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William Tilghman Haines "William Tilghman Haines, son of Judge Haines, was born in West Chester, May 8, 1833. He studied law with Hon. William Darlington and Joseph Hemphill, Esq., and was admitted to the West Chester bar, where he continued to practise until 1868, when removed to Pittsburgh and formed a partnership with Madison Stoner, Esq., a lawyer of that city. Shortly after removing to Pittsburg he assumed the editorship of the Pittsburgh Gazette, and took a leading part in the campaign of 1868. He was appointed by President Grant United States Commissioner of Customs for the District of Columbia, and held the office three years, when he returned to West Chester and resumed the practice of the law, which he continued until the time of his death, February 2, 1884. Early in the War of the Rebellion he was appointed quartermaster of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment of Infantry, but the effects of a sunstroke soon obliged him to resign. In 1860 he compiled the Township and Local Laws of the State of Pennsylvania, which is a work of great value regarding the duties of justices of the peace and other township officers. He was an expert and skillful botanist, and made a specialty of the study of the native fungi of this country, upon which he was regarded as an authority. October 3, 1860, he married Miss Mary E. Denny, duaghter of the late John L. Denny, a distinguished lawyer of West Chester, who still survives. Mr. Haines possessed much poetical ability, which, had he cultivated it, would have enabled him to have taken rank with the most illustrious poets of this country. He inherited his poetical talents from his father, and seems to have transmitted them to his daughter Mary, who, though only thirteen years old, has written a number of fine poems . . . ." [George Johnston (ed.), The Poets and Poetry of Chester County, Pennsylvania 89-90 (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1890)] Writings William T. Haines, Township and Local Laws of the State of Pennsylvania. Comp. from the acts of Assembly (West Chester, Pennsylvania: E.F. James, 1860) |
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