ALBERT BELDING GAINES.     So closely interwoven with the history of Hot Springs is the life record of Albert Belding Gaines that the annals of the city would be indeed incomplete and unsatisfactory were there failure to make prominent reference to him, who as banker and hotel man did so much as shape the commercial and financial records of the city.  His activities were guided by the highest business standards and were the expression of notable ability, of marked enterprise, of keen sagacity and broad honor upon Hot Springs inasmuch as he was a native son of the city and his activities were here directed throughout his entire business career.  He was born on the 17th of August, 1857, and was a son of William H. and Maria (Belding) Gaines.  In the paternal line he comes of English ancestry, representatives of the name crossing the Atlantic from England to Virginia when this country was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain.  On the distaff side he was a direct descendant of William Brewster, who as one of the one hundred and twenty passengers on the Mayflower landed at Plymouth and became one of the first permanent settlers of Massachusetts and New England.
     Albert B. Gaines pursued his early education under the tutors and afterwards attended the Emory and Henry College of Virginia, while later he became a student in a commercial school in Memphis, Tennessee.  He thus had thorough preliminary training for life's practical and responsible duties and as the eyars passed his interests increased in volume and importance until he was an outstanding figure in the business and financial circles of Arkansas.  When twenty-one years of age he organized the Arkansas State Bank of Hot Springs, of which he became the cashier.  Later he purchased the city waterworks, which he reorganized and improved and placed on a paying basis.  He was constantly watchful of opportunities and neglected no chance for legitimate business advancement, his ability enabling him to improve many chances which men of more limited capacity would have failed to recognize.  In 1884 he purchased the interest of Colonel D. C. Rugg in the Arlington Hotel and from that time on his business largely centered in the ownership and management of the great hotel properties for which Hot Springs in justifiably famous.  At one time he was president of the Hot  Springs water, gas and electric companies and did much to develop and improve these great public utilities.  He had splendid powers of organization, with which he combined initiative and marked enterprise.  In his later years the development and care of the hotel properties claimed the major part of his interest and to the time of his death he was president of the Arlington and Eastman Hotels of Hot Springs and of Hotel Jefferson of St. Louis.
     In February, 1882, at Camden, Arkansas, Mr. Gaines was united in marriage to Miss Mary C. Fellows, a daughter of Daniel Fellows, a planter and merchant of Camden.  They became the parents of two sons: Daniel Fellows, who married Miss dorothea Haley and who is the president of the hotel company, making his home in Hot Springs; and Albert B., Jr., who is living at Englewood, New Jersey.
     Mr. Gaines was a member of the Episcopal church and counted it an opportunity and not an irksome duty to extend a helping hand to many a fellow traveler on life's journey.  He was also a prominent figure in club circles, belonging to the Englewood Golf Club, the Englewood Club, the Englewood Field Club and the Knickerbocker Country Club, all of Englewood, New Jersey.  His political belief was that of the democratic party, but aside from exercising his right of franchise he took no active part in politics.  He knew how to maintain an equitable balance between social interests and business affairs, never allowing the one or the other to thoroughly monopolize his time.  Nevertheless he ranked as one of the foremost of the progressive business men of Hot Springs, looking ever beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future.  He labored not only for today but for the morrow and was therefore ready to meet any emergency that might arise.  He largely set the standard for hotel service in Hot Springs and the mammoth hostelries of which he was largely owner became palatial in their appointments and one hundred per cent in their service.  As a successful business man he became known throughout the country and he stood as a splendid example of that progressive citizenship which has transformed Hot Springs from a provincial town into a great cosmopolitan city with every activity and interest known to the modern day world.
Source:  History of Arkansas, by Dallas T. Herndon, Vol. IIi, publ. by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1922 - Pg. 30

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Major William H. Gaines.

MAJOR WILLIAM HANEY GAINES.     Mr. William  Haney Gaines, who reached the notable age of ninety-seven years, was one of the honored pioneer residents of Arkansas, coming to this state six yeas before its admission into the Union.  His life history was closely associated with the development and progress of the commonwealth and for many years he was one of the honored citizens of Hot Springs.  He was born near Charleston, in Augusta county, Virginia, June 30, 1797, his parents being Abner and Elizabeth (Matthews) Gaines, bot of whom were of English descent.  There were three Gaines brothers who came from  England at an early day, one being Major Gaines' grandfather, and one of his sons was Abner, whose birth occurred Oct. 8, 1766, in Virginia.  On leaving Virginia, Abner Gaines, the father of Major Gaines, took up his abode in Kentucky, establishing his home there a few years after his marriage.  Here he taught school and carried on farming.  He lived in Woodford county and his death occurred Oct. 30, 1839.  His wife bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Mathews, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, Dec. 29, 1774, and they were married Dec. 10, 1792.  The Mathews family came from Ireland to the new world in 1739.  Severa of the male representatives of the name won distinction in connection with the Indian and enviable.  Mrs. Elizabeth (Mathews) Gaines survived her husband for a long period and died on the 30th of November, 1861.  They were parents of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters: James M., John P., William H., Mary W., R. M., Benjamin P., A. W., A. K., A. l., Elizabeth H., M. P. and Harriett B.
     Their son, William Haney Gaines, acquired a common school education, but his opportunities in that direction were quite limited, owing to the fact that he was reared on the Kentucky frontier before many schools had been established in the section in which he made his home.  He was truly a self-made man and deserved much credit for what he accomplished.  When in his early teens he began earning his living by working at the blacksmith's trade, at which he served a term of apprenticeship and was also obliged to attend school two months longer in order to learn how to keep his accounts. He continued to work at his trade in Boone county, Kentucky, for about twelve years and in addition to his blacksmithing he manufactured wagons, and carts and tools of all kinds, which he shipped to the south,  being widely known as one of the leading manufacturers of that section of the country.  He also worked on a flatboat on the Mississippi river.  He was farseeing and sagacious and his broad vision enabled him to recognize something of what the future had in store for the great state of Arkansas.  He determined to locate in this state, then a largely unsettled region, and on one of his trips down the Mississippi he landed in Chicot county during a period of high water.  He marked threes on the land beyond the high water and when the water subsided he secured the aid of a surveyor, found out to whom the land belonged, and purchased quite an acreage, which he afterward greatly increased.
Source:  History of Arkansas, by Dallas T. Herndon, Vol. IIi, publ. by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1922 - Pg. 114