George W. & Addie (Estis) Haines

HAINES, ESTIS, LEPPERT, PLACE, SIMONSON, PETERSON, KLINKEL, PEARCE

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 3/15/2015 at 17:28:28

Waukon, Ia., Nov 15 - Sixty-two years ago the 17th of this month, George William Haines stood at the alter with Miss Addie A. Estis, and took the vow that joined them in holy wedlock. Sixty-two years have followed, years during which they trudged through pioneer days in Iowa, enduring all the hardships that typified early day living conditions here, later years of hard work and long hours of toil.

Today Mr. and Mrs. Haines remain lifelong comrades and because of their practice of frugality and economy in the years that have passed, they now have the opportunity of looking forward to the balance of their lives in the enjoyment of comfort and plenty.

Mr. Haines was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Jan. 6, 1848 (sic). Nineteen days later, Jan. 25, 1848, Addie A. Estis was born in Vermont. Mr. Haines came to Iowa in 1855. He was headed for La Crosse, but the low stage of water in the Mississippi compelled the boat on which he was traveling to stop at Muscatine. Landing there, he found his way to Tipton, Cedar county, which was his first residence in Iowa. He spent one year there and a year at Maquoketa, after which he moved to Wyoming, Jones county. There he continued his residence for nearly twenty years.

On Nov. 17, 1868, Mr. and Mrs. Haines were married. In 1876 they moved to West Union and after three years' residence there, they came to Waukon, arriving here March 20, 1879.

They then had two children, and their worldly possessions consisted of a wagon load of furniture and seventy-five cents in cash. Mr. Haines borrowed $75 from the bank the day he arrived here and bought Tom Place's woodshop in connection with the Simonson & Peterson wagon and machine shop. Business was good from the start and just three weeks later Mr. Haines stepped into the bank and paid off his $75 loan. He continued in this shop, located where the Peoples National bank now stands, for ten years, then built the business house in the second story of which he now resides, on Spring avenue, and operated a wagon shop on the main floor and lived in the flat above the shop.

Such was the beginning of Mr. and Mrs. Haines' residence in this city where they have since resided continuously and where they have watched the constant growth of Waukon from a village of three or four hundred people to the city that it is today. At the same time they have seen their own resources grow until today their income is sufficient to keep them another half century without laboring. Looking back over that period of more than fifty years, Mr. Haines says: "What made me think Waukon was a good town was that it built a railroad from here to the Junction and equipped it and did most of the work and financing itself and it must be a good town."

During his entire residence here, Mr. Haines states that every dollar he has earned in Waukon has been invested in Waukon property and he thinks Waukon is today the best town in the state. He sold his Main street woodshop in 1889 to Bert Klinkel and Charles Pearce. As he earned money he invested in residence houses in Waukon which he rented out, at a profit. He has bought and sold many residences and business properties in the city and now owns one business house and five residences here.

Mr. and Mrs. Haines have seen pioneer life in Iowa. Mr. Haines tells of time when he worked for 25 cents per day, dropping two rows of corn at a time from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. He says he learned his trade by hiring out to a man for his board and $50 for one year's service. At the end of the year, he further states, his employer owed him $45, the $5 balance representing the amount of his expenditures for the year. He hired to one farmer at 25 cents per day and turned his earnings over to his father. But on July 1, one year his father told him that whatever he earned between then and the Fourth he could have to spend on the great national holiday. His hopes of a great time on the Fourth ran high as he secured a job at the prevailing wage, 25 cents per day. On the eve of the Fourth he asked for the 75 cents he had coming to him, but was told settlement would be made with his father - and he never received his pay. The holiday came and along with several youths he attended a party in the evening, accompanied by his best girl. The other boys treated their girls to candy and he, too, wanted to do so. He called the grocer to one side and asked him to let him have a quarter's worth of candy and let him pay later. The grocer refused credit, advising before spending it. Mr. Haines says the lesson he learned thereby was worth all the chagrin he felt at the time.

Mr. Haines did not remain idle after selling his business, but continued to look after his property, building, painting, papering, etc., and for years he was a familiar figure in Waukon, pushing his cart of tools from place to place. A year or so ago, however, he decided to retire from such work and conserve his physical strength for the years ahead of him. On Christmas eve last year he fell on an icy sidewalk and suffered a fracture of a bone in his arm, which accident compelled him to adhere closely to his decision to retire. His arm has healed, however, and he is able to be about, doing whatever work he feels a desire to do. Mrs. Haines health is also very good.

Mr. and Mrs. Haines have two children, Arthur is a professor of chemistry in the University of South Dakota and their daughter, Mrs. John Leppert, resides at Berlin, N.D., where her husband is cashier of a bank. Mr. and Mrs. Haines also have four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Mr. Haines' brother Joseph came to Iowa with him and they moved about together from place to place and always lived in the same community until separated by Joseph's death two years ago. Mr. Haines says he has grown up with Waukon and hopes to continue to grow up with it for another half-century.

~Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Nov. 16, 1930 (included the pictures)

George William Haines died November 15, 1937 and Addie Amelia Estis Haines died December 25, 1943. They are buried in Oakland cemetery (Main), Waukon

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