Although Theron W. Haight spent most of the year 1860 in Wisconsin as a school teacher at Delafield, his continued residence in the state commenced after the Civil War. He returned to Waukesha County in 1864 from his family home in Jefferson County, New York.
Haight first taught, as principal, for a year and a half at Mukwonago. He then studied law in Milwaukee in the office of Gen. James H. Paine and Son and subsequently was employed as teacher of commercial law in the Spencerian Business College, Milwaukee. He then served on the editorial staff of the Milwaukee Sentinel before returning to Mukwonago to teach from 1868 to 1870. At that time he purchased the Waukesha Freeman and edited the paper until 1876 when he sold his interest to his partner, H.M. Youmans, but continued to contribute to its columns for most of his life.
From 1876 to 1878 Height was secretary of the Wisconsin Board of Charities. In the latter year he established his law practice in Waukesha. Over the years he served as correspondent for Milwaukee and Chicago newspapers and worked briefly as editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1880.
A Republican, Haight served for several years as chairman of the Republican County Committee in Waukesha. He was Justice of the Peace for ten years, a member of the County Board of Supervisors, and a village attorney of Waukesha. Prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Haight was one-time Grand Patriarch of Wisconsin. He was also active in the Grand Army of the Republic and served from 1882 to 1885 as junior vice commander of the Wisconsin GAR.
As editor of the Waukesha Freeman, Haight did much to advance Waukesha as a health resort. In 1892, he represented the city in opposition to a plan to pipe Waukesha water to Chicago and won his appeal to the governor. In 1902, Haight joined La Follette ranks in opposition to public service corporations' continued unregulated operation and wrote a series of newspaper articles, principally for the Milwaukee Free Press, supporting the La Follette viewpoint.
Haight lived with his family in Waukesha until his death on October 20, 1913, and was long one of the city's foremost attorneys and respected citizens. He promoted the organization of Waukesha County Historical Society and furthered erection of a Soldier's Memorial in Cutler Park and a Cushing Memorial on the Cushing homestead near Delafield. He was active in the public support of Waukesha Public Library.
In addition to writing for newspapers and periodicals, Haight authored three books: Three Wisconsin Cushings, published by the Wisconsin History Commission in 1910; Memoirs of Waukesha County from Earliest Days to the Present (1907); and The Divine Weeks of Josuah Sylvester, a translation from the French of William de Saluste (1908).
Theron Wilber Haight was born September 14, 1840, in Jefferson County, New York. Son of Morris and Lois Myrick Haight, natives of Dutchess County, New York. Theron was the youngest of seven children: Elizabeth, Elvira, Cecelia, Morris P., Lois Mary, Charles S., and Theron. Both Morris and Elizabeth (Mrs. Walter Kerr) preceded Theron to Wisconsin. Morris married Mary Schuyler and they lived at Summit, Wisconsin. He enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry and died in February of 1863, at Helena, Arkansas. Elizabeth (Mrs. Walter Kerr) lived at Delafield. The elder Haights, Morris and Lois, came to Wisconsin from Jefferson County, New York, in 1867 and lived and farmed at Hartland. He died in 1870; his wife, in 1875.
Theron Haight was a brilliant student as a young man. At 16 he entered upon a classical course under Rev. William Paret of the village of Pierrepont Manor (later Bishop of Maryland). At 17, Haight taught one year in the public school then became an assistant teacher in Dr. Paret's school. At 19, he was prepared to enter the junior class in college. He then made his first trip to Wisconsin to teach in order to accumulate necessary funds. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he returned to New York and enlisted May 3, 1861, in Company K, Twenty-fourth New York Infantry.
Haight's war record was notable. He served in the Virginia campaigns, in the Battles of Fredericksburg, Spottsylvania, Fort Royal, Gainesville, Second Bull Run, and many less-famed. He rose to first lieutenant in May, 1863. Taken prisoner at Second Bull Run, he was paroled and exchanged during the Battle of Fredericksburg. His term of enlistment expired May 29, 1863, and as both his brothers had been killed in the war, his parents needed his services, and he was mustered out.
Haight married Annie Maria Youmans, daughter of Dr. H.A. and Lucy (Andrews) Youmans of Mukwonago on April 15, 1870. They had six children: Lucy (Mrs. W.B. Strong); Henry Maurice, Frank Putney, Robert Wilber, Walter Lyman, and Margaret Adele (Mrs. Arthur W. Ovitt). At the time of Theron Haight's death (1913), Frank Putney was living in Waukesha, after heading the American News Syndicate in Japan; Robert W. was with the Chicago Inter-Ocean; Walter L. was with the Racine Times; Mrs. Strong lived at St. Martins and wrote for the Milwaukee Free Press; Mrs. Ovitt lived in Madison.
Theron Haight's widow, Mrs. Annie Haight, lived until 1950. At that time only three of the children survived: Putney, then living at Monrovia, Calif.; Mrs. Ovitt, of Madison; and Walter L. Haight, assistant secretary of the Madison Gas and Electric Company in Racine.
