Newsletter of the Haskell Family Society, Vol 4 # 1, Page 2
The 1851 census for Cranborne/Verwood shows 12 Haskell families living in Verwood with all family members born there. The family which interests us at present is that of Daniel and Diana Haskell.
Daniel, born in Cranborne in 1791, married Diana Budden on 4 October 1814. She was born, 1793, in nearby Handley, Dorset. Listed as an agricultural labourer, Daniel eked out a living to support his growing family of nine children born between 1814 and 1837. Considering the abundance of tempting game on the surrounding Chase, it is not surprising to discover Daniel in gaol early on for poaching. Poaching was almost a way of life in Dorset, where empty purses and the needs of a hungry family could make a man desperate enough to risk the harsh penalties of the law. Cranborne Chase was notorious for pitched battles between keepers and illegal hunters. On 27 June 1848 Daniel was again in gaol, this time for robbing a garden, and one speculates sympathetically at his predicament.
Daniel and Diana survived to raise their family. He died on 1 April 1875, aged 85 years, and she on 16 February 1880, aged 86, at their home on Ringwood Road, Verwood. Both had been on parish relief after 1870. Both are buried in Verwood.