to 1854, with Andrew J. Brown. With Brown, Hurd was involved in several large real estate transactions in Evanston, Illinois
.
In May 1853, Hurd married Cornelia A. Hilliard, daughter of Col. James Hilliard of Middletown, Connecticut
. Together, the couple would have three daughters: Eda, Hettie, and Nellie. In 1854, he began construction of a large home in Evanston, where he would live for the rest of his life. He served as first president of the Village Board of Evanston.
A committed abolitionist, Hurd was active in abolitionist politics in Chicago. When the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise
, Hurd traveled to Buffalo, New York
for the founding of a national committee to protect the rights of northern settlers in the Kansas Territory
. Hurd served as the secretary of this organization's executive committee, which was headquartered in Chicago. After the Kansas crop failures of 1856, this committee voted to raise funds to send seed to northern settlers in the Kansas Territory, and to provide John Brown
with $5,000 to fund his activities. When there were not enough funds for both projects, Hurd decided to spend the money on seed for the settlers, a decision that ultimately upset Brown and drew criticism from Gerrit Smith
, but which was vindicated when the seed arrived in Lawrence, Kansas
. In the absence of this seed, the northern settlers would have had no choice but to leave the Kansas Territory. In the wake of the Pottawatomie Massacre
, John Brown was forced to flee the Kansas Territory. While Brown was staying at the home of John W. Jones
, his clothes were so ragged that he needed a new suit; since Hurd was approximately the same size as Brown, Hurd was fitted for the suit which was then sent to Brown.
In 1862, Hurd formed a law partnership with Henry Booth and also became a lecturer on law at the University of Chicago
. His partnership with Booth was dissolved in 1868, at which time Hurd ceased the active practice of law. In April 1869, Governor of Illinois
John M. Palmer
appointed Hurd as one of three commissioners to revise the General Statutes of Illinois. When the other two commissioners were indisposed, Hurd completed this task on his own, presented his compiled statutes to the Illinois General Assembly
in 1874. The General Assembly ordered this compilation to be published - in its published form, it was generally known as Hurd's Statutes.
Hurd became a lecturer at the Union College of Law (later known as the Northwestern University School of Law
in 1876. In 1886, Hurd was the author of the so-called Hurd Bill, which proposed to create the Sanitary District of Chicago; after studying and modifying the bill, the Illinois General Assembly passed it the next year.
Hurd was active in the Illinois State Bar Association
, serving as chairman of its Committee on Law Reform. He chaired an ISBA commission on land title that on December 10, 1892 recommended that Illinois adopt the Torrens title
system, which it did in 1897. Hurd was president of the Illinois State Bar Association 1898-99.
Hurd was also active in the Children's Aid Society of Chicago. He was a long-time proponent of creating a juvenile court
system in Illinois, and remained active after the court was created.
Hurd's first wife, Cornelia, died in 1884. He later married Mrs. Sarah Collins, widow
of George Collins. She died in 1890. In July 1892, Hurd took a third wife, Mrs. Susanna Van Wyck.
Hurd died at his home on January 20, 1906.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, abolitionist, and social reformer.
Biography
Harvey B. Hurd was born in Huntington, Connecticut on February 14, 1828. He grew up on his family's farm. On May 1, 1842, the fourteen-year-old Hurd left his parents' farm and journeyed to Bridgeport, ConnecticutBridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
, where he became an apprentice at the Bridgeport Standard, a Whig
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. In 1844, he was one of a group of ten young men who immigrated to Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. He spent a year studying at Jubilee College in Peoria County, Illinois
Peoria County, Illinois
Peoria County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 186,494, which is an increase of 1.7% from 183,433 in 2000. Its county seat is Peoria....
. He then moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, finding a job at the Evening-Standard newspaper and later the Prairie Farmer. In 1847, he read law with Chicago lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
Calvin De Wolf. He was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1848.
Hurd began practicing law
Practice of law
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister,...
in 1848, initially forming a partnership with Carlos Haven, then with Henry Snapp
Henry Snapp
Henry Snapp was a U.S. Representative from Illinois, father of Howard Malcolm Snapp.Born in Livonia, New York, Snapp moved with his parents to Rochester, New York, in 1825.He attended the common schools of that city....
