Frank Jay Haynes

Frank Jay Haynes
F. Jay Haynes, 1880
Born	(1853-10-28)October 28, 1853 Saline, Washtenaw County, Michigan
Died	March 10, 1921(1921-03-10) (aged 67) St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota
Resting place	Roselawn Cemetery, Roselawn, Minnesota 44°59′50″N 93°08′17″W / 44.9972°N 93.13817°W / 44.9972; -93.13817Coordinates: 44°59′50″N 93°08′17″W / 44.9972°N 93.13817°W / 44.9972; -93.13817
Other names	F. J. Haynes
Occupation	Photographer
Spouse(s)	Lily Verna Snyder
Children	Jack Ellis Haynes
Parent(s)	Levi H. Haynes

Frank Jay Haynes (October 28, 1853 – March 10, 1921), known as F. Jay or the Professor to almost all that knew him, was a professional photographer, publisher and entrepreneur from Minnesota who played a major role in documenting through photographs, the settlement and early history of the great Northwest. He became both the official photographer of the Northern Pacific Railway and of Yellowstone National Park as well as operating early transportation concessions in the park. His photographs were widely published in articles, journals, books and turned into stereographs and postcards in the late 19th and early 20th century.

F. Jay was born in Saline, Michigan on October 28, 1853 to Levi H. Haynes, a merchant and Caroline Oliphant. When he was a small boy, the family moved east to Detroit, Michigan. F. Jay worked in his father's store and took various other odd jobs. As a boy, he had visited the photographic studios of Mrs. Gillette in Detroit and became interested in photography. After several traveling salesman jobs, F. Jay ended up in Ripon, Wisconsin and secured a position as an apprentice in the Doctor William H. Lockwood's Temple of Photography. He worked for Lockwood for 16 months, learned the photography trade and met his future wife, a co-worker, Lily Snyder. In September, 1876 F. Jay left the Lockwood Studio to start his own photographic business in Moorhead, Minnesota with the backing of his brother-in-law, Gus Henderson.

It was in Moorhead that F. Jay began his long and prosperous relationship with the Northern Pacific Railway. A year later, F. Jay's business was booming in Moorhead and in January 1878 he married Lily Snyder in Ripon, Wisconsin and brought her to Moorhead to help with the business. They had a daughter, Bessie Loa and two sons, George and Jack Ellis. Jack Ellis Haynes (1884–1962) inherited his father's business in Yellowstone in 1916 and continued as official park photographer until his death in 1962.

The first Haynes Studio was established in Moorhead, Minnesota in December 1876. From this studio, F. Jay was able to build on his railroad business with the sales of local cabinet portraits, views and stereoviews of his railroad photographs. By early 1879, F. Jay had relocated his Moorhead studio to a much larger facility. However, in the fall of 1879, F. Jay closed his Moorhead studio and moved west across the Red River to Fargo, North Dakota.