8 FRANCIS HAINES
October 24, 1844, was an especially joyous day in the Hallowell, Maine, household of Joseph Wingate and Mary Briggs Haines. Mary gave birth to two sons whom they named Francis (“Frank”) and Frederick (“Fred”) Haines. At the time of their births, there were already eight children between ages of 2 to 15 living in their home. The three daughters in the home, Lydia (age 15), Abigail (14), and Mary (8), were likely heavily involved in childcare of their siblings as well as performing other domestic duties. There were no servants living in the home.
When Frank was only two years old, the family moved to Letter D, Range 1, in Aroostook County (incorporated as the town of Fort Fairfield in 1858). As he grew older, he worked on his father’s farm until he could acquire his own. He acquired Section 111 on what would eventually be named the Forest Avenue Road (earlier, sometimes referred to as the “Haines Road”). According to the 1870 Agricultural Census, his property contained 410 acres which by 1870 was comprised of 200 acres of “improved” land and 210 acres of woodland. He also owned 6 horses, 9 milking cows, 2 working oxen, 18 sheep, 8 swine, and 26 “other cattle.” Frank’s father Wingate was well-regarded for introducing purebred Durham cattle, a shorthorn breed, to Aroostook County and perhaps Frank continued that breed on his farm. Frank’s 1870 farm production report reflected 100 tons of hay, 1,000 pounds of butter, 120 pounds of cheese, 100 pounds of wool, 1,400 bushels of oats, 130 bushels of wheat, 600 bushels of “Irish” potatoes (equivalent to 218 barrels or 18 tons of potatoes), 350 bushels of buckwheat, and 17 bushels of grass seed. Potatoes would become a much more prevalent part of his farming operation after starch factories and railroads were available to assist with marketing them starting after 1875. Frank eventually specialized in seed potatoes which he shipped to southern states and New Jersey. In raising potatoes, Frank made enough profits in some years that in his older years he could afford to winter in Florida.
Frank married Olive Currier in 1868. Olive was the daughter of another successful local farmer, Henry Currier. Olive’s younger sister, Mary, had married Frank’s older brother, Albert, two years earlier. Olive would bear three children: Edith (1869-1949), Theodore (1870-1887), and Bertrand (“Bert” and sometimes called “Bertie”)(1872-1941). Unfortunately, Olive suffered serious injury during Bert’s delivery and she never recovered from it. The 1880 US Census page for her household described her having “Rheumatic trouble.” That may or may not describe her health condition adequately. In any event, she was mostly bed ridden during the remainder of her life. The same census lists an Edith Ellis working as a servant in the house as well as two farm laborers boarding with the family. The house that Frank built for his family was a large and architecturally interesting one that could comfortably house the five-member family plus the three non-family residents.
In 1887, Theodore passed away. In 1897, Bert married his first of three wives, Jessica Mabel Haley (1875-1904), and they lived on a small farm about one mile north on the same Forest Avenue Road, closer to the village. By then, there was only one farm laborer boarding at Frank’s house. Although the number living at his house had declined, one servant was still working in the home. Olive passed away in 1914, leaving widower Frank and spinster Edith the sole family members living in the house. With the passing of her mother, Edith was able to give her full attention to her 70-year-old father. One of their boarders was a schoolteacher, Beulah Leslie, who taught in the Grange Hall School, a one-room schoolhouse, across the road from their home. Beulah was born in Canada and immigrated to the United States in 1919. One year later, she became a naturalized citizen, according to the 1920 US Census. Rapid immigration from Canada had helped Fort Fairfield’s population grow for decades.
Frank maintained his Quaker religious belief throughout his life. He became Master of the Grange over a period of time. The Grange Hall was directly across the road from his home. He also was a member of several fraternal bodies such as the Free and Accepted Masons and the Knights of Pythias. He died at age 88 in 1932, the last living child of Wingate and Mary Haines. Only his older brother George had lived longer (90 years). News articles written at the time of his death praised his success as a farmer and claimed he was “widely respected and esteemed in his community and state.”
