Reuben Haines III

Reuben Haines III (February 8, 1786 – October 19, 1831) was a Quaker farmer, brewer, abolitionist, scientist, ornithologist, meteorologist, firefighter, philanthropist, and educational reformer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Haines was a founder and first president of the Philadelphia Hose Company, the first organization in the United States devoted to fighting fires by pumping water through a leather hose. He was a founding member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, served as the corresponding secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for 17 years (1814–1831), and made significant early contributions to the museum collection. He was the first person to import Alderney cattle (a now extinct breed closely related to Guernsey cattle) into the United States.

Haines was the proprietor of the historic Wyck House in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Caspar Wistar Haines (1762–1801) and Hannah (Marshall) Haines (1765–1828); great-grandson of Caspar Wistar (1696–1752), the glass maker; and grandson of Reuben Haines (1727–1793), the brewer and land prospector.

Sarah Minturn Haines (b. March 30, 1812) Margaret Haines Elizabeth Bowne Haines (1817–1891) John Smith Haines (1820–1850) Hannah Haines (1822–1882) Sarah Haines, who died in childbirth Robert Bowne (1827–1895) Margaret "Meta" Haines (1830–1878) Jane Reuben Haines (1832–1911), both after her father's death, master of Wyck until 1911.

Residences Haines spent a portion of his childhood at the Wyck House in Germantown, which in 1971 was designated as a National Historic Landmark. To escape the yellow fever epidemic that took the life of his grandparents and devastated Philadelphia in 1793, the Haines family relocated to their ancestral property in Germantown by 1794.

From 1814 to 1820, Haines and his young family went to Wyck for the summer seasons, and then in 1820 relocated there permanently.

Although Haines did not publish his own work, he participated in peer review with other Academy members. He was on the committee that gave a favorable review to Thomas Nuttall's description of the golden selenia (Selenia aurea) and clasping jewelflower (Streptanthus maculatus), type species of the genus Streptanthus. Prior to his involvement at the Academy, he had served as volunteer librarian at the Friends' Library in 1809–1810.

Haines was one of three Academy members who nominated John James Audubon for membership in 1824; the others were Charles Alexandre Lesueur and Isaiah Lukens, the clockmaker.

In 1829, Haines was elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin, Italy.

Herpetology / Ichthyology / Paleontology Haines discovered one of the two syntypes of the Queen snake (Regina septemvittata), on the second floor of his home (Wyck House), which was described by Say in 1825.

Haines collected the type specimen of Catostomus vittatus, an American fish described by Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1817. Lesueur wrote: "This remarkable little species was found in Wissahickon creek, near Philadelphia, by Reuben Haines". and later illustrated by Samuel G. Morton, was in Haines's collection. It was lost for more than 180 years after his death until 2017, when it was rediscovered at the Wyck House. The home of Reuben Haines III: the historic Wyck House in Germantown, Philadelphia. Photo taken in 2009.

Ornithology Haines studied ornithology under Benjamin Smith Barton and is the first known person to successfully breed Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) in captivity in Pennsylvania. Between 1818–1828, numerous influential ornithologists visited Wyck to see the geese including George Ord, Thomas Nuttall, Charles Alexandre Lesueur and John James Audubon.

Abolition and Civil Rights Haines was a supporter of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States, and the education of African American youth.

A notice published on May 14, 1819, in the Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express, reads: "A free black man named Henry Hudson was lately kidnapped at Germantown, near Philadelphia, while at work alone on the farm of Reuben Haines, Esq.—Mr. Haines has offered a reward of one hundred dollars for the detection of the persons who committed this outrage." Haines subsequently posted a letter in the Alexandria Gazette on May 21, which ran daily through the end of September 1819, and which read: "[Hudson] is a very civil, inoffensive man, with rather a down look ... Any information respecting him will be thankfully received ... The above reward [$100] will be cheerfully paid on conviction of the perpetrators of this flagrant outrage upon the rights of a freeborn citizen of the United States. [signed] Reuben Haines."

A letter dated July 1, 1831, written by James Ronaldson and addressed to Haines, reads: "I am well acquainted with the deep interest each of you takes in, not only the promoting of emancipation of the Africans, but also, your anxiety that these people should advance in intellectual knowledge and social respectability." He was one of the founding directors of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, established in 1821, now known as the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.

From 1821-1824, Haines enrolled his daughter Sarah in a school based on the educational philosophy of Johann Pestalozzi, operated by Madame Fretageot.

Death Haines died unexpectedly on the evening of October 19, 1831, evidently from an overdose of laudanum.

Haines, R. 1828. On Alderney cattle and the extraordinary properties of their milk. Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society. J. S. Skinner, Philadelphia, PA.