Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Haynes, John

HAYNES, John, statesman, b. in Copford Hall, Essex, England; d. in Hartford, Conn., 1 March, 1654. He came to this country in 1633 with the Rev. Edward Hooker, and in 1634 was assistant, and in 1635 governor, of Massachusetts Bay colony. Removing to Connecticut in 1636, he became its first governor, and served every alternate year until his death. He was one of the five authors of the first constitution of Connecticut in 1638, which embodies the main points of all subsequent state constitutions and of the Federal constitution. He is described as of “large estate and larger affections; of heavenly mind and spotless life, sagacious, accurate, and dear to the people by his benevolent virtues and disinterested conduct.”—His son, Joseph, clergyman, b. in Hartford in 1638; d. there, 24 May, 1679, was graduated at Harvard in 1658, supplied the pulpit at Wethersfield. Conn., and was pastor of the 1st church in Hartford in 1664. He was ordained as a colleague of the Rev. John Whiting, who held Congregationalist doctrines, while Mr. Haynes represented the Presbyterian element. The disputes which ensued divided the Hartford church, Mr. Whiting refusing to hold communion with Mr. Haynes and his party. In February, 1670, Mr. Whiting, with thirty-one members, withdrew, and formed the 2d church of Hartford, leaving Mr. Haynes in possession.