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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARTICLE ON HARVEY HAYNES

Hon. Harvey Haynes, of Coldwater, represented Branch County in the Michigan State Legislature for the term beginning inn the fall of 1865, and was re-elected in 1870 on the Republican ticket. He represented Coldwater Township as Assessor and Supervisor for a period of thirteen yeas, was Justice of the Peace for four years, and Superintendent and Inspector of Schools the same length of time. He served as County and Township Drain Commissioner five years, and in 1868 was appointed Deputy United States Marshal, which office he resigned to take his seat in the Legislature, in 1870.

The subject of this sketch was born Jan. 24, 1817, at New Paltz (now Highland) Ulster Co., N.Y., and was the sixth of the family of nine children belonging to James and Abigail (Thompson) Haynes. Their eldest, a daughter, Julia Ann, was born Oct. 14, 1802, and died Apr. 19, 1817, in Ulster County; John Thompson was born June 10, 1805, and died July 3, 1851, on his way to California, while on board a steamer off Acapulco, Mes., and was buried at sea. Daniel was born Dec. 3, 1807, and died Oct. 28, 1829, in Penfield, N.Y.; Ruth was born July 31, 1809, and was twice married, first to Lorenzo D. Crippen, and then to his brother, Philo Crippen; she is now in Coldwater. David was born March 27, 1812, and died March 28, 1854, at Coldwater; Harvey, our subject, was the sixth child; Levi was born June 10, 1820, and is in Fargo, Dak.; James was born July 16, 1823, at Penfield, and was drowned in Tonawanda Creek, Nov. 11, 1842; Abigail was born March 20, 1828, and died at Penfield in infancy.

James Haynes, the father of our subject, was born in Conn., May 17, 1776. His father was an ocean coaster, and while at sea was shipsrecked, leaving his family destitute. From the faint records obtainable it is supposed that his ancestors came from Wales. James was a little lad six years of age when his father disappeared, and remained with his mother, assisting her in her struggles for a livelihood until reaching his majority. James purchased a farm of 100 acres near Penfield ….. he died Sept. 18, 1836, three months and nineteen days after his arrival here, leaving his son Harvey, a youth of nineteen, in charge of his business among strangers and in a wilderness. A wife and three sons were thus left to battle with the difficulties …

Our subject now completed his schooling at the Penfield Academy, and commenced teaching. In the spring of 1838 he set out once more for Michigan, arriving in Coldwater Township April 19. ……..

Mr. Haynes by the spring of 1840 had become quite contented with his new Western home, and prepared to continue his residence here. On the 4th of March, that year, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Alden, who was born April 9, 1824, in N.Y., and is the daughter of Dr. Hiram Alden, a pioneer of this county, and a lineal descendant of John Alden and Priscilla, the Puritan maiden whose marriage and courtship have been written in poetry by Longfellow, and are familiar to every educated American.

In 1856 Mr. Haynes returned East in search of health and recreation, spent four months on the coast of Newfoundland, and employed himself as superintendent of a lumber business there. ……

Mrs. Abigail (Thompson) Haynes, the mother of our subject, was born in Greene County, N.Y., Nov. 17, 1783, and was one of a large family, the children of Jared Thompson. She lived at home with her parents up to the time of her marriage, and after the death of her husband lived with her son Harvey, our subject, until her death, which occurred at his home in Coldwater Township, this county, July 27, 1840. Her remains were laid to rest beside those of her husband in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Jared Thompson, the maternal grandfather of our subject, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War from the beginning to the close, fighting at the battle of Bunker Hill, and participating in many other of the important battles of that struggle. After the war he settled in New Paltz, Ulster, Co., N.Y., where he spent his last d