19 Facts About Daniel Haines

Daniel Haines was an American attorney, jurist, and politician who served as the 14th Governor of New Jersey in nonconsecutive terms in office from 1843 to 1845 and 1848 to 1851.

Daniel Haines was born on January 6,1801, in New York City to Elias and Mary Haines.

Elias Daniel Haines was a well-known and successful merchant in New York City, and his father Stephen Daniel Haines had been a distinguished patriot in the American Revolution.

Daniel Haines was educated privately in New York before attending a preparatory school in Elizabethtown.

Daniel Haines graduated from The College of New Jersey in 1820.

Daniel Haines was admitted to the bar in 1823 and began his own practice in Hamburg.

Daniel Haines began his political life as a member of the Federalist Party, but supported Andrew Jackson in the 1824 presidential election, as did most of his neighbors in Sussex County.

Daniel Haines continued his private legal practice for fifteen more years before entering public office in 1838, when he was elected to represent Sussex County in the New Jersey Legislative Council by a large majority.

On October 27,1843, Daniel Haines was nominated as the Democratic candidate in a meeting of the legislative caucus, ensuring his election.

Daniel Haines called on the legislature to revise the common school law, under which local authorities avoided their delegated responsibility to visit and examine their schools and report to the state.

Daniel Haines suggested that the Council and State Assembly "inquire into the expediency of appointing a general superintendent," and the office was introduced in 1844.

Daniel Haines peremptorily declined to be nominated for Governor in the 1844 election, the first under the new Constitution he had championed.

Daniel Haines was sworn into office for a three-year term.

Daniel Haines took an interest in prison reform during his second term in office.

Daniel Haines was reappointed in 1859 by William A Newell and retired from the bench in 1866.

Daniel Haines married his first wife, Ann Maria Austin of Warwick, New York on June 28,1827.

Daniel Haines remarried to Mary Townsend of Newark on July 6,1865.

Daniel Haines was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church, President of the Sussex County Bible Society, and a member of the committee to reunify the Church after the Civil War.

Daniel Haines died at his home in Hamburg, New Jersey on January 26,1877, and was buried at North Hardyston Cemetery in Hardyston Township, New Jersey.