LEVI NORTH.

Levi North, a Kewanee lawyer, was a man of strong individuality. He was born at Turin, Lewis county, New York, March 12, 1821. His death took place at his home in Kewanee, his lifelong friend, James K. Blish, officiating as director at the funeral. The newspaper clipping before me is undated, so the date of his death cannot be given.

North's ambitions in youth were artistic. For many years he plied the brush and was uneasy without his easel. It is said that he was a clever painter. He became interested in law, and applied himself to the study thereof, as a side issue. Painting would be his vocation, law his avocation. But the gods willed other­wise. The above order was reversed.

North represented Henry county in the legislature in 1871-72. He took a prominent part in the revision of the statutes, and adapting them to the new con­stitution. He bitterly opposed extreme high salaries for state officers. He aided in the passage of the law making a dramshop keeper liable through bondsmen for damages resulting from his traffic. In 1873, the publishing house of Calleghan & Co., of Chicago, issued North's Treatise on Practice in the Probate Courts. This work has served as a basis for all subsequent revisions of this subject.

One incident above all others in North's long life, stood out vividly in the backward bearing mirror of his memory. In 1848 he made a trip on the great lakes, in the good ship "Globe." To while away the weary hours, a political de­bate in the cabin was planned. The subject was slavery. North was at home on that subject. He was one of the most absolute abolitionists in the country. The "Globe" trembled with the white hot lightnings of his oratory. Then a slavery man tried to make a case of his abhorrent doctrine. The master of ceremonies introduced as the next speaker against slavery, a member of congress from Illinois. He was a tall, awkward, shambling man, with high cheek bones, and an eye that glowed with fire, or twinkled with irrestible fun. And his name was Abraham Lincoln.

 

History of Henry County

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