Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Jaynes, Ezra E 1835 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 6, 2007, 2:47 pm

Author: Portrait & Bios Album, 1890

EZRA E. JAYNES. The results of good management find no better illustration 
than in the life of this gentleman whose fine farm is situated on section 29, 
Manhattan Township. The estate comprises one hundred and sixty broad acres 
which are devoted to the purpose of general farming, about an equal share of 
attention being paid to grain and stock-raising. Two teams are required to 
operate the estate and they are found to be fine English draft horses. 
Holstein and Galway cattle and Poland-China swine of high grade are kept, and 
another paying part of the establishment is the poultry yard where about $300 
worth of poultry are raised every year. A fine residence with all necessary 
outbuildings, such as barns, granaries, corn cribs, etc., together with a 
beautiful orchard, add to the value of the land and make of it one of the most 
attractive places for many a mile. It is surrounded by hedge and divided into 
fields of convenient size. A view of this comfortable home will be found on 
another page. The gentleman of whom we write is a direct descendant of one of 
three brothers who came from England to America in 1617. His grandfather, 
Elijah Jaynes, was born in Franklin County, Vt., devoted his attention to 
agriculture and became the owner of several farms; he was a soldier in the War 
of 1812. Chester Jaynes, the immediate progenitor of our subject, was born in 
the same county and also became a farmer. During the Aroostook War he fought 
against the savages six months, obtaining a land warrant for his services and 
is now a pensioner of the Government. He secured land four miles east of Lake 
Champlain, but subsequently bought and now resides upon the homestead on which 
he was born. He has been engaged in sheep raising and in the dairy business, 
but now, in the ninety-first year of his age, is resting from his labors and 
enjoying merited repose, he belongs to the Baptist Church and votes with the 
Republican party. Chester Jaynes married Eliza Dee, daughter of Gen. 
Washington Dee, who won fame in the War of 1812. The old Bay State was the 
birthplace of Gen. Dee, but when he was a boy his parents removed to Vermont 
where the latter became Colonel in the Home Militia. When the Colonists a 
second time determined to fight for release from British tyranny, he raised a 
regiment and joining the army, soon became Brigadier-General. He served until 
the close of the struggle, fighting on the lake and at Plattsburg and retiring 
with the title of Major-General, while his brother, who had gone out in his 
regiment as Major, came home as a Brigadier-General. This was the War of 1812. 
Mrs. Eliza (Dee) Jaynes was born in Franklin County, Vt., and became versed in 
all the useful arts which were considered a part of a young lady's education. 
She has now reached the ripe age of eighty-eight years. She is a worthy member 
of the Baptist Church. The subject of this sketch is the third of the nine 
sons and daughters whom she has borne. In addition the family roll includes 
the names of Homer, now a resident of Kansas; William who died in the Green 
Mountain State at the age of twenty years; Halbert, of Neosha County, Kan.; 
Mrs. Charlotte Hurlbert, of Franklin County, Vt.; Sarah, who married H. G. 
Williams and is living in Iowa; Addison, whose home is in Kansas; Mrs. Helen 
Caswell, of Vermont; and Mrs. Addie House, of Joliet. Our subject was born in 
Georgia Township, Franklin County, Vt., June 25, 1835, and being reared on a 
farm early took up his share of the labors thereon. He received a good 
commonschool education under the free school system of his native State and 
also attended Georgia Academy from which he was graduated at the age of 
eighteen. He then went to Delaware County, Ohio, and engaged in teaching for a 
year, after which he came to Chicago and secured a clerkship in a store on 
Kinzie Street. Six months later he went to Galena, thence up the river to 
Hudson City and there embarked on a boat for St. Croix, Wis., where he taught 
two terms of school. The next location of young Jaynes was at New Richmond 
where he embarked in the sale of general merchandise, having his goods shipped 
to Hudson and then hauling them seventeen miles. He was a member of the Home 
Guard, being Sergeant of the company, and at the first meeting after Ft. 
Sumter had been fired upon, the whole company determined to enter the Union 
Army. On April 18, the name of Ezra E. Jaynes was placed upon the muster roll 
of Company F, First Wisconsin Infantry, and after being mustered in at Madison 
he was sent to join the Army of the Potomac. Three months were passed in 
skirmishing and other duties, when, the term of enlistment having expired, Mr. 
Jaynes was mustered out about the 1st of August and returned to Wisconsin. He 
settled up his business during the early fall and in November returned to his 
native State where on December 2d he again enlisted, becoming a member of 
Company F, Eighth Vermont Infantry. The regiment was mustered in at 
Brattleboro, assigned to Gen. Butler's Brigade and sent to New Orleans on a 
sailing vessel which landed them at Ship Island. An expedition was fitted out 
in the spring of 1862, the transports reaching the Southern metropolis and 
investing it the 22d of May. Mr. Jaynes served on police duty in the city some 
thirty days, until affairs became somewhat settled and he was then sent across 
the river to Algiers where he operated on the Opelousas railroad a year. 
