My Genealogy Hound

WILLIS HAINES, one of the foremost citizens of Ohio Township, and a leading farmer of the county, was born March 7, 1828, in Carroll County, Ky. He is the second of nine children born to his parents, who were Garrett and Nancy (Chadwell) Haines, natives respectively of Kentucky and Virginia. The father was born in the same county as the son, in the year 1800, on the 13th of September. In 1847 with his family he came to Spencer County, and located on the farm now owned by John G. Haines. From 1824 to 1844 he followed flat-boating. In his business engagements he was nearly always successful, and at the date of his death, May 12, 1852, he owned considerable property and was esteemed as an upright man. The mother’s birth was in Culpepper County, Va., in 1803, and her death occurred February 24, 1863, at the homestead in this county. Willis Haines was raised with his father’s family in his native State, receiving but a limited education, although he much improved in later years by industrious study and reading. He followed farming and flat-boating with his father until he was of age. In the spring before his father’s death he bought a small farm, upon which he moved and has ever since resided. He has engaged in farming and boating on the river with good success, but since 1873 has not followed the latter occupation. He owns 215 acres of good land in the county, and has besides this given each of his married children a good start in life. Ever since the organization of the Republican party he has been identified with it, and one of the warmest advocates of its principles. During the Rebellion he held strong sympathies with the Union, and was an ardent supporter of its cause. Official honors he has never courted, but in 1878 he consented to be a candidate for County Commissioner, and at the election ran ahead of his ticket, being defeated by only forty-four votes. Mary E. Gentry became his wife January 27, 1853. She is a daughter of Allen Gentry, whose name appears elsewhere in this volume. Of their eight children these six are now living: James A., Addie (Brown), Josiah, Ella, John and Livingston. Both father and mother are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are highly respected by all who know them.