PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL
RECORD OF TAZEWELL AND MASON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS, 1894, p. 619:
GREEN HAINLINE. On section 15, Hittle Township, Tazewell County,
lies a fine farm of one hundred and forty acres of fertile land, one of the most pleasant
homesteads in the county. The owner, Mr.
Hainline has used great care and judgment in the cultivation of the soil and has
introduced the improvements of a first-class farm.
Our subject was born in Boone
County, Ky., March 16, 1816, and is the son of Henry and Nancy (Darnell) Hainline. His paternal grandparents were George and Hannah
Hainline, the former of whom came from Germany when a lad of sixteen years in company with
two elder brothers. They landed in South
Carolina, where the grandfather at once began working on a farm. A few months later the Revolutionary War broke out
and the man for whom he was working gave him a horse, saddle and other equipments in order
that he might join the British Army. In the
first battle in which he participated his horse was killed and he immediately joined the
Continental Army, with which he fought until the close of the seven years of war. He then returned to his former employer, who again
gave him work. He followed the trade of a
wagon-maker until his marriage, which event took place in South Carolina. Afterward he turned his attention to farm pursuits
and moved to Kentucky, where the father of our subject was born. The later years of his life were spent in Illinois
at the home of Henry Hainline, and he died at the age of about ninety years.
The father of our subject was
born in the Blue Grass State, where he received a very limited education. After his marriage with Miss Darnell he engaged in
farming there until 1827, when he came with his wife and nine children to this state,
locating in Tazewell County. At the time of
his settlement here Indians and wild animals were the principal inhabitants and there were
only five families in Hittle Township, where he purchased a quarter-section of land. Afterward he entered the Black Hawk War, and
received as pay for his services a land grant, which he used in purchasing other property
in this township. At his decease he was the
owner of a valuable estate comprising three hundred acres.
To Mr. and Mrs. Henry
Hainline were born twelve children, one of whom died when quite young, the others bear the
respective names of Polly (now deceased), Caleb, Green, Massy, George (deceased),
Sylvester, Hannah S., Lorenzo, Alvira (deceased), Amanda and Henry. The parents were active members of the Christian
Church, and in politics the father was a stanch {sic} Whig.
When they located in this
township their children had for playmates Indian boys, with whom they often ran races and
played various kinds of games. Green, of this
sketch, received his education in the common schools of Tazewell County, and began when
very young to earn his own way by working in the woods.
He was only eleven years of age when with another brother he made four
thousand rails during one winter.
Two years after attaining his
majority Mr. Hainline married Miss Esther, daughter of Solomon and Polly Allen. To them were born six children, of whom two died
when quite young. Nancy, Mrs. Valentine
Summers, is now deceased. The other children
are: Solomon A., Obed H. and Henry. Mrs.
Esther Hainline departed this life about sixteen years ago.
Our subject afterward married Mrs. Jerusha Smith, who died a few years
later, and his next wife was Miss Mary Wright. His
present wife was Mrs. Sallie Ritter, the daughter of Joseph Lancaster.
After his first marriage our
subject entered forty acres of land from the Government and immediately began its
improvement. He added to it from time to time
and now has one hundred and forty acres, besides which he has given valuable property to
his children. Many years ago Pekin and Peoria
were the trading posts of the pioneers, and Mr. Hainline once made a trip to Chicago which
consumed fourteen days. He is a member of the
Christian Church and is an active temperance man, voting the Prohibition ticket.
Submitted by Betty Doremus