AllenParkinson - Person Sheet
AllenParkinson - Person Sheet
Spouses
Notes for William Haskell
Little is known of William Haskell's life except that tax records suggest he was a blacksmith by trade and was a churchwarden, the principal lay officer of the parish, of the Charlton Musgrove Parish in 1627/28. According to church records, he was buried on 11 May 1630 in the church cemetery (that is now the front yard) of St. Stephen's Church in Charlton Musgrove, Somerset, England. The original grave may have been marked by a stone laid flat, but no evidence of the marker or burial site remains.
There is no certain record of William's parents and siblings other than he had a brother, Mark, who was about ten years older. Mark remained in England, married a woman whose first name was Melior, and moved from Charlton Musgrove to Penselwood, the next parish east, in 1635. Mark's niece, Cecille, who also remained in England, stayed with them in Penselwood until she married 30 July 1637. Mark was born between 1565 and 1568. Ref: (1) "Chronicles of the Haskell Family" by Ira J. Haskell, Ellis Printing Co., Lynn, MA, 1943; and (2) "Chronicles of the Haskell Family: The English Background and First Generation" by Mrs. Marion S. Anderson, published as a preliminary extract of a larger work in preparation in "Haskell Journal: The Journal of the Haskell Family Association", v8, #4, 1992.
William Haskell was from a branch of the Haskell family that lived in the northernmost part of Dorsetshire -- in Motcombe, a sub-parish of Gillingham, which had a nearby protected forest and a manor described during the reign of Elizabeth I as "...Her Majesty's Park and Forest of Gillingham". The Gillingham/Motcombe Haskell's were a separate branch who were blacksmiths. Both William , born about 1578, and his older brother Mark, born about 1568, worked as underkeepers of game at separate locations around Gillingham and were joint tenants in Motcombe, as shown in the manor surveys from 1600 to 1610. During this time they paid an extra property tax for "forges" indicating that they made their primary living at the family trade of blacksmithing.
After the death of Elizabeth I and the accession of James 1, Gillingham was deforested and laid down to pasture, becoming "...one of the richest expanses of grazing land in the west of England." The resulting economic changes apparently forced Mark and William to move elsewhere. About 1610 William moved to Charlton Musgrove, Somerset, some 30 miles from Motcombe. There he assumed a copyhold (or other type) of tenancy to which Elinor, his wife, may have had inheritance rights. Mark followed shortly after and in a 1618 deposition describes himself as '...of Charlton Musgrove, Somerset, yeoman age 50... ". The probability is that William was also a yeoman. In 1621 Mark and William paid taxes and tithes as joint tenants. In the mid-1620's both Mark and William served terms as overseers of the poor for the parish. On the overseer's accounts Mark's "signature mark" is shown as "M M" and William's mark "W W". Ref: "Richard Window, William Haskell and Subsequent Owners of a 1651 Grant of Land in the Walker Creek Valley of West Gloucester, Massachusetts" by Howard V. Williams, published in "Haskell Journal: The Journal of the Haskell Family Association", v9, #2, p 560, 1993.
Haskell surname data in court and parish records that go back to the early Sixteenth Century provide the earliest evidence of Haskell residence for key Dorsetshire manors of Fontmell Magna in 1513, Motcombe in 1520, Melbury Abbas in 1523, and Cann in 1523. At the time, Haskells were living in these parishes, but nowhere else in all England, substantiating the claim that all Haskells have a single geographic heritage. From these key manors in Dorsetshire, the Haskell family spread to other villages in Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, and then to other countries: USA in 1635, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in 1850, and South Africa in 1898. Ref: "Origins of the Haskell Family: Earliest Parish Recorded Dates of Haskell Family Residence in Towns and Counties of Great Britain", compiled by N. H. Haskell and W. A. Haskell, in "Haskell Journal: Newsletter of the Haskell Family Association, v3, #3, 1986.
There is no certain record of William's parents and siblings other than he had a brother, Mark, who was about ten years older. Mark remained in England, married a woman whose first name was Melior, and moved from Charlton Musgrove to Penselwood, the next parish east, in 1635. Mark's niece, Cecille, who also remained in England, stayed with them in Penselwood until she married 30 July 1637. Mark was born between 1565 and 1568. Ref: (1) "Chronicles of the Haskell Family" by Ira J. Haskell, Ellis Printing Co., Lynn, MA, 1943; and (2) "Chronicles of the Haskell Family: The English Background and First Generation" by Mrs. Marion S. Anderson, published as a preliminary extract of a larger work in preparation in "Haskell Journal: The Journal of the Haskell Family Association", v8, #4, 1992.