Frank’s daughter Edith, often referred to by her several nephews and nieces as “Aunt Ede,” was highly regarded by those who knew her. Although she had had youthful romances, she never married. Instead, she devoted her time to full-time nursing care of first her mother, and later her father. She was considered very generous. At age 14, she was a charter member of the Fort Fairfield Grange 262 which was organized on January 11, 1883. She attended the United Parish Church and had been a member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. After her father passed away, Edith lived at various times with nephews such as Graydon Haines SR and Willard Haines of Durham, New Hampshire. She died at age 80 in 1949 in Fort Fairfield.
The only child of Frank and Olive Haines to have children of his own was Bert. He and first wife Jessica had three children: Keene Willard Haines (1898-1960), Theodore Lynwood Haines (1901-1973), and Graydon Delbert Haines (1903-1973). After Graydon’s birth, Jessica experienced poor health for a number of months. Escorted by her sister, Jessica travelled to Bangor for treatment. She was admitted to Eastern Maine General Hospital in Bangor and surgery was performed. A positive recovery was anticipated but, unfortunately, her condition worsened and she died the following day, May 10, 1904, at age 28. Frank, her father-in-law, went to Bangor to retrieve her remains.
Three years later, Bertrand married Flora Haley Austin (1882-1914), Jessica’s younger sister. Flora was a widow with one child , Gretchen Austin, from a prior marriage. Bert and Flora then had two children of their own: Willard Bertrand Haines (1908-1976) and Marion Haines (1911-2004). The family had relocated to a farm on the Grant Road. In July, 1914, Flora travelled to Bangor to visit her brother, Willard Haley. There she took ill and died unexpectedly at age 32.
Bert’s household then had six children needing some level of parental care: Keene (age 16), Ted (12), Graydon and Gretchen (11), Willard (5) and Marion (3). Not until five years later, however, did Bert marry his third wife, Florence Bessie Campbell (1893-1974) who had a daughter, Kathleen Campbell, from a prior marriage. Ted (18) and Graydon (16) still lived in the family home, but they were working as farm laborers having been withdrawn from school after only six years of education. By 1939, Bert’s farm on the Grant Road was acquired by Thomas Houghton, SR, Bert’s first cousin, once removed. In May, 1940, Bert moved to live with his son Willard in Meriden, New Hampshire. He died there in his sleep of a heart attack on March 24, 1941.
Bert had an unfavorable reputation with some of his descendants. His first two wives died quite young and some attribute their poor health and short lifespans to Bert’s poor treatment of them. Bert also pushed his sons to drop out of school prematurely and go to work at tender ages to bring money into the household. Bert’s second son, Ted, also became permanently estranged from his father as he tried to start his own farming operation. Ted needed to buy a team of work horses to start farming. He arranged for a loan to buy the horses but he needed a guarantor. Bert refused to guarantee this critical loan for his son. Thankfully, Tom E. Houghton, Sr. served as guarantor and Ted became a successful independent farmer. After that incident, Bert’s name was never spoken in Ted’s home. Also, Bert was not able to provide the nurturing environment that his children needed. They lost their biological mothers at tender ages. Having stepmothers who brought with them children from prior marriages into their homes injected fairness issues and tension within the household.
Another curiosity about Bert Haines is his relationship with his father, Frank. Typically, farmers would transfer their farms to one of their sons late in life or at death. When Frank passed away in 1932, Bert was his only surviving son but he did not become owner of Frank’s substantial farm. Perhaps it had to do with Aunt Ede needing Frank’s home for a residence. Eventually, Frank’s farm and home would be owned by his grandson, Graydon Haines, SR. The rationale for Bert not acquiring the farm may never be known.
Bert’s five children would produce many descendants.
Keene Willard Haines’ line would be the most productive in terms of producing descendants. His parents named him after his maternal grandmother’s family name, Keene. He married Myrtle McCall in November 1923. They would have seven boys in the household by 1934. Keene owned a small farm on a 0.4 mile lane off of the Houlton Road and their house was at the far end of it. They bought their groceries at the Maple Grove Store which was located near the Maple Grove station of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. The family had severe financial struggles and this contributed to Keene and Myrtle divorcing by 1939. The five older boys remained with Keene and Myrtle took their two youngest boys, Lester and Kenneth, with her. She would marry a preacher, William Morehouse, and have six more children with him. The divorce, splitting of the family and their relocations hampered family bonding. By 1950, Keene’s oldest son, Robert, was owner of the property and Keene was living above a garage on his former farm. He worked as a house painter, moved to Presque Isle, and died there in 1960.
