1884-1966
Lifelong resident of Newark. Member of the General Assembly 1949-1953. Taught at Garfield and Avon Ave Schools. Canteen worker and ambulance driver in WWI. Signal corps driver and USO Organizer in Newark in WWII. Graduate of Barringer c. 1903.
As an Assembly member, crusaded against sale of switchblade knives, famously pulling out a switchblade during an Assembly Session to prove her point. President of the National Order of Women Legislator. Member of the Essex County Welfare Board and NJ Cripped Children’s Commission .
Sister of Florence Haines, also active in the suffrage movement, although specifics haven’t been researched, she was a member of the Women’s Political Union. They were the first sisters to serve on the New Jersey Assembly.
Bibliography
Cummings, Charles. “Meet the exemplary women who enriched the city” Star Ledger Jun 6, 2002
Florence Haines, Suffrage Database
H-03, Haines, Margaret, Assemblywoman, Newark News Morgue, Newark Public Library
Rutgers University Photo: https://blogs.libraries.rutgers.edu/ballotnj/items/show/27
“Miss Haines Makes Point in Assembly” Star Ledger Mar 18, 1952
“Essex Delegation” Star Ledger Jan 11, 1950
“Miss M Haines, Was In Assembly” Asbury Park Press, Nov 27, 1966
Passport photo, Ancestry.com