Early History of Illinois

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The late Hon. Sidney Breese died on the evening of June 27, 1878. He had resided in the State since the year 1818, when Illinois was admitted by Congress into the American Union. Upon his first entrance into the State he located himself at Kaskaskia, the then capital, and found an office to pursue his professional studies with the late Hon. Elias K. Kane, to whom, as his early instructor and friend, he afterward dedicated, in 1831, the volume of Breese's Reports, the first volume of law reports ever compiled in this State, and the first book ever printed in Illinois.<br><br>From that day until the day he died he was in active professional, judicial and political, employment. His public life from its commencement was contemporary with that of the State. As United States Attorney, as a Member of the General Assembly of the State, as a Senator of the United States, as a Circuit and Supreme Court Judge, of which latter court he filled the office of Chief Justice at three several periods, he had been in the public service of the State for a period of nearly sixty years at the time he died.<br><br>Judge Breese did not live to accumulate a large property.