Haines Strains

I have been researching the Haines/Hains/Haynes surname trying to figure out just where my 4th great-grandfather, Joseph Haines, Sr., fit in. At the beginning of my research, I was researching the wrong surname altogether. I spent a good six months researching the Hines surname, only to find out that my great-grandfather changed our surname from Haines to Hines. It was news to me!

The reason for the change is a mystery, as is the fact that the males were raised as Hines from birth and the girls were Haines until they married, except for the last girl, who died in childhood. There is a page of marriage records with two childrens' marriages on it, for the daughter, the surname was Haines and for the son, the surname was Hines, and the parent's names were the same as the child.

Now that I am researching the right surname, it should be a lot easier, I thought. Well, there is a Haines family from England who immigrated to New Jersey in 1682, the Quaker Haines family of Richard Haines who died during passage. Some of his family went to Pennsylvania. Then there's the Massechussets Haines family, who arrived from England before 1650. Some of this family got carried to Quebec by Indians and remained in Quebec. Then there's the Godfrey Haines family who immigrated from Germany to Westchester County, New York. There's also an Irish Haines family who immigrated to the Perry Sound, Ontario region in the 1800's. And last, but not least, Alexander Haines family who came from Nova Scotia to Ontario about 1820. No connection! Apparently, if I am to connect my family to the other Haines families, I will have to find a connection in Germany. Our family came from Germany about 1760 to the Mohawk Valley in New York and leased land from Sir William Johnston, according to the Loyalist claims for losses. All of his children were born in New York.

There is a branch of the Quaker Haines family in Ontario from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, a branch of the Godfrey Hains family, some of the French-Canadian Hains branch, the Irish Haines and my family all in Ontario in the early 1800's. What makes it worse is that the same common names, John, James, William, Benjamin, Joseph, Peter, Jacob, Mary, Margaret, Sarah were common among all of the Haines families.

I finally figured that I would narrow my search to my greatgrandfather's family, the Haines family of Elgin County, but that still wasn't specific enough, the Nova Scotia Haines' lived in Bayham Twp. and my family lived in Aldborough Twp. after leaving Welland County.