Keene’s seven children and their descendants:
Robert Edgar Haines (1924-2011) married Norma Jean Michaud (1929-2009) and they had three children. He farmed the land he acquired from his father but he also struggled financially. Unfortunately, his small farm could not cover the cost of raising his family. By 1951, he moved his family to Connecticut to take a job with Pratt & Whitney, an aircraft engine manufacturer, and rented out his farmland to a neighboring farmer. In a few years, he sold his farm to his neighbor. All but one of Robert’s brothers eventually moved out of Fort Fairfield permanently, also. Robert’s and Norma’s children:
Larry S. Haines married Paulette Nancy Lucas and they had two children, Justin Lucas Haines and Courtney Elizabeth Haines. Larry’s birth in February 1948 had some extra drama to it. As Norma’s due date for giving birth to her first child approached, she and Robert feared being snowed in on their long, unpaved dirt road. To be ready to take Paulette to the hospital if a snowstorm arose, Robert parked his truck at the Maple Grove Store as a precaution, a distance of almost a half-mile from their house. As Norma went into labor, sure enough, their country road became impassable from a blizzard, even for walking. But the nearby railroad tracks had been cleared by a train’s snowplow shortly before so Robert carried Norma down the track to his truck and drove her to the Fort Fairfield Clinic in time for a safe delivery.
Daniel Robert Haines (1950-1957) died in a tragic accident in a sand pit in Connecticut.
Denise Louisa Haines (1957-2013) married twice and had a child by each husband, Danielle Eyberse and Rachel Graves. Danielle’s only child is Jeffrey Eldridge, Jr.
Roland L. Haines (1926-1980) married Eloise Murphy who had children by a prior marriage: Bonnie Parker and Louis Parker.
Keene Willard Haines, Jr. (1927-1968) married Eveline Kathleen McDonald and died young in Portland, Maine. During their marriage, four children were born.
Gerald Haines (1953-1998) married Alicia Kathleen Obermeit in Washington State. They had two children, Ashley and Ian.
Joanne Haines (1954-2023) married William James Bean and they had three children. Joanne married a second husband, Donald Pettingill, but no children were born to them.
William James Bean, Jr. (1973-2010) who lived in Portland, Maine.
Linda Bean married Jamie Raymond and they had three children, Ella, Nolan and Benjamin.
Michelle Bean married a LeClair and they had three children: Jason, Bayli, and Samantha.
Patricia Haines married a Brown.
James Haines
Herbert Clayton Haines (1929-2013) married Mary Elizabeth Perkins and they had three daughters.
Peggy married Michael Kelley and they had two sons.
Michael married Jennifer Archer and they have two children, Dylan and Katelyn.
Mark married Haley McCrum and they have three children: Kaiden, Treyton, and Andi.
Linda married Stephen L. Self (1949-2019) and they had a daughter, Kelsey. Linda served 22 years in the U.S. Army as a nurse, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. She earned a PhD in Nursing and was a family nurse practitioner for seven years, retiring to Arkansas with her husband.
Tammy married Patrick Garrad and they had two children, Cameron and Cassidy.
Vaughn (1931-1984) married three women and had six children. 1) Ellen Frances Haney: Vaughn E. Haines, Jr. (“Sonny”) and Dale Allen Haines, 2) Shirley Soucie: Joan, Cindy, Terry and Fred, and 3) Carol Erhardt. Vaughn was stabbed to death by his last wife, Carol Erhardt, on July 4, 1984, in Groton, Connecticut. After Vaughn’s divorce from Ellen, his mother Myrtle cared for Sonny for six months and his brother Dale until he reached legal age.
Lester (1932-2008) married Marguerite Colbath and they had six children.
Lester Vernon Haines, Jr. (1953-2002) married Darlene Nelson and they had two children, Sarah (who has children Courtney and Cassidy) and Jeff whose wife is named Jessica.
Wayne Haines
Oral Haines whose wife is named Nancy
David Haines
Rebecca Haines who married Kevin Castonguay
Colleen Haines married twice. Daughter Melissa Seagren comes from her first marriage. Afterwards, she married Jay Owens.
