Born in Hoosick Falls, New York, Haynes moved to Ohio with his parents, who settled in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont) in 1839. He attended the common schools. Apprenticed as a printer.

He worked at the Sandusky Clarion and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.^[2]

He served as clerk on a steamer on Lake Superior in 1848 and 1849. He engaged in mercantile pursuits at Fremont 1850–1856. Auditor of Sandusky County, Ohio from 1856 to 1860.

Enlisted in the Union Army as a private April 16, 1861, in the Eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Commissioned captain and served in western Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and in the Army of the Potomac until November 1862, when he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Tenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and served with it in the Army of the Cumberland until 1864, when he was honorably discharged.

Political career edit

He served as collector of internal revenue for the ninth district of Ohio in 1866 and 1867. He again engaged in mercantile pursuits 1866–1873. He engaged in banking 1873–1914.

He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880 and 1884.^{[citation needed]}

Haynes was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses (March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1893). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1892.

He resumed banking in Fremont, Ohio, in which he continued until his death there on December 5, 1914. He was interred in Oakwood Cemetery (Fremont, Ohio). Haynes was married to Maria H. Harmon of Fremont on February 8, 1855. They had children named Julia M., William P., and George W. Haynes.^[2]

• United States Congress. "William E. Haynes (id: H000401)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-11-11

  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress