Francis Haines

Biography

Francis Haines was the younger brother of Napoleon J. Haines, with whom he crossed the Atlantic alone as a child, their father having preceded them to New York and arranged for a steward to look after the boys aboard ship. Francis was apprenticed together with Napoleon to the New York Piano Manufacturing Company to learn all branches of the trade, and in 1851 the brothers started their own business together under the firm name Haines Brothers, which grew from an output of two pianos a month to a substantial factory within a few years. No independent dates or further biographical detail are given for Francis beyond his partnership with Napoleon. From Spillane (1890): Francis W. Haines emigrated to the United States as a boy with his brother Napoleon J. Haines, and in 1839 the two entered the shop of the New York Piano Manufacturing Company (later A. H. Gale & Company), completing an apprenticeship covering every branch of piano making before working at the bench. In 1851 Francis joined Napoleon in founding N. J. Haines & Co. at 116 Third Avenue in New York, which grew into the successful firm Haines Brothers, noted for rapid growth from one piano every two weeks to one piano a day within three years, and for the brothers' hands-on, practical involvement in manufacturing. Haines was associated with the New York firm Haines Brothers as a piano-maker. The text records only that he died on September 18, 1887, at the age of sixty-five, described as having led 'a useful life, both as a piano-maker and private citizen.' Following his death, the firm retained its existing name, with N. Haines continuing as its head.

Highlights

• Younger brother of Napoleon J. Haines; crossed the Atlantic with him as a child and co-founded Haines Brothers in 1851.
• Brother of Napoleon J. Haines; personally overstrung many pianos while working in J. B. Dunham's shop in the 1840s
• Apprenticed at A. H. Gale & Company; later co-founded the firm of Haines Brothers
• Apprenticed in 1839, together with his brother Frank, to the New York Pianoforte Manufacturing Company
• Continued the apprenticeship under A. H. Gale after that firm's reorganization, and always associated his training with Gale's name
• Went on to a "remarkable career" in the trade; described by Spillane as recently deceased at the time of writing
• Emigrated to the US as a boy with his brother Napoleon J. Haines
• Co-founded N. J. Haines & Co. in 1851 (later Haines Brothers) with his brother
• Died September 18, 1887 at age sixty-five after a career as a piano-maker and, per the text, a 'useful life... both as a piano-maker and private citizen.'

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911).

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 204, 205, 209, 210.

Public domain.