Provided by Harve S. Haskell
Monroe G. Haskell was born on 20 February 1840 in New York to Thomas and Huldah Orcutt Haskell. He traveled to Clayton County Iowa with his family. He married Elizabeth J. Radcliff in Clayton County on 15 October, 1859. In 1860, when he was 19, his father, Thomas, sold him 80 acres of the family homestead. Three years later Monroe sold 20 acres back to his father. By 1873 Monroe and his wife and children are in Cass County Iowa. On 18 October, 1873 he purchased 80 acres of land for $1600. On 26, March 1875 he purchased another 80 acres from the same people for $769.53. By 1878 a mortgage company called the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company apparently purchased all the mortgages of Monroe and five other defendants to cause the whole east half of section 20 in Township 76 North of Range36 West, comprising approximately 320 acres, to be sold to Hartford, et al and the six owners including Monroe G Haskell were paid a total of $7,659.53 for their lands.From the beginning of the marriage of Monroe and Elizabeth through 1874 family records indicate that they had seven children. It has been historically corroborated that a Diphtheria Epidemic swept through that area of Iowa in 1874 and 1876. Of these seven children, three survived to make the trip by wagon train to Oregon. Four of the daughters born to the couple died of Diphtheria. Three of the girls died within two weeks of each other. Oscar Haskell once saw a copy of the grave plots that Monroe and Elizabeth bought. According to Cemetery officials in Atlantic, Monroe purchased five burial plots in 1874. Each of these plots contains a deceased Haskell family member, but no other records document the names of these persons and the graves are unmarked. I would assume that these deceased Haskells are the girls that died in that year.
In 1882, Monroe, his wife Elizabeth and their surviving children Charles Albert Haskell, Oscar Monroe Haskell, and Kate Gertrude Haskell set out on a Wagon Train and headed for Oregon.
A man named Henry Griffin discovered Gold in the Powder River Valley of the Blue Mountains circa 1861.The area was named Griffins Gulch. The town of Auburn sprang up overnight in 1862, at one time boasting a population of over 5000. Between the town of Auburn and Baker City was a small valley, called Blue Canyon, between some low rolling hills.
This is where Monroe G. Haskell chose to homestead. Monroes homestead was between Auburn and Baker City. He homesteaded his 160 acres and was granted water rights by 1885 from the Auburn Canal Company set up in circa 1862. The earthen irrigation dam that Monroe and son Charles Albert built with shovels and pick axes still stands on the property and is noted on survey maps as Haskell Lake. The dam was created on the west side of the property up near an irrigation ditch and was fed constantly to keep water to the cattle. The dam is an awesome site to behold when you realize it was built without benefit of machinery and only by the blood, sweat and physical backbreaking labor of men. Monroe employed some Chinese men from Auburn to assist in the construction of the dam. It made sense that the people of Auburn, Baker City and Sumpter needed Beef and fresh produce, and Monroes homestead was right in the middle. He obtained water rights in June 1885 on 65 of his 160 acres. Oscar Haskell has told relatives that he and Monroe sold beef and vegetables to the towns of Auburn, Baker City and Sumpter.
Walter Scott, an early pioneer, documents much of this in his book Pan Bread N Jerky. In his book he recounts: I remember when the Haskells homesteaded this place. There was an old road running through it over the hill to Baker .There was no water on the place, and the land was covered with sage. The Haskells, father and son, worked hard for months building a reservoir on the ranch with primitive tools. Then they tapped the Auburn ditch, paying the ditch company five dollars a day for water to fill the reservoir and irrigate through the season.
They seeded the land to alfalfa, and it soon became one of the nicest ranches in the country. When the mines folded up and no longer used the water, Haskell bought the ditch and water right. They had by this time accumulated around two hundred fifty head of white-faced cattle. Oscar was badly crippled by arthritis. In later years, after the elder Haskell (Monroe) had passed away, Oscar sold the ranch together with the cattle.
Monroe and his wife Elizabeth continued to ranch and farm the homestead and were granted their patent to the land in 1899. There are also land deeds for Charles Albert and Monroe during that same period. Elizabeth developed cancer and passed away 28 January, 1899. During her life she had taught school and music both in Iowa and later near Auburn, Oregon. Elizabeth Radcliff Haskell passed away at the ranch. The younger children, Oscar and Kate were raised on the ranch and stayed there helping their father. Monroe finally passed away at the ranch on 9 January, 1926.
Provided by Harve S. Haskell
Oscar was a fine horseman and loved to ride horses. He worked the ranch almost single handedly for over 70 years. A story is told within the family that at one time as he was out working in the fields that some ladies of the evening were passing by and offered their wares to Oscar. Oscar never even looked up from his work as he replied Havent got time, Ive got work to do. Oscar served on the Baker City School Board and also was a board member of the Farmers Credit Bank, which loaned money to Farmers and Ranchers in the valley. A letter to friends dated 17 December, 1954 told them that he had finally sold the ranch because his arthritis was unbearable. He said that in 70 years on the ranch he had never been away from it 3 months. He went on to state that surprisingly he did not miss the ranch a day.Between Monroe and Oscar through purchases of lands around them they built up the Ranch to over 1270 acres by 1953, and that does not include leases they had through the Bureau of Land Management for grazing. He bought a small house in Baker and finally retired at 82 years of age. Oscar Monroe Haskell passed away on 2 October, 1959 in Baker, Oregon.
Provided by Harve S. Haskell
According to Oscar, his sister was in poor mental health after a traumatic accident during her puberty. She fell into scalding water while doing laundry outside and from then on had periods of sanity but also periods where she would hear bells, and shoot chickens with rifles or shotguns. Her father and brother were so concerned that they kept all knives hidden. Kate never left the ranch and passed away 24 February 1951.
7741. Dr. Charles Christopher Haskell
Charles Christopher Haskell was a dentist.
Sylvester Haskell was a jeweler. At age 53 he is listed as a farmer in the 1880 Federal Census for Wapsinonoc, Muscatine county, Iowa.
U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865
Name: Lucius M Harris
Residence: Wilmington, Vermont
Class: 2
Congressional District:2nd
Age on 1 July 1863: 39
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1824
Race: White
Place of Birth: Vermont
U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865
Name: Orson Swift
Residence: Wilmington, Vermont
Class: 1
Congressional District: 2nd
Age on 1 July 1863: 32
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1831
Race: White
Marital Status: Married
Place of Birth: Vermont