Haines, Gideon, 1809-1901

HAINES, BEAN, CROSBY

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 9/30/2012 at 18:41:30

The Grinnell (IA) Herald; Aug. 1901

GIDEON HAINES
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Death of one of Grinnell's Nonagenarians.

Grinnell people are called on this week to mourn the death of one of its very oldest citizens, a man whose name has for over thirty years in this community stood for honesty, sobriety and business integrity.

Had Mr. Gideon Haines, who died yesterday morning, lived until the 27th of next November he would have completed 92 years of active life, a large part of it spent in the active pursuits of life.

Mr. Haines was born Nov. 27, 1809, of Welsh ancestry, at Portsmouth, N.H. Until the very few years just past he has been strong and hearty, able to take frequent trips to the business city and meet his friends at their own homes. As the weight of years advanced upon him, he has been confined more at home still vigorous in mind if not so strong of body, gradually fading into death which come to him yesterday, the direct cause being from a cold contracted a couple of days before.

Mr. Haines traced his family tree from the early home of centuries ago in Wales. His grandfather of seven generations before him settled at Greenland, now a part of Portsmouth, N.H., 1635. This earliest representative of the Haines family in America took up a fine tract of land near the sea, and here some of his descendants still live.

In 1825 Gideon Haines became a resident of Levant, near Bangor, Me. He frequently spoke of his delight in 1814 when he saw a steamer sail into Portsmouth harbor, the first that ever came there, shortly after Fulton's invention. He was one of the links that unite this generation with the heroes of the revolution, having lived contemporaneously with so many of the active men of '76.

In 1830 Mr. Haines became actively indentified in Maine with the temperance movement. He was ever afterward an active prohibitionist, and aided much in creating the sentiment that made possible the enactment of the Maine law in 1851.

Originally a democrat, Mr. Haines joined the Anti-slavery party and afterwards became an active republican. He was a personal friend of Hon. Israel Washburn and Hon. Lot Morrill.

In 1838 he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza M. Bean. After enjoying together 59 years of connubial bliss this wife preceded him to the spirit land in 1897. To them six children were born, four dying in infancy. Mrs. G.H. Crosby alone survives her parents.

Mr. Haines with his wife and children came to Grinnell in 1870. Here he lived a retired life, respected and honored. A member of the Christian church in Maine he retained his membership in the church of his early manhood, but lived here a manly christian life. His birth dating as it did before 1810, his name has appeared in the federal census ten times, or at every census taken in the 19th century, a privilege accorded but few.

Mr. Haines was a strong character. His ideas of right and wrong conformed largely to the strict Puritan standard to which he was raised. His purpose was always earnest and high and he leaves to the community the record of a true and manly life.

The funeral will occur at the house at two o'clock to-morrow, conducted by Rev. G.M. Adams of Centerville.