William Haskell was from a branch of the Haskell family that lived in the northernmost part of Dorsetshire -- in Motcombe, a sub-parish of Gillingham, which had a nearby protected forest and a manor described during the reign of Elizabeth I as "...Her Majesty's Park and Forest of Gillingham". The Gillingham/Motcombe Haskell's were a separate branch who were blacksmiths. Both William , born about 1578, and his older brother Mark, born about 1568, worked as underkeepers of game at separate locations around Gillingham and were joint tenants in Motcombe, as shown in the manor surveys from 1600 to 1610. During this time they paid an extra property tax for "forges" indicating that they made their primary living at the family trade of blacksmithing.
After the death of Elizabeth I and the accession of James 1, Gillingham was deforested and laid down to pasture, becoming "...one of the richest expanses of grazing land in the west of England." The resulting economic changes apparently forced Mark and William to move elsewhere. About 1610 William moved to Charlton Musgrove, Somerset, some 30 miles from Motcombe. There he assumed a copyhold (or other type) of tenancy to which Elinor, his wife, may have had inheritance rights. Mark followed shortly after and in a 1618 deposition describes himself as '...of Charlton Musgrove, Somerset, yeoman age 50... ". The probability is that William was also a yeoman. In 1621 Mark and William paid taxes and tithes as joint tenants. In the mid-1620's both Mark and William served terms as overseers of the poor for the parish. On the overseer's accounts Mark's "signature mark" is shown as "M M" and William's mark "W W". Ref: "Richard Window, William Haskell and Subsequent Owners of a 1651 Grant of Land in the Walker Creek Valley of West Gloucester, Massachusetts" by Howard V. Williams, published in "Haskell Journal: The Journal of the Haskell Family Association", v9, #2, p 560, 1993.
Haskell surname data in court and parish records that go back to the early Sixteenth Century provide the earliest evidence of Haskell residence for key Dorsetshire manors of Fontmell Magna in 1513, Motcombe in 1520, Melbury Abbas in 1523, and Cann in 1523. At the time, Haskells were living in these parishes, but nowhere else in all England, substantiating the claim that all Haskells have a single geographic heritage. From these key manors in Dorsetshire, the Haskell family spread to other villages in Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, and then to other countries: USA in 1635, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in 1850, and South Africa in 1898. Ref: "Origins of the Haskell Family: Earliest Parish Recorded Dates of Haskell Family Residence in Towns and Counties of Great Britain", compiled by N. H. Haskell and W. A. Haskell, in "Haskell Journal: Newsletter of the Haskell Family Association, v3, #3, 1986.
Notes for Elinor (Spouse 1)
Elinor/Ellin Foule's maiden is variously reported as Foule, Frowde, or Cook. (Contributors to the Haskell Journal of the Haskell Family Association prefer to use Foule (pronounced to rhyme with "goal"). Elinor's first husband, William Haskell, Sr., died in 1630. Sometime after his death, and most likely in England, Elinor married John Stone, who had two sons from a previous marriage, John Jr., and Nathaniel.
Elinor's place and date of birth are not known. Her birth date is estimated based on the date of her marriage to William and the baptismal dates of their seven children that are recorded in the Charlton Musgrove Parish Registers. (REF: "Chronicles of the Haskell Family: The English Background and First Generation" compiled by Mrs. Marion S. Anderson and published as a preliminary extract of a larger work in preparation in "The Journal of the Haskell Family Association", v8, #4, 1992.)
William and Elinor [Foule] Haskell had seven known children. The children's "birthdates" are baptismal dates. Some recent family trees on the Internet show an eighth child, John, born 1 March 1628/29 (an apparent twin of Joan) but there is no record to support this.
Probably in the spring of 1635 or 1636, John Stone, Elinor, and three of her Haskell children (Roger, age 21, William 16, and Joan 6) sailed from England (most likely from Bristol) and settled in the "Basse River" section (Cape Ann side, now Beverly) of Salem, Massachusetts. John Stone engaged in farming and fishing but also operated a ferry across the Basse River between the two settlements. It is not known with any certainty whether John Stone's sons of his earlier marriage accompanied their father to New England.
