Thesis Thursday- Dr. Fletcher Haynes

My 3rd Great-Uncle DR. Andrew Fletcher Haynes



The History of West Virginia, Old and New

Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 

Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 152-153

ANDREW FLETCHER HAYNES, M. D. In the thirty years that have elapsed since he graduated in medicine Doctor Haynes employed the first twenty years as a physician and surgeon to coal companies, and since then has been established in the enjoyment of a large private practice at Huntington.

An interesting story is told of the American origin of this branch of the Haynes family. While the American Revolution was in progress five brothers from the Province of Hesse, Germany, were enlisted as mercenaries by the British Government and sent across the water to fight the American Colonists. These Hessians had no particular interest in the cause for which they were fighting, and soon, being attracted to the opposite side, they all deserted, became loyal Americans, founded homes and families, and probably a majority of the Haynes families in this country today are descended from that group of brothers. The brother who was the direct ancestor of Doctor Haynes on deserting hid himself in a stack of corn stalks in a field. The British instituted a search and looked into every shock except the one under which he was hidden.Members of the Haynes family came early into what is now West Virginia. Doctor Haynes' grandfather, Joseph Haynes, was born in Monroe County, and in 1835 moved to Meadow River, Fayette County, where he lived until his death, at the age of eighty-eight. In Fayette County he owned and operated a grist and saw mill and carding machines. He married Miss Nellie Stewart, a native of Monroe County, who died in Fayette County. Andrew J. Haynes,

father of Doctor Haynes, was born in Monroe County in December, 1829, was reared from childhood at Meadow River and became a very extensive farmer in that section.

He was a confederate soldier for eighteen months, always voted as a democrat, and was a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He died in Nicholas County, West Virginia, December 14, 1917, at the age of eighty-eight. His first wife was Martha Campbell, who was born and died in Fayette County. Their children were:

Becky N., of Fayette County, widow of Jacob Props, a farmer; Sarah Frances, of Sioux City, Iowa, where her  husband, Jacob Amick, a farmer, died; Mary Ellen, living on her farm in Greenbrier County, widow of Caperton Haynes;

Eliza, who died in Northwestern Iowa, wife of John Sydenstricker Elizabeth, wife of Andrew Dorsey, a farmer in Nicholas County; and Matilda, who died in infancy. 

The second wife of Andrew J. Haynes was Tabitha Suddarth,who was born near Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1832, and died in Nicholas County, West Virginia, in 1915. Of her children: 

Andrew Fletcher is the oldest.

Ledona, who died in Fayette County at the age of twenty-nine, was the wife of Charles Otis Haynes, an oil well driller now living in Monroe County; 

Eva, who died in Nicholas County aged

thirty, was the wife of John Odell, a farmer in that county; Willie is the wife of Will Lemon, a farmer now living at Charleston;

Laura is the wife of Grant Odell, a farmer and

merchant in Nicholas County; Alice's first husband was Herbert Odell, a farmer and merchant in Nicholas County, and she is now the wife of Robert Lanham, an insurance agent at Charleston; Robert is a blacksmith at Fayetteville, West Virginia; 

Thomas Jackson was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and died at Anstead, Fayette County, aged twenty-six; and Effie, the

youngest, died when eight years old.