Kenneth Lewis Haines (1934-1999) married Nancy Ann Furness (1935-2021). They had four children:
Karen Ann had one daughter, Victoria Ward, and she had a son, Kaisley R. McMullin.
Robert Daniel had a daughter, Jessica, who had two children, Chase and Nevaeh
Stephen Gerald and wife Melissa had two sons, Corey and Colby, and four grandchildren, Tillie, Quinn, Hudson, and Nolan.
Kenneth Lewis Haines, Jr. (1957-2022, a victim of covid). Ken Jr had two children.
Kenneth Lewis Haines III (1980-2010) was born to his first wife, B. Diane Fisher. He had two daughters, Riley Nicole and Crisha Marie Haines.
Melissa Ann Marie was born to his second wife, Jo Anna Blackstone. She has a daughter, Brook Elizabeth Haines.
Theodore Lynwood Haines was the second child born to Bert and Jessica Haines. His family’s size was much smaller than his older brother Keene’s. Ted married Opha Duncan (1902-1990) in 1925. He had been working regularly since he dropped out of school in 1912. He was an “industrious farmer” who also had been manager of a cooperative’s potato house at Maple Grove. By contrast, Opha had graduated from Fort Fairfield High School in 1918, had attend Aroostook State Normal School in Presque Isle for one year and had taught school in Fort Fairfield for three years, two at the Turner (one-room) School and one at the Maple Grove School, a two-room rural school. She taught the primary grades. Their wedding ceremony took place in her parent’s home on the Houlton Road, not far from Fairmount Siding. The official conducting their ceremony was the pastor of Friends Church, Reverend O.L. Williams.
Ted and Opha had two children, Katherine Louise (“Kay”) (1926-2009) and Paul Duncan (1934-2017). Their first farm was in Easton, but they later purchased a farm on the Forest Avenue Road at the junction of the Page Road. While potatoes were his main crop, he also grew hay, oats, and peas. He also had an average of 10 milking cows plus pigs and hens. Not only did they sell their milk to a dairy, Opha made butter from the cream that they separated from the milk and sold that, too. Eggs were mostly sold to private buyers. When they butchered their livestock, it was sold to a commercial buyer, but some was held back and stored at an establishment that had mechanical refrigeration lockers for rent. In his early farming years, he used work horses for power but by the middle 1930s was using tractors and trucks. During the Great Depression, Ted and Opha struggled to pay bills. At one point, they owed back real estate taxes to the Town for multiple years. During World War II, however, they made large profits and were able to pay all bills and pay off their mortgage. By 1947, Ted could afford to contribute to a capital fund to finance the rebuilding of the Plymouth Hotel. He was a long-term member of the Grange and received a 40-year veteran’s medal from the Eastern Frontier Lodge, Masonic Lodge of Maine. In 1965, there was a good price for potatoes and he received an offer to buy his farm. The deal closed in 1966 and Ted and Opha lived their final years in a comfortable home on Brunswick Avenue.
Their daughter, Kay, was a regular tomboy. She much preferred working on the farm rather than doing domestic chores inside their home. She often drove tractor or truck in the fields. She loved farming as much as her father. She attended eight years of elementary school at the Grange Hall one-room schoolhouse which was one mile from her home. Several of her cousins were in the same schoolroom with her during these years. She graduated from Fort Fairfield High School and then earned an associate degree in secretarial science from Westbrook Junior College in Portland. Upon returning to Fort Fairfield in 1946, her father lined her up for a clerical job at Nightingale Implement Company, the Farmall tractor dealership on Main Street. She married her high school boyfriend, Charles McKenney (1926-2010), in February 1949. His great grandfather Patrick McKenney had arrived in Letter D, Range 1, before 1840, so their marriage brought together two farming families with deep connections in the community.
Charles McKenney had been farming with his father, Arthur, since 1947 and he had purchased some farmland to grow his own crops, too. In 1955, the married couple bought his paternal grandmother’s farm on the Hopkins Road and farmed there until retirement. They raised two sons, Peter and David (1951-2019), one of whom chose a professional career and the other chose to continue a farmer’s life. Peter was a CPA/tax practitioner for 17 years with KPMG Peat Marwick in Portland and afterwards was a healthcare consultant until retirement in 2010. David was a very successful potato farmer, earning numerous awards from McCains Foods for the quality of his potatoes. He sold his farms in 2006. His love for farming, however, would never end. He returned at planting and harvest seasons to work every year until his health would not allow it. In 2011, the Hopkins Road farm that had been in the McKenney family for almost 150 years, was conveyed to another farm family, the Griffith brothers (John, Stephen, and Matt). Peter and David were happy that the sale closed after their parents had passed away as the farm meant so much to all of them.
