| Henry was the
second son of William Haynes (1710-1780) and Elizabeth
_________, one of their eight known children. He was born in Virginia about 1745, most
probably in the rapidly growing area of Lunenburg County from which Bedford County was
formed in 1754. In the spring of 1768, at age 23, Henry Haynes, Jr. married Bersheba (Bathsheba) Hampton, the only known child of John Hampton and Mary Turner. The Hamptons and Turners were old-line settlers of Virginia. No record has been found of any other children of this Hampton/Turner marriage, so Henry must have been quite a promising young man to woo and wed the only child of this union. If there were any doubts of the fertility of this bride, they were soon erased – Bersheba would bear him eleven children in the next fifteen years. Where not known, the children's birth years are inferred from their order in Henry's will. The boys are also dated by their appearance in the tax rolls at age 21. Where death years are unknown, they are assigned by their mention in the 1816 will.
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"Henry Haynes Jr." does not imply that he was necessarily the son of a Henry Haynes. In Colonial America, "Jr." and "Sr." were often used to differentiate men of identical names. Most likely, the "Jr." was used to distinguish him from Henry Haynes (1701-1782) also in Bedford County in 1768. |
| Children with Bersheba | Life span | Spouse | |
| 1 | Elizabeth (Betsey) Haynes | (ca1769 - aft 1816) | Thomas Smith |
| 2 | Mary (Polly) Haynes | (ca1770 - bef 1816) | William Stratton |
| 11 | Hampton Haynes | (ca 1772 - aft 1830) | Mildred Ferril |
| 7 | William Haynes | (1773-1856) | Agnes Pate and Nancy Harwood |
| 8 | John Haynes | (1776 - ca 1830) | Elizabeth Scott |
| 10 | Henry Haynes | (1778-1858) | Phoebe Hatcher |
| 9 | Milliner Haynes | (1781-1856) | Nancy Pate and Sarah Frymire Richardson |
| 3 | Francis Haynes | (1781 - aft 1816) | Elizabeth Terry |
| 4 | Bersheba Haynes | (ca1781 - aft 1844) | John Whiteley |
| 5 | Mindy Haynes | (ca 1783 - aft 1816) | William Whiteley |
| 6 | Sally Haynes | (ca 1783 - aft 1816) | Warner Cobb |
Elizabeth and Mary were first, named after their two grandmothers. Then came six boys in a row. Hampton, the first son, was named for his mother’s family; then William, named for his paternal grandfather William Haynes, the father of Henry and the patriarch of this family history. John, named for Bersheba's father John Hampton followed William. Henry followed John, named for their father. The reasoning behind the next two boys’ names is a mystery -- Francis and Milliner – no known relatives had those names. One speculation is that Milliner was named for his Grandmother Elizabeth’s family; a name as yet unknown.
In November 1778, in the tenth year of her marriage to Henry Haynes, Bersheba’s parents John and Mary Hampton made their son-in-law a gift of 125 acres of
"land and plantation whereon the said Henry Haynes now lives, lying and being on the south side of Goose Creek … being part of the … land whereon the said John Hampton now lives … ",
They asked only 25 pounds as part of the contract. John Hampton was in effect passing on a gift made to him by his wife’s father, James Turner, who had given them 200 acres land in 1761. This land was adjacent to the Stratton estate.
Life was hard but good for Henry and Bersheba at this point, but disappointment and then heartbreak were soon to come. In 1780, Henry’s father William died at age 61, leaving the bulk of his estate to his son-in-law Stephen Sanders, the husband of Henry’s sister Mildred. Henry was left only a slave and a horse.
Perhaps his father recognized that Henry was doing well on his own, for by 1778, at age 33, Henry had already bought 780 acres of land, all of it next to Goose Creek, whose waterways gave him ease of transport of produce to market.
The tax rolls show that by 1783, Henry had acquired a total of 4 slaves, who helped him run their 150 acre farm with 3 horses and 18 cattle.Bersheba would not live to see any of her 11 children marry. The six boys had brought the family to eight children – three more daughters would follow in rapid succession – Bathsheba, named for her mother, then Millicent and Sally. Tragically, the last two were too much for Bersheba – her body gave out and she died sometime in late 1783 or early 1784 at only 37, leaving Henry with 11 children. All eleven of her children would marry, but Bersheba died too son to witness these happy unions.
Faced with a farm to run, and young children to raise, 39 year-old Henry quickly proposed to Bersheba’s first cousin, young Tabitha Turner, the daughter of Elijah Turner. Elijah, who acted as surety for the marriage, was the older brother of Henry’s mother-in-law, Mary (Turner) Hampton.
If she were the eldest of Elijah’s eight children, Tabitha would have been 24, past the age when her sisters and friends were married. She accepted, and married Henry in May 1784, taking on the burden of raising her cousin’s eleven children.
Henry continued building his family, for Tabitha bore him an additional five to seven children. [Young Tabitha and Rhoda are mentioned by Julia Simmons in her book, but are not in Henry's will. Rhoda is said to have died of burns as a child.]
Tragically, Henry's oldest daughter Mary "Polly" Stratton died before her 40th birthday.| Children with Tabitha | Life span | Spouse | |
| 1 | Nancy Haynes | (ca 1785) | John Cobb |
| 2 | Frances Haynes | (ca 1787) | Samuel Meade |
| 3 | Joel Haynes | (ca 1789) | Patsy Greer |
| 4 | Stephen Haynes | (ca 1790) | |
| 5 | Matilda Haynes | (ca 1792) | Edward Lozenby, William Ownby |
| 6 | Tabitha Haynes | (ca 1793) | Warner Cobb (?) |
| 7 | Rhoda Haynes | (ca 1795) |
Henry passed away in Bedford County, Virginia in 1816, the year after the British were defeated at new Orleans in the War of 1812. He lived 71 years, the same as his father William. The will of Henry Haynes, dated August 16, 1816, was probated November 25 of that year in Bedford County. It cites his wife Tabitha, eight sons, seven daughters, and six of his grandchildren by Polly (Haynes) Stratton. Tabitha lived another 30 years, dying 6 July 1846 in Bedford County.
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