In the thirty years that have elapsed since he graduated in medicine Doctor Haynes employed the first twenty years as a physician and surgeon to coal companies, and since then has been established in the enjoyment of a large private practice at Huntington. An interesting story is told of the American origin of this branch of the Haynes family. While the American Revolution was in progress five brothers from the Province of Hesse, Germany, were enlisted as mercenaries by the British Government and sent across the water to fight the American Colonists.
These Hessians had no particular interest in the cause for which they were fighting, and soon, being attracted to the opposite side, they all deserted, became loyal Americans, founded homes and families, and probably a majority of the Haynes families in this country today are descended from that group of brothers. The brother who was the direct ancestor of Doctor Haynes on deserting hid himself in a stack of corn stalks in a field. The British instituted a search and looked into every shock except the one under which he was hidden. Members of the Haynes family came early into what is now West Virginia. Doctor Haynes' grandfather, Joseph Haynes, was born in Monroe County, and in 1835 moved to Meadow River, Fayette County, where he lived until his death, at the age of eighty-eight. In Fayette County he owned and operated a grist and saw mill and carding machines. He married Miss Nellie Stewart, a native of Monroe County, who died in Fayette County. Andrew J. Haynes, father of  Doctor Haynes, was born in Monroe County in December, 1829, was reared from childhood at Meadow River and became a very extensive farmer in that section. He was a confederate soldier for eighteen months, always voted as a democrat, and was a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He died in Nicholas County, West Virginia, December 14, 1917, at the age of eighty-eight. His first wife was Martha Campbell, who was born and died in Fayette County. Their children were: Becky N., of Fayette County, widow of Jacob Props, a farmer; Sarah France, of Sioux City, Iowa, where her husband, Jacob Amick, a farmer, died; Mary Ellen, living on her farm in Greenbrier County, widow of Caperton Haynes; Eliza, who died in Northwestern Iowa, wife of John Sydenstricker; Elizabeth, wife of Andrew Dorsey, a farmer in Nicholas County; and Matilda, who died in infancy.
The second wife of Andrew J. Haynes was Tabitha Suddarth, who was born near Charlottesville, Virginia in 1832, and died in Nicholas County, West Virginia, in 1915. Of her children Andrew Fletcher is the oldest. Ledona, who died in Fayette County at the age of twenty-nine, was the wife of Charles Otis Haynes, an oil well driller now living in Monroe County; Eva, who died in Nicholas County aged thirty, was the wife of John Odell, a farmer in that county; Willie is the wife of Will Lemon, a farmer now living at Charleston; Laura is the wife of Grant Odell, a farmer and merchant in Nicholas County; Alice's first husband was Herbert Odell, a farmer and merchant in Nicholas County, and she is now the wife of Robert Lanham, an insurance agent at Charleston; Robert is a blacksmith at Fayetteville, West Virginia; Thomas Jackson was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and died at Anstead, Fayette County, aged twenty-six; and Effie, the youngest, died when eight years old.

Andrew Fletcher Haynes was born in Fayette County, September 6, 1860, attended the rural schools there, and his tasks and responsibilities were associated with his father's farm until he was twenty, going then to Northwestern Iowa. For two years he also worked around coal mines in West Virginia. Realizing the need of a better education, he attended a select school one year, and in 1888 entered the University of Louisville, where he graduated M. D. in 1891. While in active practice he has returned three times to his alma mater for post-graduate work, specializing in diagnosis, children's diseases and obstetrics. On beginning practice he became surgeon to the Royal Coal & Coke Company at Prince in Fayette County, remaining at this post of duty nine years and ten and a half months. Following that for eight years and eleven months he was surgeon to the Sun Coal & Coke Company in Fayette County. Doctor Haynes in 1911 removed to Huntington, and has since gained a fine reputation in this city for his work as a general physician and surgeon. For two years, however, 1913-15, he was located at San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of the Cabell County and State Medical Associations. Doctor Haynes is vice president and a director of the Eureka Coal Company of Prestonsburg, Kentucky. He is a democrat, member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is affiliated with Huntington Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M., Huntington Chapter No. 6, R. A. M., Huntington Commandery No. 9, K. T., and Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. In 1883, in Caroline County, Virginia, he married Miss Mollie Beasley, who was born in that county in 1860, and died there in 1887. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Beasley, were farmers in Caroline County. In September, 1891, at Louisville, Kentucky, Doctor Haynes married Miss Ella dark, a native of Kentucky and a graduate of the Louisville High School. Doctor and Mrs. Haynes have two daughters. Louise, a graduate of the art course from Marshall College in Huntington and the Huntington Business College, is bookkeeper for the Glass Tumbler Company of Huntington. The younger daughter, Ella, is a student at Marshall College.

Gloria J. Studdard

Louisville University of Medicine 

I thought it would be a neat idea to come up with a few daily prompts of my own so I thought of Thesis Thursday to honor those ancestors who were scholars.