Marion County
ILGenWeb

Biography - D. D. HAYNIE

For the high rank of her bench and bar Illinois has always been distinguished, and it is gratifying to note that in no section of the commonwealth has the standard been lowered in any epoch of its history. To the subject of this review, who is at the time of this writing, 1908, the popular and influential Clerk of the Circuit Court at Salem, Marion county, we may refer with propriety and satisfaction as being one of the able and representative members of the legal profession of the state. He prepared himself most carefully for the work of his exacting profession and has ever been ambitious and self-reliant, gaining success and securing his technical training through his own determination and well directed efforts. He not only stands high in his profession but is a potent factor in local politics, his advice being often relied upon in the selection of candidates for county offices and he has led such a career, one upon which not the shadow or suspicion of evil rests, that his counsel is often sought and heeded in important movements in the county, with gratifying results.

D. D. Haynie was born in Marion county, Illinois, November 22, 1848. His father was William D. Haynie, a native of Norfolk, Virginia, where he was born August 29, 1798. He came with his mother to Winchester, Tennessee, when he was ten years old, and remained there until he reached young manhood. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, having performed gallant service in the same, after which he returned to Kentucky, settling near Hopkinsville, where he married Elizabeth B. Frost, and where he lived for several years, finally in 1832 moving to Salem, Illinois, bringing three slaves with them, which they later liberated. They lived in Salem, developing the primitive conditions which they found, for many years, rearing eleven children, namely: Abner F., deceased, having died in 1850; General Isham N., who died in 1868, having been adjutant general at the time of his death, formerly colonel of the Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry;
William M., died in 1855; Rebecca was the wife of James Marshall, who moved to Texas and died there about 1857; George W., quartermaster of the Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Regiment, who died in 1891, when seventy years old; Mary and John B., both died in infancy; Elizabeth is the widow of Hon. B. B. Smith, who was one of the first and best lawyers in southern Illinois, and who died in 1884, his widow now residing at Mount Vernon, Washington; Martha J., now deceased, was the wife of Dr. Thomas Williams, of Jacksonville, Florida, dying in Philadelphia in 1906; Sarah C. is the wife of L. L. Adams, of Spokane, Washington; D. D., our subject, was the youngest of the family.

Our subject made his home with his father until he died in 1870, the subject's mother surviving until 1884. They were people of excellent qualities of mind and heart, and spared no pains in giving their children every advantage possible, and the wholesome home influence in which they were reared is reflected in the characters of the subject and the other children.

D. D. Haynie attended the common schools when a boy, making rapid progress. Being ambitious and thirsting for all the book learning possible, he entered the State Normal at Bloomington, Illinois, after a course in which he made an excellent record, he returned home and clerked, but believing that his true life path lay along the higher lines of the legal profession, he begun the study of law and was admitted to the Salem bar in 1871. His success was instantaneous and he soon built up a good practice. His unusual attributes soon attracted attention and he was appointed clerk in the Pension Agency located in Salem, which position he held with much credit for a period of six years. He then devoted some of his time to farming with gratifying results, at the same time continuing his law practice which had by this time been built up to a very large practice. He has continued with great success ever since he first began practice in 1885. During this time he has served his county and city in many official capacities. He was twice elected president of the City Board of Education, and afterward was a member of the same for two terms; during his connection with the same the educational interests of the city were greatly strengthened. He was elected Police Magistrate in 1904 and elected Circuit Clerk as a Republican and is serving in this capacity in 1908, making one of the best clerks the court has ever had. In all his political and official career, not the least dissatisfaction has arisen over the manner in which he has handled the affairs entrusted to him, and he has by this consistent record gained a host of admiring friends throughout the county.

Mr. Haynie's happy and harmonious domestic life dates from August 26, 1875, when he was united in marriage with Emma J. McMackin, the accomplished and cultured daughter of W. E. McMackin, who was lieutenant-colonel of Grant's Twenty-first Illinois Regiment, and a well known and influential man in his community.

One bright and winsome daughter was born to the subject and wife, who was given the name of May E., and who is now the wife of William W. Morrow, of Oklahoma City. The subject's wife was called to her rest January 21, 1878, and he was married the second time, this wife being in her maidenhood, Maggie Bobbitt, daughter of Joseph J. Bobbitt, who was a soldier in the Eighth Kentucky Regiment. She proved a worthy helpmeet and to this union the following interesting children were born: Edith M., now living in Spokane, Washington; Donald C., of Salem, Illinois, is clerk for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway Company. The subject's wife died in April 1890. The subject then married Rose M. Haley, the daughter of Rev. J. L. Haley, a well known Cumberland Presbyterian minister, the date of the wedding falling on July 14, 1891. No children have been born to this union which has been a most harmonious one.

Fraternally the subject has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for thirty-seven years, having occupied the chairs of the same, and he has been a member of the Masonic Fraternity since 1879, a chapter member.

The subject in his political activity had occasion to become intimately acquainted with Governor Oglesby, Gen. John A. Logan, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Governor Tanner and most of the noted men of the state.

Mr. Haynie delights to recall reminiscences of his great grandfather on his father's side, who was named Donald Campbell; who migrated from Scotland to Norfolk, Virginia, where he bought up all the land between what was then Norfolk and the wharf, which is now known as Campbell wharf. Mr. Campbell died in February, 1795. Mr. Haynie has in his possession a copy of Campbell's will executed February 2, 1795. Donald Campbell's father was Archibald Campbell, who survived his son and died in 1802. There are many descendants of the Campbell family living today in Philadelphia and Virginia.

Extracted 07 Jul 2017 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 44-47.