Fletcher Mathews Haight

Who was Fletcher Mathews Haight?

Fletcher Mathews Haight was a United States federal judge.

Born in Elmira, New York, Haight read law to enter the bar in 1820. He was in private practice from 1820 to 1834 in Bath, New York and then in Rochester, New York. Haight was a New York state representative in 1833, and was a President of the City Bank of Rochester from 1834 to 1835, thereafter returning to private practice in Rochester until 1846, when he began the first phase of his journey west. He was in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri from 1846 to 1854. He resumed his travels west and was in private practice in San Francisco, California from 1854 to 1861.

On August 5, 1861, Haight was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California vacated by Isaac S. K. Ogier. Haight was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 5, 1861, and received his commission the same day. Haight served in that capacity until his death, in 1866, in San Francisco, California.

His son, Henry Huntly Haight was the 10th governor of California.