Adding a cousin to the lineup

You can never have too many cousins.
I’ve been blessed with dozens, and I keep on discovering more.
As a kid, my cousins were plentiful. Dad was one of eight children, so family gatherings were well-populated.
My wife’s side of the family added some gems to the collection: Cousin Dick, a retired anesthesiologist in his early 90s; Tamara, a beauty who never seems to age; and Craig, a charming New Hampshire dentist with an equally charming wife.
Then a few years back, I was contacted out of the blue by some distant cousins in Kansas who were descendants of my mother’s mother’s family. About a year ago, I stumbled onto a batch of Saskatchewan cousins in the Ronald family who were big on genealogy.
And then there was last Thursday’s phone call.
It came from the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Show.
“This is Jim Haynes,” a voice said.
Jim Haynes.
I’d heard of him through the late Betty Starbuck (a second cousin) two or three years ago, but we were never able to link up during Betty’s lifetime. Now, in the wake of Betty’s death, Jim felt some urgency to make the connection. Betty had passed along my phone number last August.
Within minutes of answering the phone, I was on my way to the Jay County Fairgrounds.
A phone call won’t do when you’re talking to a cousin you never met and didn’t really know you had.
I tracked down Jim and his wife, Ellen, in row L in the flea market area north of the tractor exhibits.
Then, while he fielded questions from customers, we talked like crazy for more than an hour, trading email addresses, asking questions, and promising to keep in touch.
Jim has a small company that manufactures replacement parts for a long-defunct brand of lawn tractor. He’s very much in demand when it comes to restoration projects, and the engine show is all about restoration projects.
Turns out, Jim and Ellen have been coming to the Tri-State show for about 10 years. They live in Monson, Mass., which was the birthplace of Judge Jacob M. Haynes, the guy the elementary school is named for, who happens to be my great-grandfather.
Knowing about the Judge Haynes connection, on one of their visits to Jay County about five years back, the couple went to Green Park Cemetery in search of his gravestone. They found it. They also found the Haynes/Starbuck monuments and noted that Elizabeth Starbuck was still living at that time.
So they gave her a call and introduced themselves. Betty greeted them warmly and graciously, and the Massachusetts Hayneses started making the get-together a part of their annual trip to the engine show.
Learning of Betty’s death this spring via the Jay County Historical Society’s newsletter, Jim and Ellen decided the time had come to make another phone call. That’s when my phone rang.
So how are we related? Here’s how it looks after a bit of research: Jacob M. Haynes (the judge) was one of several siblings, one of whom was Calvin B. Haynes. Jacob traveled west to the frontier about 1840 or so, settling in Jay County. Calvin B. Haynes stayed in Massachusetts.
Jacob had several children, including Elwood Haynes and also including my grandfather, Edward M. Haynes. Calvin B., meanwhile, had a son, Lincoln Calvin Haynes, born just five days before President Lincoln’s assassination.
The next generation brought my mother to the scene as well as Walter Lincoln Haynes, descended from Calvin B. (Got all that? There may be a quiz later.)
Walter then had a son who would be the same generation that I’m in. That son, who was apparently father to the Jim Haynes at the engine show, was my third cousin.
Jim, I think, is the fourth cousin of my daughters.
Too many cousins? I don’t think so.
The visit was as much of a delight as it was a surprise.
And who knows what the next phone call will bring.[[In-content Ad]]