WINFIELD S. HAINES, assistant master mechanic of the "Soo" railroad line with headquarters at Gladstone, Michigan, was bom at Strong, Maine, on the 19th of May, 1848, and descended from one of the old families of the Pine Tree State. His paternal grandmother, however, was of pure Scotch blood, emigrating to America and settling in Maine, where her remaining days were passed. All the branches of the Haines family still reside in New England save the family of our subject and an uncle who located in southern Illinois.

The father of W. S. Haines was a millwright and mechanic by trade, and in 1851 he left his old home for the West, journeying with his family until he had reached Janesville, Wisconsin. He was one of the early settlers of that place and put in the machinery for one of the first sawmills built in that locality. In 1857 be removed to Onalaska, Wisconsin, and put in the machinery for three mills on the Black river. He subsequently purchased a farm twenty-six miles from Chicago on the line of the Chicago & North- western Railroad, which he owned and operated until i860, at which time he removed to Oshkosh. He there entered into a contract with the United States Government to built pontoon bridges and went to the South, being thus employed in Tennessee. His death occurred in Nashville, in March, 1863. He had married Lavina Brown, daughter of Captain E. Brown, who was a seafaring man engaged in sailing on the Atlantic in the coast trade and to southern ports. The Brown family was founded in America long before the Colonies had achieved their independence. Mrs. Haines still survives her husband. In the family were three sons,—Winfield S.; F. A., a mechanic of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Edward, a locomotive engineer residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

During the greater part of his life Mr. Haines, of this sketch, has engaged in railroading. He spent his early years under the parental roof and then entered the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company as a machinist's apprentice in 1867, being stationed at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He was under the instruction of Ben Garvin and thus remained three years. He subsequently went to Lowell, Massachusetts, to complete his trade, being first with the Lowell Machine Shop Company and later with the Locomotive Works of Taunton, Massachusetts. His last work was under O. J. Gifford on the Boston & Lowell Railroad, and on returning West in 1879 he entered the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad at Brainard. Six months afterward he joined the army of employes of the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company and was stationed at Sanborn, Iowa, where he worked in the shops for eighteen months, when he was placed upon the road as engineer, serving in that capacity for four years. On the expiration of that period he was given charge of the shops and roundhouse at Sanborn, filling that position until February. 18S6, when he became acting master mechanic during the construction of the Minneapolis & Pacific road, now the western terminal of the Soo line. In January, 1887, these two lines were brought under the same management and Mr. Haines was made general foreman of the shops at Shoreham, Minnesota, occupying that position until March of the following year, when he became engineer on a passenger train on the Soo main line.

Continuing on that run until August, 1S93. Mr. Haines was then transferred to Gladstone and made division master mechanic. This responsible position he fills in a most creditable and satisfactory manner. His training as an apprentice gave him a thorough knowledge of all mechanical appliances used in this branch of business, and his subsequent training fitted him for his present work, so that he discharges his duties in a way that reflects credit upon himself and also wins the commendation of his superiors. All his life he has been connected with railroad work and from the beginning he has steadily won promotion. With immense corporations, such as control our railway systems, promotion is not secured save through merit, and his rise is therefore the sequence of ability.

Mr. Haines was married in Running Water, South Dakota, in October, 1884, to Miss Fannie Presho, daughter of Nathaniel Presho, a fanner, who formerly lived in New York. One child graces this union,— a daughter, Julia, now eight years of age. They have a pleasant home in Gladstone and are numbered among the leading people. A matter of interest in connection with this place is that Mr. Haines, in 1887, devised a temporary hoist and unloaded the first cargo of coal at this harbor. Socially, he is a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to the lodge in Sanborn, Iowa. He is a man of fine physique, fitted by nature for leadership, and though he demands faithfulness to work, such as he has always given, he has yet great consideration for those under him; and amid a circle of friends he has a pleasant, frank and friendly manner which wins their warm regard.

Memorial Record of the Northern Peninsula 1895