Jonathan Haines Home

This is the home of Illinois inventor Jonathan Haines (1808-1868), who was a younger brother of Pekin co-founder William Haines. After Jonathan's death, the home passed to Jonathan's younger brother James Haines. It is thought that this house is the only remaining structure in Pekin dating from the lifetime of Abraham Lincoln. A notable thing about this house is that originally it was situated well back from Sixth Street, about the middle of the block, but later a new basement and foundation were dug close to the street, and the entire house was moved to its present location.

Jonathan Haines and his brother Ansel Haines ran a factory located due east from this house, on the far side of James Field, the east side of Ninth Street, approximately where Benson's Maytag is located today. Jonathan Haines was the inventor of the Buckeye Mower and the Haines Harvester (also called the Illinois Harvester), and these and other patented agricultural implements were manufactured and repaired at the Haines' factory in Pekin.

In 1857, Jonathan Haines discovered that another company was illegally using Haines' patents on their own products, so he wrote to Lincoln asking for his legal assistance. Under the date of 27 March 1858, Earl Miers' "Lincoln Day by Day" (1960) says, "In Springfield, Lincoln finds among his mail a letter from Jonathan Haines of Pekin, client in repear patent litigation, and one from Alfred Hyde, convict. He writes to Haines about two law suits, one pending, another prospective. 'I really cannot find time to prepare such a suit, until the Spring Courts are over.'" Subsequently, Lincoln filed suit. Haines and Lincoln went to Chicago to bring the case to a resolution, and Lincoln won the case, putting a stop to the patent infringement.

The accompanying images show the Haines home in 1873 and 1877, as well as a portrait of Jonathan Haines.