, and then, from 1850 to 1854, with Andrew J. Brown. With Brown, Hurd was involved in several large real estate transactions in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
.
In May 1853, Hurd married Cornelia A. Hilliard, daughter of Col. James Hilliard of Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
. Together, the couple would have three daughters: Eda, Hettie, and Nellie. In 1854, he began construction of a large home in Evanston, where he would live for the rest of his life. He served as first president of the Village Board of Evanston.
A committed abolitionist, Hurd was active in abolitionist politics in Chicago. When the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30'...
, Hurd traveled to Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
for the founding of a national committee to protect the rights of northern settlers in the Kansas Territory
Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....
. Hurd served as the secretary of this organization's executive committee, which was headquartered in Chicago. After the Kansas crop failures of 1856, this committee voted to raise funds to send seed to northern settlers in the Kansas Territory, and to provide John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
with $5,000 to fund his activities. When there were not enough funds for both projects, Hurd decided to spend the money on seed for the settlers, a decision that ultimately upset Brown and drew criticism from Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith was a leading United States social reformer, abolitionist, politician, and philanthropist...
, but which was vindicated when the seed arrived in Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
. In the absence of this seed, the northern settlers would have had no choice but to leave the Kansas Territory. In the wake of the Pottawatomie Massacre
Pottawatomie Massacre
The Pottawatomie Massacre occurred during the night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers killed five settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas...
, John Brown was forced to flee the Kansas Territory. While Brown was staying at the home of John W. Jones
John W. Jones (ex-slave)
John W. Jones was born in 1817 on a plantation in Leesburg, Virginia as a slave to the Elzy family. On June 3, 1844, fearing he would be sold to another plantation, as his owner grew old and near death, Jones and four others fled north...
, his clothes were so ragged that he needed a new suit; since Hurd was approximately the same size as Brown, Hurd was fitted for the suit which was then sent to Brown.
In 1862, Hurd formed a law partnership with Henry Booth and also became a lecturer on law at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. His partnership with Booth was dissolved in 1868, at which time Hurd ceased the active practice of law. In April 1869, Governor of Illinois
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
John M. Palmer
John M. Palmer (politician)
John McAuley Palmer , was an Illinois resident, an American Civil War General who fought for the Union, the 15th Governor of Illinois, and presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party in the 1896 election on a platform to defend the gold standard, free trade, and limited...
appointed Hurd as one of three commissioners to revise the General Statutes of Illinois. When the other two commissioners were indisposed, Hurd completed this task on his own, presented his compiled statutes to the Illinois General Assembly
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois and comprises the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Illinois has 59 legislative districts, with two...
in 1874. The General Assembly ordered this compilation to be published - in its published form, it was generally known as Hurd's Statutes.
Hurd became a lecturer at the Union College of Law (later known as the Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
in 1876. In 1886, Hurd was the author of the so-called Hurd Bill, which proposed to create the Sanitary District of Chicago; after studying and modifying the bill, the Illinois General Assembly passed it the next year.
Hurd was active in the Illinois State Bar Association
Illinois State Bar Association
The Illinois State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the country. Approximately 30,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA membership is not required of lawyers licensed to practice in...
, serving as chairman of its Committee on Law Reform. He chaired an ISBA commission on land title that on December 10, 1892 recommended that Illinois adopt the Torrens title
Torrens title
Torrens title is a system of land title where a register of land holdings maintained by the state guarantees an indefeasible title to those included in the register...
system, which it did in 1897. Hurd was president of the Illinois State Bar Association 1898-99.
Hurd was also active in the Children's Aid Society of Chicago. He was a long-time proponent of creating a juvenile court
Juvenile court
A juvenile court is a tribunal having special authority to try and pass judgments for crimes committed by children or adolescents who have not attained the age of majority...
system in Illinois, and remained active after the court was created.
Hurd's first wife, Cornelia, died in 1884. He later married Mrs. Sarah Collins, widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
of George Collins. She died in 1890. In July 1892, Hurd took a third wife, Mrs. Susanna Van Wyck.
Hurd died at his home on January 20, 1906.