Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1932-11-24

They moved to GAINESVILLE in 1907.
living there five or six years. From
there they went to northwest Iowa,
where they staid one year. On ac-
count of Mrs. Haines' health they
returned to GAINESVILLE, where Mrs.
Haines underwent an operation
They then came back to the Sea-
right farm near Cross Roads
church. Mr. Haines and HI. G. Hen
derson went into partnership, and
the Haines' moved to the Muse
farm, then later to the W. j. Shook
house where they remained several
years. In 1929 they bought the
Elvin Ellis farm south of Meigs,
: where they now reside. They are
the parents of one son, B. F., of
Meigs, and one daughter, Nellie,
wife of Minor Moore of Center
township. The son Benjamin Forest
whose two names take more than
half of the alphabet, goes by just
plain Ben He was born in Man
chester township, and continued to
! live with his parents until he had
grown to manhood. He enlisted i'll
the U. S. navy in April, 1917, serv-
ing as man of war. He enlisted
at Columbus and in four days was
aboard the ship North Dakota,
was on the Maine IL months. This
was in the fleet which was called
the second line of defense. Also
was on the Havana. His hardest
service was on the Zuderdyjk. Ben
relates that while aboard this ship,
and he wanted to write letter, he
had for six months to go out, and
spell the name as printed on the
| ship. In 1919 he made trip on
the Zuderdyjk for the Ward Steam
ship Company of which President
elect Franklin d. Roosevelt was a
/ stockholder, to Ecuador, to get a
load of cocoa beans, delivering the
beans to a company in France. He
was discharged in September, 1919;
came back to the home of his par
ents, where he helped with the
farm work, and helped to build the
concrete bridge over Meigs creek,
working for the Clftons, -contrac-
tors. He was married to Olive Mer-
win. Mr. and Mrs. Haines and the
latter's sister Miss Mary E. Mer-
win reside on the Phillips farm
across from the Meigs cemetery
which the Merwins had purchased
several years before. In his service
Ben touched the shores of II for
+, eign lands-a wonderful experience;
while he is not an orator, he can
j hold our attention as long as he
wants to talk, never Dragging or
boasting of what he did, simply tell
ing of the things he has seen, and
his experiences. Ben is great ad-
mirer of Woodrow Wilson, and l.
you don't want to get hurt, don
say anything disrespectful 'of the
man who was commander in chief
of the army and navy while Ben was
in the service. While thes have no
children, everybody else's children
like Ben, and when he gets little
older they will call him Uncle Ben,
we are sure. We are proud to be
able to call him friend and neigh
! Dor, and as the years go by and
Ben and the writer get in the old
! mems class, we hope we may be
| permitted to spend our declini1 <
! days where We may be much togeth-
/ er, that we may write as he relates
his experience in the 18 trips across
! the water. Perhaps we have told
! you before, but we feel we shouli 4
1 tell it at this time-one of his ex-
/ periences, in closing this section.
! Ben was in Dublin when he noticed
a lot of Irish folks marching in pas
rade along the street. He watched
until a good looking Irish girl came
marching along, when he stepped
from the side walk and took her by
the arm, and then Ben was part
of the parade.
(To Be Continued)