Haynes, Lemuel

Haynes, Lemuel a Congregational minister of New England, a mulatto.. He was born at West Hartford, Conn., July 18,1753, and was educated in the family of Mr. Rose, of Granville, Mass. In 1774 he enlisted in the Continental army, and in 1775 was in the expedition against Ticonderoga. Soon after this he commenced study with the Rev. Daniel Ferrand, and on Nov. 7, 1780, his credentials as a minister were granted. Soon afterwards he received a call to take charge of the Granville church. Here he labored five years with great acceptability. In 1783 he married Miss Elizabeth Babbit, a white lady of good intellect and sincere piety. Soon after this he was ordained, and went to Farmington, Conn., and thence to Vermont, and spent thirty years as pastor of a Congregational church at Rutland, whence he removed to Manchester, where he was involved in a very singular and noted trial for murder, not as accomplice, but as a defender of the accused. In 1822 he was called to the charge of the church in Granville, N. Y., an offshoot of the former in Massachusetts. Here he remained till his death in September 1834. Mr. Haynes was characterized from early life by a swift and subtle intellect, and a restless thirst for knowledge. He read Greek and Latin with critical accuracy. His wit was proverbial and refined. In Vermont he was very successful in opposing infidelity. Many anecdotes of his shrewd and sensible wit are on record. — Sherman, New England Divines, p. 267; Sprague, Annals, 2, 176.