Only some of the Haskell children made the passage from England to Massachusetts with their mother and stepfather. Cecille, age 19, stayed with her uncle Mark and his wife Melior, who removed, by September 1635, to Penselwood, the next parish east of Charlton Musgrove. On 30 July 1637 Cecille married Edward Cobe of Wincanton at the Penselwood parish church. Of Dorothy, who would have been 12 years old, or of Elizabeth, who would have been 7 in 1635, no record other than their baptismal dates has been found either in England or in The New World.
The youngest son, Mark, on 26 April 1635 was apprenticed by the Overseers of the Poor for Charlton Musgrove to John Whiting, a broadweaver of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, for a period of nine years. The overseers were probably acting "in loco parentis" rather than alleviating a poverty case. There are no disbursements to any Haskell and no record that William's widow or his children ever became a burden to the parish. By custom all orphaned or fatherless children were the responsibility of the parish. At age 14 or older a child was allowed a say in the choice of a guardian (or master in an apprenticeship). Since he was less than 14 when his mother was planning to take the family to New England with John Stone, we do not know if he or his mother was allowed any say in his future or if the overseers, backed by the parish courts, arranged the apprenticeship. The clerics of the parish courts were not likely to be Puritans, or were they likely to look kindly upon emigrants. By April 26th, the date of his apprenticeship, the family may already have embarked for the New World. Sometime between the end of Mark's apprenticeship and 30 Sept 1652, when he was fined by the Salem Court for "wearing broad-lace", he had arrived in Massachusetts and settled in the Basse River section of Salem. (Ref: the above two paragraphs taken, with slight revision, from Howard V. Williams in the "Haskell Journal: Journal of the Haskell Family Society" v9, #2, pp 558-576, 1993.)
Elinor's place and date of birth are not known. Her birth date is estimated based on the date of her marriage to William and the baptismal dates of their seven children that are recorded in the Charlton Musgrove Parish Registers. (REF: "Chronicles of the Haskell Family: The English Background and First Generation" compiled by Mrs. Marion S. Anderson and published as a preliminary extract of a larger work in preparation in "The Journal of the Haskell Family Association", v8, #4, 1992.)
William and Elinor [Foule] Haskell had seven known children. The children's "birthdates" are baptismal dates. Some recent family trees on the Internet show an eighth child, John, born 1 March 1628/29 (an apparent twin of Joan) but there is no record to support this.
Probably in the spring of 1635 or 1636, John Stone, Elinor, and three of her Haskell children (Roger, age 21, William 16, and Joan 6) sailed from England (most likely from Bristol) and settled in the "Basse River" section (Cape Ann side, now Beverly) of Salem, Massachusetts. John Stone engaged in farming and fishing but also operated a ferry across the Basse River between the two settlements. It is not known with any certainty whether John Stone's sons of his earlier marriage accompanied their father to New England.
Only some of the Haskell children made the passage from England to Massachusetts with their mother and stepfather. Cecille, age 19, stayed with her uncle Mark and his wife Melior, who removed, by September 1635, to Penselwood, the next parish east of Charlton Musgrove. On 30 July 1637 Cecille married Edward Cobe of Wincanton at the Penselwood parish church. Of Dorothy, who would have been 12 years old, or of Elizabeth, who would have been 7 in 1635, no record other than their baptismal dates has been found either in England or in The New World.
The youngest son, Mark, on 26 April 1635 was apprenticed by the Overseers of the Poor for Charlton Musgrove to John Whiting, a broadweaver of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, for a period of nine years. The overseers were probably acting "in loco parentis" rather than alleviating a poverty case. There are no disbursements to any Haskell and no record that William's widow or his children ever became a burden to the parish. By custom all orphaned or fatherless children were the responsibility of the parish. At age 14 or older a child was allowed a say in the choice of a guardian (or master in an apprenticeship). Since he was less than 14 when his mother was planning to take the family to New England with John Stone, we do not know if he or his mother was allowed any say in his future or if the overseers, backed by the parish courts, arranged the apprenticeship. The clerics of the parish courts were not likely to be Puritans, or were they likely to look kindly upon emigrants. By April 26th, the date of his apprenticeship, the family may already have embarked for the New World. Sometime between the end of Mark's apprenticeship and 30 Sept 1652, when he was fined by the Salem Court for "wearing broad-lace", he had arrived in Massachusetts and settled in the Basse River section of Salem. (Ref: the above two paragraphs taken, with slight revision, from Howard V. Williams in the "Haskell Journal: Journal of the Haskell Family Society" v9, #2, pp 558-576, 1993.)