During these months he took part in battles and skirmishes against "Old Dick 
Taylor" and the Texas rangers, participating at Franklin on the Atchafalaya 
River, etc. He had been mustered in as Corporal, but for two years acted as 
Sergeant. The next departure of Mr. Jaynes was toward Natchez, the march 
taking in Natchitoches and the Salt Works. He was one in the first expedition 
up the Red River and upon the return crossed to Ft. Hudson, May 22, 1863, and 
participated in the attack on the breastworks on the 27th. Still later, on 
June 14, he and his comrades crawled over trees, logs and dead bodies until 
they had reached a point within four rods of the breastworks when he was 
severely wounded in the right shoulder and side. He was leaning forward when 
one or more balls entered the shoulder at the top coming out below the arm and 
causing paralysis. He was also struck in the side by a shell, which seriously 
mutilated the flesh. Not able to stand, he fell back on two dead men, lying 
there unable to move. Toward evening the band came that way and one of them 
recognizing him, he was carried back to a sugar camp on a stretcher. There 
they were taken prisoners by the rebels, but their captors had time to parole 
but a few ere Col. Grierson effected the rescue of the others. All the surgeon 
did was to wash out the wound and remove from it a few maggots, after which 
Mr. Jaynes was hauled to the river, over fourteen miles of rough corduroy road 
in an army wagon. A steamer conveyed him to New Orleans and he was placed in 
the hospital, but the fare which he received was so limited or unpalatable 
that he nearly starved. To add to the honors of the situation his wound was 
not properly cared for and for three weeks it was a nest of insects. Mr. 
Jaynes was laid up in the hospital from the 20th of June until late in the 
fall, when he obtained a furlough and made his way as best he could to his 
home. He was scarcely able to walk even with the aid or a stick, was without 
money and nearly naked, but made his way up the Mississippi River and finally 
reached home and friends nearly dead. With better care he began to recover and 
having his furlough extended two months he gained so rapidly that he was 
enabled to report at New Orleans before its expiration. He was, however, not 
fit for campaign duty and was therefore placed in the Veteran Reserve Corps, 
One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Battalion, which did guard duty at the Mechanics 
Institute Hospital. He acted as Sergeant in the Veteran Corps until the spring 
of 1865, when he was ordered to Brattleboro, Vt., was mustered out and 
honorably discharged. He had been ill before the battle of Port Hudson and the 
doctor had told him not to go out as he was unfit for duly. He, however, felt 
that he might as well be shot as to die of disease and he had therefore joined 
his comrades with the result above related. After spending a few days in the 
enjoyment of the comforts of home and the society of his friends, Mr. Jaynes 
came West, feeling that his desire to obtain a small piece of land whereon to 
make a home would be more likely to reach fruition in a newer country than 
Vermont. He rented land in Wilmington Township, this county, for four years 
and in the fall of 1868, purchased one hundred and sixty acres of raw prairie 
upon which not a tree was to be seen, paying $40 per acre. The following 
spring he located upon it, doing the best he could to cultivate and improve 
it, but being obliged to hire most of the labor done, as he was seriously 
crippled from his wound and army exposure. He was able to do some plowing with 
a riding plow, and to do some of the grain cutting and hay raking. Prudent 
management, wise plans and frugal economy conquered the circumstances which 
seemed untoward, and Mr. Jaynes succeeded in placing his land under excellent 
improvement and making it pay so well that he is now independent in finances. 
During the past seven years his sons have done the work of the place carrying 
out his wishes fully and reaping a due reward. Mr. Jaynes is the best read man 
in the township, having ever found a recompense for his inability to enjoy 
physical recreations, in the society of the right minds, which books afford. 
He belongs to Seneca Lodge No. 40, F. & A. M. at Milton Falls, Vt. He is a 
Republican of the stanchest sort and it has been the desire of the members of 
his party that he would represent them in county conventions, but he has 
refused the appointment on account of his crippled condition. To all who love 
their country he is an object of great respect for the service which he 
rendered in her time of need, while his excellent management, high degree of 
intelligence, and personal character win him many friends and give him high 
repute over an extended territoiy. The first marriage of Mr. Jaynes occurred 
in Wilmington Township, January 17, 1866. Upon this occasion he led to the 
hymeneal altar Miss Jennie Rockwell, a native of Franklin County, Vt., with 
whom he lived happily until she was called hence in 1870. She was a daughter 
of Stephen Rockwell, an early settler in this county and the owner of a large 
property. The union was blest by the birth of two children—Stella, who died in 
1879, and Arthur, who lives in Wilmington Township with his uncle. A second 
alliance was contracted by Mr. Jaynes, March 12, 1871, at the home of the Rev. 
W. G. Renfrew in Jackson Township. The lady, who there became his wife was 
Miss Mary, daughter of Elias Klingler, who came from Pennsylvania to Will 
County in 1867. Mr. Klingler was a farmer but has now retired and makes his 
home in Manhattan. Mrs. Jaynes is a native of the Keystone State, is well 
informed, skilled in housewifely arts, and possesses the happy faculty of 
making a home in more than name. She had borne her husband live children, 
namely: Lester, Oscar, Chester, Edith and Alfred. All are at home but Oscar, 
who is attending the Normal School at Valparaiso, Ind., and in the intervals 
of study joining the home circle in their pleasures and duties.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/jaynes1342nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 12.3 Kb