Ross, Haines, and King Family papers

Dates

ca. 1770 - 1973

Scope and Contents

This finding aid deals with the papers of Captain Jared Haines and Stephen Roger Haines, the first two of four Haines family generations represented in the Ross, Haines and King family papers. The two subgroups encompass the personal, business, financial and legal papers of the Captain, a successful frumer and businessman in Chester, New Jersey, and those of his son, Stephen Roger Haines, an eminent lawyer and entrepreneur in both Morris and Essex Counties. The documents in the collection which predate Captain Jared Haines' era are filed with the FAMILY MISCELLANY.

Letters received by Margaret Haines from two admirers, Alfred de Andrade ("AdA") and A.B. Dickerson ("Dickie"), comprise the majority of the material in boxes N and 0. Alfred de Andrade was affiliated and probably was an owner in the Diamond and Gold Mines and Exploration Company of British Guiana. He seems to have had many business endeavors which often took him out of town. An avid correspondence on his side from the years 1909-1911 seems to have been returned by less enthusiastic and markedly platonic responses from Margaret ("Marge"). Several letters describe details of business trips and vacations and sometimes include intriguing details of bandits raiding the establishment in British Guiana. There are also greeting cards and postcards typical for the day and two picture postcards of Alfred de Andrade.

The letters received from Alex B. Dickerson are letters addressed to "Margie" during 1918 before Margaret Haines traveled to Europe to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces Y.M.C.A. These letters are from A.B. Dickerson while he was serving with the U.S. Army's 105th Regiment, Machine Gunners Battalion, Squadron A, during World War I, at first in the United States and later in Europe. They detail day-to-day life in "the trenches." Most of the letters were subject to the wartime censor, but only a few actually had information cut out. They do contain an interesting litany of euphemisms to avoid divulging secret information and the censor's destructive hand. Dickerson discusses engagement arrangements. These letters stop around the time Margaret arrived in Europe.

The remaining letters were received by other members of the Haines family and are mostly letters written by Margaret and Florence Haines (and their mother). One group, the "steamer letters," was given to Alice B. Haines, another sister, by someone accompanying her in 1908; they are an interesting reflection of traditions associated with a lady's "grand tour." A letter from Margaret to her brother George in 1954 indicates the financial strain Florence's illness was causing.

Extent

26 boxes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

For a detailed biographical sketch as well as a partial genealogy/family tree, please see the attached file.

Arrangement

Partial Box List

Box A: Baldwin family (legal documents, etc.)

Box B: Margaret Moore Ross (spiritual diary and letters); James Ross (estate papers) [in volume with spiritual diary]

Box C: James Ross (financial documents, legal documents and estate papers)

Box D: Sarah Moore Ross (letters, commonplace book and miscellany); Unidentified (spiritual diary?)

Box E: Sarah Moore Ross (diary) - Diary entries and financial records, 1856-1860, 1862-1872, 1874-1875, 1878-1882, 1884, 1886, 1888 and 1890-1891, with excerpts for 1856-1859. Ross, a Presbyterian who never married, lived in 1857 in the household ofher brother Edwin and later with the family of her niece Julia, the spouse of Jared Haines. Ross commented on diverse subjects, including her ceaseless though ultimately hapless attempts to prevent two brothers' deaths, her standards of civility, concerns over Julia's family's religious training, and her nervous helplessness in managing her perennially tenuous income and dealing with those at its source.

Box F: Edwin and Sarah (Moore) Ross (letters and Bible record); Remaining Moore and Ross family members (letters, etc.)

Box G: [Box designation not used; no box]

FOR A DETAILED FOLDER-LEVEL INVENTORY OF BOXES H-J, PLEASE SEE ATTACHED FILE.

Box H: James and Jared Haines

Box I: Stephen Roger Haines

Box J: Stephen Roger Haines [continued], Harriet Baldwin Haines, Charles S. Haines, Job Haines, John C. Emory, Miscellany

Box K: Jared Haines (letters, financial documents, certificates, etc.)

Box L: Julia Ross Haines (letters and copybooks) - Among other documents, includes letters from her son Harry in 1916 while serving in the New Jersey National Guard and from her daughter Margaret in 1918-1919 while serving in the American Expeditionary Forces YMCA during and just after World War I.

Box M: Other Haines family members (letters, legal documents, verse)

FOR A DETAILED FOLDER-LEVEL INVENTORY OF BOXES N-O, PLEASE SEE ATTACHED FILE.

Box N: Margaret Haines. Alice Haines

Box O: Alice Haines [continued]

Box P: Younger generation Haines family (letters, writings, printed miscellany, obituaries, etc.) - Chiefly materials relating to siblings Alice, Florence, George and Geraldine Haines; includes reminiscences of 1890s Newark by Geraldine (Haines) King.

Box Q: Genealogy for all families

Box R: Camp family (genealogy, letters and press clippings)

Box S: Printed ephemera and miscellany - Among other items, includes two "VOTES FOR WOMEN" cloth sashes and some pre-20th century paper money.

Box Original #5: Bible of Capt. Jared Haines (Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1806) [covers detached] - includes a family record, as well as handwritten verse. Baldwin Bible (New York: E. Duyckinck, et. al., 1812) [poor condition] - note with volume mentions "Family Record 1763" that is apparently not present. Ross Bible (Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1801) [poor condition] - includes Ross family record.

Box Original #6: Bible of Stephen Roger Haines (Hartford: Robinson and Sumner, 1834) [worn] - contains family record in volume II. Illuminated Bible (New York: Harper & Bros., 1846) [poor condition] - no family record present.

FOR A MORE DETAILED INVENTORY OF BOXES ORIGINAL #7. #9, and #10 , PLEASE SEE ATTACHED FILE.

Box Original #7: Scrapbook (kept by Jared Haines); Family Photographs (first and second internal boxes); Miscellaneous (third internal box)

Box Original #9: Haines family and Ross family

Box Original# 10: Florence Haines, Margaret D. Haines, First Interior Box, Second Interior Box

Box King #2: Photographs (Daguerreotypes, Tintypes, Blue-toned prints, Glass negatives)

Box King #3: Photographs (Early flexible negatives, Miscellaneous flexible negatives, Early photographs of groups, Early photographs of individuals, Snapshots, Places)

Box King #4: Photographs (Places, Events, Business papers, Cost of living / Cost of travel, Wills, deeds, etc., Marriage certificate, Miscellaneous ephemera)