Haines, John C.

Born: 1818-05-26 Deerfield, New York

Died: 1896-07-04 Lake County, Illinois

Flourished: 1835 to 1879 Chicago, Illinois

John C. Haines, merchant and public official, settled in Chicago in 1835 and worked as a merchant for eleven years. In 1846, he partnered with Jared Gage and bought the Chicago Flour Mills, which the firm operated for twelve years. Haines was elected to the Chicago City Council in 1848 and he remained on that body for six years. From 1853 until about 1859 he was one of three commissioners who served on a board that brought clean water into the city. In 1858, he was elected mayor of Chicago as a Republican and served for two one-year terms. Haines died at his country home outside of Waukegan and was survived by his wife and four children.

The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men: Illinois Volume (Chicago: American Biographical, 1876), 771-72; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 5, Chicago, Cook County, IL, 261-62; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 5, Chicago, Cook County, IL, 201; The Chicago Sunday Tribune (IL), 5 July 1896, 15:7; Gravestone, Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Chicago, IL.