Peter married college sweetheart, Susan Foisy, in 1973. They have two children, Katherine and Colin Haines McKenney. Katherine married Dario Longhi of Milan, Italy, in 2013, and they live in London, UK. Colin lives in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. David , after a long and loving relationship with Norma Jean “Deanie” Shepard, married her in 2005 once he was no longer worried about the economic risks of farming.
Ted and Opha’s son, Paul, was also interested in farming and was an active member of the high school chapter of the Future Farmers of America and earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Maine in agronomy. Upon graduation from college in 1955, though, he felt potato farming would not provide him and his family a secure financial future without substantial business risks. After a few years of being a sales representative for an agricultural supply company, he entered the insurance business and ultimately had his own insurance agency based in Limestone. Paul was very successful with his business, which also included real estate services, but he also was extremely active in supporting his communities. He and his family had a home in Caribou where he was a highly active member of its Kiwanis Club. He was a long time member of Cary Medical Center Board of Directors and chaired it in 1984-5. In 1978, the Caribou Chamber of Commerce and Caribou Development Corporation presented him the Annual Citizenship Award and again in 1988 the Chamber bestowed on him the Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award.
In Limestone, his community spirit and support gained national attention. For years he was a member of the Limestone Rotary Club and became its chair in 1976. Then a much greater challenge to the economic strength of the region appeared with a federal initiative to close Loring Air Force Base. The Save Loring Committee was formed in 1977 to oppose the plan and Paul was elected its chair. He would work in this role for 17 years. At first, there was success when, in 1979, the threat to close the base ended. He was honored later that year at a testimonial dinner with Congresswoman Olympia Snowe in attendance. But another closure threat arose a few years later. The strongest rationale for closure was not that Loring AFB was a poor facility. In fact, it often won top honors as the best base in the Strategic Air Command. An unsolvable strategic problem was that it had become too vulnerable to swift destruction by ICBMs and worse, even quicker destruction by missiles fired from any Soviet submarine a few hundred miles away off the coast of Maine. Loring Air Force Base was officially closed as of September 30, 1994, and the committee to save it was disbanded. The former base public affairs officer who worked closely with Paul during those years, David L. Geary, PhD, praised Paul’s character and leadership and wrote that during the 15 years of extended life of the base that Paul and his committee caused resulted in “more than $2 billion for the local economy over those years.”
Paul married Barbara Bisbee in Caribou in 1955 and they raised two daughters, Debbie and Karen. Both of them followed in their mother’s footsteps as nurses. Debbie married Howard Whelden and has two children, Howie (Junior) and Erin. Howie has a daughter, Lucy, and Erin has two children, Emelia and Cameron Lauze. Karen married Peter Donovan and they have two children, Griffin and Meagan.
Graydon Delbert Haines, SR, lived on his grandfather Frank’s farm after reaching adulthood and eventually took ownership of it. He farmed until 1961 when poor health and a poor economy for potatoes lead him to move to Cortland, New York, to live near his oldest sons. Graydon married Alta Mae Hill (1905-1993) and they had six children.
Glenna Evelyn Haines (1926-1990) married Robert Reid Campbell (1925-2005) in 1949 and they had two children. After they divorced, she married Burpee Kyle (1916-1998) who adopted the two children from her first marriage and together they had a daughter.
Peggy Ann Kyle married Erwin Jackle and they have two children
Christopher Jackle married Dawn Karas and they have three children: Conrad, Charles, and Cannon.
Kimberly Jackle married Keith Nadeau and they have four children: Griffin, Cullen, Pierce, and Makenna.
