Edwin R. Williams was a brother of Mary Ann Williams, who married Edwin's half-sister, Olive.
The same Edwin R. Williams is also reported to have been born in 1820 in Rockford, Illinois.
In 1860 Harvey Haskell was living in Reedsburg, Sauk, Wisconsin (US Census) and in 1863 was Clerk of the Circuit Court in Portage, Columbia, Wisconsin (Wisconsin State Register).
Date of death is February 25, 1888 according to personal notes on the Haskell family genealogy written by Betsy Ann Haskell Noyes sometime after 1895.
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Venango County Pennsylvania
Her Pioneers and People
published 1919HARVEY MADISON HASKELL (deceased), a resident of Venango county from 1864 until his death, is one of the memorable men of early fame as oil operators in this region. With a taste for the excitement and adventure that were long associated with activity in, the oil industry he combined many of the traits essentially typical of present-day business methods in all fields, particularly an appreciation of the value of scientific knowledge of his property and the capacity for large ventures which often accompanies wide vision. Mr. Haskell was one of those attracted to Pithole in 1864 and one of the group that removed thence to Pleasantville, where he became permanently established. Much of the prosperity in the latter field after the first wave of heavy yields subsided was due to his persistence in overcoming certain obstacles which had caused untimely cessation of production in many wells. His sons have followed him in the business with even greater success, made possible by modern understanding of the best means of exploiting the great natural commodity which has revolutionized conditions in all branches of industry. Mr. Haskell died in his prime, but not before he had the satisfaction of realizing many of his ambitions, and he laid a foundation upon which his four sons have built up enterprises now among the most extensive of their kind in the country.
Born Dec. 31,1831 at Tunbridge, Vt., Mr. Haskell belonged to a family of English origin settled in that State from about 1662. There he remained up to about the time he reached his majority, when he went West to Portage, Wis., at which place he soon became clerk of the court, holding that position until he left. His brother, Col. Frank Haskell, commanded a Wisconsin regiment in the Civil war until he met his death at Cold Harbor; his troops took part in the battle of Gettysburg. The discovery of oil at Pithole, Pa., drew Harvey M. Haskell hither in 1864, and he at once set about securing oil leases, sinking a number of wells, some of which yielded as much as one hundred barrels a day. His profits enabled him to extend his operations, so that he acquired several good wells in the surrounding territory. In 1868, with the decline of the Pithole operations, he located four miles north at Pleasantville, in which locality a number of productive wells had been brought in, many of the buildings from Pithole being removed to that point. The land in the vicinity was divided up into small tracts of two or three acres for leasing, some of these small plots bringing almost fabulous prices. Mr. Haskell extended his operations into the Shamburg field, two or three miles west of Pleasantville, and also had a valuable lease on the Bean farm near Pithole. He had the experience common to practically all operators in the section. A light-colored oil-bearing sand was struck at a depth of about three hundred feet, but it was so impregnated with paraffin that a coating of wax soon formed, preventing the flow of the oil, many good wells being put out of commission in this way. At first the operators tried drilling two hundred feet deeper, to the black oil sand, but these wells also often ceased to-produce within a few weeks from the same cause, the wax flowing down from the upper strata and clogging the opening effectively. It was obvious that some efficacious method of dealing with this difficulty would be very valuable, and considerable thought was given to the problem. Mr. Haskell being one of the first to suggest suitable treatment. He believed that by maintaining a thorough saturation of the well with benzine or even with the oil from the upper sand the formation of the wax could be so retarded as to mitigate its bad effects. Benzine was so employed for some years, being a cheap article in those days when there was little demand for it in the arts. Mr. Haskell had tested his ideas sufficiently to give him absolute faith in them, and he imparted his views to his sons and during his last years also published articles setting them forth, in order to interest others, feeling that the successful application of his method would greatly extend the productive period