Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas Ephraim John Mary Roy Stella Haines Bio

BUTLER COUNTY'S EIGHTY YEARS BIOS

JOHN C. AND MARY E. HAINES

(Transcribed by Peg Luce)

All too seldom does one meet with so inspiring an example and so enthralling a story as in the family of John C. and Mary E. Haines, pioneers and leaders of Butler County.

The Haines family history tells an individual hero-tale that reflects the greater, more epic story of true American courage and industry and vision that made possible the winning of the old West and making it into a happy civilized empire for descendants of pioneers to enjoy today.

The late John C. Haines and his wife, the late Mary E. Haines, came to Butler County in 1873, a young couple confident in the future of the new western county and in their own ability to carve out a home there. Mr. Haines was born in Wetzel County, West Virginia, on march 12, 1847, one of thirteen children of a prosperous farm family. At the age of fifteen he went with his parents to Appanoose County, Iowa, where he grew up as a farmer’s son, learning the lesson of hard, intelligent work and getting its reward in knowledge and the beginnings of a career as a farmer.

He met Miss Mary E. Brown, who was born in Indiana in 1852 and who had come to Iowa as a girl and became a school teacher at Centerville, Iowa. In 1871 they were married, and immediately began planning for the wider, freer field of endeavor offered by the opening of Kansas.

They drove their belongings to Butler County in a covered wagon, filing on a claim where Rose Hill stands today. Their first crop was eaten to the roots by the now famous grasshopper plague of 1874 that devastated all Kansas but did not wreck the spirit of the true pioneer.

Mr. and Mrs. Haines took a leading part in organizing the new farm community of Rose Hill. Mrs. Haines, remembering her teaching day, was a moving spirit in founding the schools there and herself served as a teacher to the pioneer children. Farm organizations, literary societies, various groups to sponsor law, order and civic advancement – these numbered the Haineses among their founders, and the Haines claim home was often the place for meetings. They also fought inclement weather, drought and the other obstacles of pioneer life to make a living and finally to establish themselves as persons of means. They moved with their children to Augusta in 1880, where Mr. Haines entered business, first establishing a stone works, then an elevator and coal company. He also built and operated a prosperous grocery store.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Haines were devout Christians and leading members in the Baptist Church of Augusta. Mrs. Haines became known as one of the foremost women leaders of Kansas in women’s suffrage and temperance activities and in the Baptist Women’s Home Missionary Society work. As a writer and lecturer she furthered the work of this and allied organizations throughout Kansas and neighboring states. She and her husband were important and active in political activities also, following the fortunes of the Republican Party.

Mrs. Haines organized the W. C. T. U. in Augusta in 1886, and in 1888 the “Y,” a temperance group for young women. In 1890 she was the state organizer for the Women’s Suffrage Club, in 1895 district president of the W. C. T. U. and later a state vice president. For eleven years she was president of the Baptist Women’s Home Missionary Society of Kansas. She died on March 10, 1913, and on December 31, 1933, a bronze marker was dedicated in her honor by the Woman’s Kansas Day Club, as being one of the fifteen outstanding women of Kansas.

Mr. Haines died on September 6, 1928, and throughout the entire state were hundreds of warm friends in all walks of life who expressed their admiration of his career and their regret at his death.

Three children were born to the couple, all following their parents’ footsteps to attain distinction in business and civic affairs.

Miss Stella Bernice Haines, the only daughter, educator, clubwoman and legislator, was born in Rose Hill on December 3, 1876. She attended public schools at Augusta, graduated from the Augusta High School. In 1898 she was graduated from a teachers’ training school in Wichita and, in 1915, was graduated from Northwestern College at Alva, Oklahoma. She is a member of Phi Gamma Mu Sorority. From 1900 to 1907 she taught school in Wichita, Kansas, and in 1908 was elected principal of the high school at Augusta, holding that position until 1914.

From girlhood, Miss Haines has shared her mother’s enthusiasm for women’s suffrage and has been active in Republican politics for a number of years. She served in the Kansas House of Representatives for the 1928 and 1930 sessions. She was deputy state oil inspector from 1929 to 1931, the first woman in the entire United States to hold that office. In 1930 she was the Republican candidate for Congress from the Eighth District of Kansas, and served as secretary for the Republican Party Council in 1928 and 1930. At present she is active as a lecturer on public welfare and politics.

Miss Haines is a member of the Baptist Church, the League of Women Voters, the Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Order of Eastern Star, the Outlook Club, the Music Club and the P. E. O. Sisterhood. With the latter organization she has served as state president, state chairman of the welfare and trust fund board, president of the Past State Presidents’ Club. In 1933, she was state president of the Woman’s Kansas Day Club. Other activities have embraced service on the Augusta School Board 1916-1919, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the writing and publishing of a history of outstanding women of Kansas and the State Federation of Women’s Clubs She was organizer and first president of the Kansas Women’s Republican Club in 1930.

Ephriam Abram Haines, the older son of Mr. and Mrs. Haines, was born November 1, 1872, in Iowa. He rode on a pillow in the family covered wagon on their journey to Kansas in 1873. He attended public schools at Augusta and also Ottawa University at Ottawa, Kansas. He began his business career at 14, delivering papers, and also worked after school hours at an Augusta store. After completing his education he entered the clothing business as a clerk, later becoming a partner with C. A. Viets of Augusta in the Viets Clothing Company. He organized a clothing store at Alva, Oklahoma, in 1900, and a few years later bought out his partner. On June 6, 1900, he married Miss Margaret Dawson of Peabody, Kansas.

In 1910, Ephriam Haines entered the oil production business at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, continuing this work at Augusta and at Amarillo, Texas. In 1929 he took over a cattle ranch, thirty-five miles west of Alva, Oklahoma, which he now operates.

He has been actively interested in political and civic development of Oklahoma, and has served as the Republican member of the State Election Board. He is one of the outstanding business successes of his community.

The younger son, Roy A. Haines, was born September 18, 1874 at Rose Hill. Graduating from Augusta High School in 1894, he went to Georgia in true adventurer fashion to seek his fortune. He taught school in Irwin County, Georgia and worked as a bookkeeper. Returning to Augusta in 1897, he entered the employ of the George W. Brown and Son State Bank, remaining with that organization until 1917, when he resigned to enter the oil business.

On December 4, 1918, he completed the organization of the Prairie State Bank of Augusta and opened it for business. He is still the president of this bank, which ranks second in deposits in Butler County and is one of the most successful institutions of its kind in this part of the country. He is a member of the Baptist Church, all Masonic orders, the Rotary Club, the Elks and other groups. He served as master of Augusta Masons in 1907 and 1908, and has held numerous high offices in state and American bankers’ associations. He is greatly interested in politics. He was a member of the Federal Relief committee for Butler County in 1933 and is now chairman of the Butler County Farm Debt Adjustment committee. On December 16, 1903, he married Miss Sarah E. McKitrick and has four daughters, Mrs. Margaret Speck of Joplin, Mo.; Miss Helen Haines who is employed at the State House in Topeka; Miss Mary Ann Haines, an instructor in Augusta Junior High School; and Miss Stella Jean Haines, a student at University of Kansas.

In a thousand ways the Haines family has contributed to the advancement and growth of Butler County, standing out as one of the pioneer households on which the greatness of the community is founded.