Fred Kyle had a career that paralleled his family’s love of agriculture and animal husbandry but without the risks and uncertainties of farming. He began as a veterinary technician in the US Army, earned a degree at the University of Georgia, worked for it afterwards as a supervisor of its animal research facility and did the same at the University of Alabama. He moved to Cincinnati to work for the EPA and then to New York City where he worked at Columbia University. The New York Botanical Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture intrigued him and he studied there for two years. That set him up for the last chapter of his career, working as a “rooftop gardener” for New Yorkers wealthy enough to have a rooftop garden. Fred retired and lives in “the city.”
Jane Elizabeth Kyle married Thomas Jay Morenus and they have two children:
Thomas Walton Morenus married Kirby Lodovice and they have two children, Ike and Ruby.
Kyle William Morenus
Graydon Haines Jr. (1928-1985) also loved farming like his father but questioned whether there was something more opportunistic than farming in Fort Fairfield. He worked for a Connecticut company for a few years. Following in the path of his Uncle Don Hill, in 1954, he decided to move his family to upstate New York to start a potato farming operation there. He adapted his farming operations as the potato market declined further and eventually he became a farm equipment salesman. He also held local government offices and served on statewide and national agricultural bodies. During the last ten years of his life, he was very active and successful in breeding, raising, and training standardbred horses. He was married to Glenna Johnston and they had five daughters.
Terry Lynn Haines had three children.
Penny Sue Haines was given up for adoption at birth. Many attempts to learn about Penny’s life have been unsuccessful.
Randy William Foster married Michelle Lansdowne.
Daron James Foster has one child, Kaidon Foster.
Corinne Lee Haines married Thomas Leon Crandell and they had one child together, Patrick. Patrick and Morgan Crandell have two children, Avery and Joanna. Corinne earned a master’s degree in counseling and psychology and had a career in education at the middle school and college levels and is a published author on human development topics.
Stephanie married David Norman Greenfield and they had one daughter, Carla Faith Greenfield. Carla has two children, Jessica Holden and Graydon Hickey. Stephanie is retired from the U.S.P.S.
Gilda Dawn Haines was born in Fort Fairfield just a few weeks before her family made its move to a new home in New York State. Gilda has two stepchildren and is married to Mike Votra. Gilda retired from SUNY Cortland after 37 years of employment.
Millicent Haines has two children, Gregory and Jacqueline Parmiter, and three grandchildren, Ellie and Kellen Parmiter and Kovelli Stevens. Millie lives in Irvine, California.
Richard Noel Haines, Sr. (1932-1994), began farming on Forest Avenue in Fort Fairfield upon graduating from Fort Fairfield High School in 1950. In 1959, however, he followed his older brother by relocating to northern New York State where he started out in potato farming and then became a well-known dairy farmer. The family that owned the potato farm that he purchased was also originally from Maine. “Dick” was a member of the Holstein-Freisian Association, participated in research programs, and was a champion breeder in the state. He was also an active member of his church. He married Janice Anita Hoyt and they had seven children.
Richard Noel Haines, Jr. (1950-2017) continued working as a dairy farmer and ultimately found his dream job working at Cornell University’s orchards. He had four children, Jerrie Lin, Graydon, Jacob, and Richard Noel Haines III and the following grandchildren: Kenyatta, Isaac, Rylie, Graydon, Richard IV.
Constance Haines married Peter Robert Brown and they had three daughters.
Shelley Marie Brown married Joseph Jacobi and they have two children: Andrew and Grace Jacobi.
Kara Keenan Brown married Michael Harding and they have two children: Nathaniel and Madeleine.
Linsey Hoyt Brown married Chris Larson and they have three children, Haley, Elin, and Devon.
Jennifer Rae Haines worked in childcare and at the veterinary college of Cornell University. She married John Wilbur Morey and they had three daughters:
Jacalyn married Kevin Gulini and they have two children, Leah and Loren.
Deanna married Jeff Worst and they have four children, James, Noah, Abigail, and Gabriel.
Amanda married Jesse Robson and they have three children: Savanah, Brooks, and Malory.
Carleton has had children in both of his two marriages.
Janet Osbeck was his first wife and they had two children.
Jill Davis Haines married Tanner Roberts and they have two children, Owen and Lane. Lane has one child, Braylynn Quail Roberts.
Abby Lynn Haines married Chris Homer and their child is Braden Homer.
Bonnie Warren is Carleton’s second wife. Carleton adopted Bonnie’s child from a prior marriage and together they have two children of their own.