of the entire Pleasantville territory, or any other where similar conditions prevailed. He made preparations to demonstrate his plan on a large scale, buying large tracts in what became known as the Tightpinch district, where he knew all the wells were drilled through a productive amber vein saturated with oil, but like Moses he was never permitted to enter the promised land to which he led so many others. His death on Feb. 25, 1888, occurred in the midst of these negotiations, but it is noteworthy that his ideas were carried out almost to the letter and resulted in bringing into profitable activity between one thousand arid two thousand wens operating in the amber sand. His arrangements to take over a tract adjoining what he already had had gone so far that when it was purchased by V.P. Black he turned over a three-eighths interest in it at a nominal price to Mrs. Haskell and Col. Isaac Doolittle who had been a partner of Mr. Haskell in some previous operations. The yield of black sand oil there had almost ceased, but production was brought up to one hundred and fifty barrels a day of the amber sand fluid, and the property was later sold for fifty thousand dollars. In every locality where the plan was applied the productive area was much extended, no other one thing ever devised having probably such great value in retaining production at a profitable stage all over the northern part of Venango county. In one instance (after Mr. Haskell's death) a well yielding only a barrel a day of black sand oil was shot by his son and had a daily flow of fifty barrels in the amber sand, and at the end of a year was still producing ten barrels daily. A. P. Bennett was Mr. Haskell's partner in many operations, restricting oil operations to producing crude oil. For several years Mr. Haskell was cashier of the Citizens' Bank at Pleasantville.
In 1866 Mr. Haskell married Adelia M. Miles, who is connected with several old Philadelphia families, tracing her ancestry on both sides from French Huguenot stock. Her mother whose maiden name was Keene, was a descendant of one of those who bought land patents on the border of the city when it was still held by the Duke of York, and this ancestor was a vestryman of old Christ Church at the time of the erection of the present church, of which as a fine example of Colonial architecture, Philadelphians are justly proud. Mr. and Mrs. Haskell met at Portage. Wis., while she was on a visit there. During their early married life they boarded at the "Chase House" in Pithole, then a town of ten thousand population,and this famous oil region hotel was one of the buildings removed to Pleasantville at the time of the exodus previously mentioned, the family staying in it at the new location until they began housekeeping in the dwelling which Mrs. Haskell continues to occupy-her home for fifty years. Mr. and Mrs. Haskell had five children. Frank, William A ., Fred M., Annie (who died when five years old), and Harvey Harrison, William A. and Fred M. Haskell remaining with their mother at the old home in Pleasantville. Mrs. Haskell is a woman of native refinement and broad culture. In her early years she had the advantages of metropolitan life, but she found social conditions no less interesting at Pithole, whose population included many residents of the best quality, some of the keenest witted and ablest men of the country having been attracted to the district. Her personality has largely influenced the character of her sons, who have made successful efforts to realize the high ideals of civic business, social and domestic relations instilled by their charming home life.
William True Haskell was a merchant.
John M. Haskell was a farmer.
U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865
Name: Lycurgus A. Haskell
Side: Union
Regiment State/Origin: Illinois
Regiment Name: 15 Illinois Infantry
Regiment Name Expanded: 15th Regiment, Illinois Infantry
Company: E
Rank In: Corporal
Rank In Expanded: Corporal
Rank Out: Private
Rank Out Expanded: Private
Alternate Name: Lycurgus/Haskell
Film Number: M539 roll 38
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U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles
Name: Lycurgus A Haskel
Residence: Nora, Illinois
Enlistment Date: 24 May 1861
Rank at enlistment: Corporal
State Served: Illinois
Was Wounded?: Yes
Survived the War?: No
Service Record: Enlisted in Company E, Illinois 15th Infantry Regiment on 24 May 1861.
Mustered out on 09 Apr 1862.
Sources: Illinois: Roster of Officers and Enlisted Men
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Civil War Pension File
Mother cert # 77739
Died April 8, 1862 from wounds in action at Shilo August 6, 1862
His father died March 5, 1851.
Thomas O. Haskell was a farmer.
Emulus Haskell died young.