Carleton adopted Aaron Bowman Haines who has four children from two relationships. Her first child is Bryce Haines. She married Michael Wood and they have three children, Aleana, Silas, and Ryker.
Jordan Hoyt Haines married Tammy Reynolds and their child is Harper Haines.
Kelsey Beth Haines married Joe Root and they have two children, Cora and Betta Root.
Stephen Graydon Haines (1957-2018) was a third generation dairy farmer, the second in his family operating Haines Farms in Cortland, NY. He was married to Deena Elaine Dunn for 38 years. They had two children.
Justin Daryl Haines and his wife Jackie have two children, Brynn Alyza and Lyla.
Kyle Stephen Haines has continued to run the Haines Farm. He and his wife have three children, Theodore, Torrin, and Thatcher.
Samuel Graydon Haines (1959-1965) was born in Fort Fairfield with a serious heart defect which was not diagnosed until his family moved to New York State. He passed away during surgery in New York City, his body too weak to endure the procedure.
Harmony Hill Haines lives a happy life in Ithaca, New York. She suffers from Down syndrome but is often visited by her siblings.
James Irving Haines (1935-36)
Francis Sheldon Haines (1938-2011) was named after his grandfather but was always called “Sheldon.” Unlike his older brothers, he did not choose to go into farming. He attended the University of Maine, served two years in the U.S. Army, and then began civilian work as a laboratory technician in New York State. Sheldon was passionate about researching and preserving his family’s history. He produced and distributed to family members genealogical reports and photo galleries.
By his first wife, Rosemary Ann Letham, he had two children:
Lisa Marie married Shawn Michael Barber and they had two children, Brianna Mae Barber and Mitchel James Barber. Mitchel married Makiah Ramsdell and they have a child, Kallie Joe Barber.
Renee Marie Haines and Darren Kinch had a child, Brandon Michael Kinch, who has a son Blake. Renee’s first husband was Randy John Mayne and now she is married to Terry Bunn.
By his last wife, Mary May Ouellette, Sheldon had a third daughter, Shelley Haines. Shelley married Enrique Ramirez and they have two children, Paige and Gavin. Mary’s son from a prior marriage, Robert Turner, has been close with Sheldon’s family. “Bob” and his wife Tiffany have two children, Zach and Dylan. Zach and Danielle Turner have two children, Jade and Jasper.
Gary David Haines (1940-2017) also avoided any temptation to try to earn a living as a farmer. Instead, his career was in accounting, including for Potato Service, Inc., in Presque Isle and later for Ryder Truck Inc. in Scarborough, Maine. He was married to Althea McCarthy for 47 years and they had five children.
Cynthia married Martin Dwyer and they had two children.
Daniel married Danica Jenner who together had four children: Ellena, Nathaniel, Henry and Charles.
Kathryn Danielle Dwyer (born on Loring Air Force Base) has two children, Kiernan Patrick Dwyer and Kayson Michael Dwyer.
Jeffrey Sheldon married twice and had children with both wives.
Susan McCrossin and Jeff had Sarah Carol Haines.
Ann Hatton and Jeff had Michael Francis and Ryan Jeffrey Haines.
Heidi married Peter McDonald and their child is Sean.
Gary David Haines, Jr. married Karen LaPier and their child is Kelli Daniel Haines.
Hollie Lynn and David Ouellette have two children, Michaela and Nicholas.
Willard Bertrand Haines was the fourth child of Bert Haines and also the first child born to his second wife, Flora Haley Haines. He left high school after two years to work with his father on his farm on the Grant Road for several years. He married Harriett Belle Philips (1889-1964) in Concord, NH. She was a nurse at the Community “hospital” in Fort Fairfield and had served it as superintendent for the seven years prior to their marriage. She was twenty years his senior and no children resulted from their marriage. They purchased a dairy farm in New Hampshire and by 1940 Willard’s father and stepmother were living with them. After Harriett passed away in 1964, Willard married Mabel Galvin (1911-2008).
Marion Haines was the last child of Bert Haines and his only daughter. Marion was active in the Grange in her younger days and had a strong spiritual faith. She trained as a nurse and was well-regarded for her caring personality and her strong interest in the well-being of her patients as well as others in her presence. Marion married Kenneth Foster (1905-1959), a potato farmer whose grandfather, H. Lincoln Foster, owned at least 1,500 acres in the far southeast corner of Fort Fairfield where Monson Pond would form in 1925 after a dam was built on Pattee (formerly Fitzherbert) Brook. Ken and Marion would raise their two sons on a farm just north of the new dam. In 1962, Marion married William Conant and they lived in Connecticut for a number of years before returning to Fort Fairfield.
John Bertrand Foster (1929-2018) had a 35-year career with the state of Maine as a seed potato inspector, retiring as a supervisor. He was also a member of the Fort Fairfield Frontier Masonic Lodge and the Anah Temple Shrine and Shrine Band. He was married to the former Natalie Maude Rideout of Canada for 68 years. Nat worked many years as a pharmacist. Together, they raised three children:
Dan Kenneth Foster was a businessman and also served many years as the town manager of Fort Fairfield. He met his future wife, Darlene Nutter, at college in southern Maine. They had two children.
Sarah Foster is married to Michael Roy and they have two children, Alexander and Emma Roy.
Joshua Foster is married to Shannon Rawski and they have one daughter, Rhone. Joshua has a PhD in economics and is an Assistant Professor at the Ivey School of Business which is part of Western University in London, Ontario.
Beth Ann Foster (1952-2008) loved animals and studied animal medical technology at the University of Maine in Augusta and later earned a BS in nursing. She worked in hospitals in Caribou and Presque Isle. A lifetime member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fort Fairfield, she became a deacon in the church and served the five churches in the Aroostook Episcopal Cluster. She served youth and many other constituencies during her 56 years. She and husband Daniel T. Findlen had one son, Matthew Findlen, who is a Registered Pharmacist.
John Bertrand Foster, Jr., operated Foster Imaging in Hampden, Maine, and was active in the Maine Professional Photographers Association, receiving the President’s Award in 2006. He married Louise Gardner (1949-2011) and Beth Pfeiffer (1952-2020) and has a home in Southwest Harbor, Maine, and a comfortable “camp” on Monson Pond for summertime enjoyment.
Neil Foster (1932-1991) was a lifelong resident of Fort Fairfield and was a truck driver. He married Delina “Deanie” Milliard in 1952 and they raised six children.
Carol Foster (1953-2008) had two children in separate relationships.
Richard Wooten and Carol had one son, Roger, who is the father of a daughter, Damien.
Jerry Hetrick and Carol had a daughter, Virginia (“Ginny”). Ginny had a daughter, Savanah, with Andrew Miguel Cartagena and another daughter, Jerri Lynn McGuire with her husband, James Clayton McGuire.
Neal Roger Foster, Jr. (1957-2021), also had two spouses.
Neal and Patty LaPointe had a daughter, Sarah.
Tamra Greenier and “Roger” had a son, Caleb.
Sally Foster (1962-2022) copied the pattern of her two older siblings by marrying twice, as well.
Mitchell McNamee (1958-2017) and Sally had one child, Hope Elizabeth McNamee. Hope married Larry Worcester and they have two children, Laura and Brett.
John Neal Devine and Sally had two children, John Neal Devine, Jr. and Olivia Faith Devine.
Elizabeth “Bette” Foster had three husbands.
Robert Holcher
Brian Lynch of Massachusetts. They had two children.
Heather Lynch married Olan Flannery and they have two children, Wyatt and Lora Lee Flannery.
Rebecca Lynch.
William McVicar
David Foster works in construction and has married twice.
Carie Nasson and David had two children.
Kenneth Neal Foster
Jessica Lynn Foster who married John Turner. They have one child, Jackson.
Angela Waldeck
Paula Foster broke the pattern of her older siblings and has only married once. She and Domenic Whitamore have two children, Liberty and Gabriel.
Frank Haines in his 88 years of life saw incredible changes in the world and in the area where his parents settled. He built a successful farming operation, was a leader in his community, and held the respect of all who knew him. His most enduring legacy, though, is the large number of his descendants, six generations and counting, that followed him as productive citizens in many different occupations, including at least one farmer still toiling the soil.
Hopefully, as Haines descendants read this document, additional members of the Haines family will be identified and submitted to be inserted into the story. Also, corrections and suggestions will be welcome.
