Newsletter of the Haskell Family Society
Vol 5 No 3 September 1996' ... DORSET (to wit) THE EXAMINATION of James Haskell now residing in the parish of Wimborne Minster in the said County of Dorset, Labourer, touching the place of his last legal settlement. Taken upon oath before us, two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace in and for the said County of Dorset, this -- Day of February 1792.
'This examinant upon his Oath saith that he is about 30 years of age and that he was born in the parish of Cranborne in the said County, of parents legally settled there, as he hath heard and verily believes, and that when he was of the age of about 15 years, he left his father and went to Harbridge in the County of Southampton and lived with Robert Farmer about 11 weeks, as a weekly servant. He then went to Salisbury in the County of Wilts and hired himself for a year to James Whitmarsh of that place. Grocer at the wages of two pounds twelve shillings a year, and that he lived there about three quarters of a year and then quitted his service receiving his full wages. He then went to Damerham in the County of Wilts and hired himself for a year to John Stokes of that place Butcher, with whom he lived out his full year and received his wages accordingly. He then went home to his father at Cranborne aforesaid and continued with him about three months, afterwards he went and hired himself to Henry West of the said parish of Cranborne from Christmas to the Michaelmas following, at the wages of three pounds and three shillings where he continued the whole time. He then made a fresh agreement with the said Henry West for one year, at the wages of four pounds and continued with him under such hiring till the Whitsuntide following then having some dispute with his Master, he left his service he then returned to Cranborne aforesaid to his parents and continued there till Michaelmas, and then went and hired himself to Henry King of Woolsbridge in the parish of Ringwood in the County of Southampton yeoman for one year at the wages of about four pounds where he lived the full year and received his wages accordingly. He then agreed with the said Henry King for another year at the wages of five pounds for the year which year he also duly served and also received his wages accordingly. He then went and hired himself to Stephen Ailes of Hightown in the said parish of Ringwood, Yeoman, for one year at the wages of five pounds ten shillings, where he lived the said year and received his wages. He then returned home to his father at Cranborne aforesaid and continued about six weeks, and then married his present wife Sarah by whom he has five children namely Betty about 8 years old, Sarah aged 6 years, Kitting about 4 years old, Ann aged 2 years, and Jane about 18 weeks, that ever since his marriage he has worked at different places as a weekly servant until about the 2 of February 1791 when he came and took of James Hall of Wimborne Minster aforesaid, a Dairy of nine cows at Four pounds seven shillings and six pence a Cow for a year, that he lived in the Farm House belonging to the said Dairy which is at Bickham in the said parish of Wimborne Minster, and that the Cows was depastured in certain Fields in the said parish of Wimborne Minster, and that he lived there one full year, and paid the full rent for said cows according to his agreement and he findley saith that he hath done no act or deed whereby to gain a settlement to his knowledge or belief otherwise than aforesaid.'
James signed the document with his mark.
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Haskells of Old England Wanderings around Cranborne
by Iris M Green BAThe life of James, eldest son of James, yeoman farmer of Worth, was not easy to trace. He was baptised on 7 November 1760, married in the same church to Sarah Budden on 17 November 1783 and had his first child, third great grandmother Elizabeth, baptised there a year later. The parish registers of Cranborne yeid no further information. Great good fortune led to the discovery of two further documents preserved in the Dorset Record Office that have filled the detail of some part of James' life in an intriguing manner.
In 1662, in the reign of Charles II a law, known as the Settlement Act, was passed designed to control vagrancy and to check migration to London. It enabled parish overseers to compel a person not born in their parish and having no land or work to return to his native parish. Evidence exists that this was strictly enforced within Cranborne.
Where the act was rigidly enforced, the unskilled labourer was practilly restricted to the place of birth. It made it difficult, if not impossible, any independent effort to improve his position. In practise it was possible to obtain a settlement in a particular parish by buying a house, paying a rental of £10 a year, by apprentiship or by a year's service, but frequently an employer would dismiss his employee a day before a year's service had been completed even though pprepared to re-emply a few days later, thus denying a permanent settlement.
In February 1792, before two Justices of the Peace, James Haskell gained legal settlement for himself and his family in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, by virtue of one year's service in charge of a dairy at nearby Bickham Farm. Before gaining settlement, he was required to detail the events of sixteen years of his personal and working life. This examination document records that James left home in 1775 at the age of about 15 years and that within the following eight years he had worked for six different employers, as servant, grocer and butcher's assistant and with Yeoman farmers, in surrounding villages and in Salisbury and Ringwood. A salary increase accompanied each move from £2 12s oer annum to £5 10s. Between each appointment he returned temporarily to his parents at Cranborne.
Following his marriage in 1783 he continued to be emplyed as a weekly servant in different places for a further eight years. During this time four more daughters and a son, who died in infancy, had been born to James and Sarah, the youngest Jane being 18 weeks old at the time of the settlement document.Further study has shown that three children were baptised in Wimborne Minster in 1786, 1789 and 1791 and one in Hinton Martel nearby in 1788.
On 2 February 1791, James had rented a dairy of 9 cows from John Hall of Wimborne Minster at an annual charge of £4 7s 6d a cow. In his book Rural Life in Wessex 1500-1900, J H Bettey records that during this period it was widespread practice throughout large parts of Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset for farmers to rent out their dairy cows to a dairyman by the year. Under this system the farmer provided the cows, pasture and winter fodder as well as a dairy and a house for the dairyman to live in, in return for an annual rent per cow. The dairyman made his profit from the sale of milk, butter and cheese. No doubt James' wife Sarah worked in the dairy, and as they grew older, daughters Elizabeth, Sarah, Katurah (Kitty), Ann and Jane would have been similarly employed. For many men who lacked a land tenancy, sufficient capital or the opportunity to start up in farming themselves, but who, with their families, were prepared to work long hours every day demanded by milking cows and dairy work, renting a small herd of cows was an important first step to becoming a farmer.
Bickham Farm was situated about a mile west of Wimborne Minster. It was described as a house of two storeys with barn and sheds adjacent in the south, with brick walls and thatched roof. Unfortunately the farmhouse has been pulled down and replaced by another in a sunnier position. The town of Wimborne Minster is an ancient one with a recorded history going back to the 8th century. The Minster, the town's greatest architectural feature, stands on a Saxon site and is almost of cathedral-like dimensions. It has a fine lantern tower, an 800 year old font and a chained library. The large Friday market has over 200 stalls, including one of the largest antique markets in the south of England. At nearby Pamphill, close to which Bickham Farm was situated, is St Margaret's Hospital, a group of nine halftimbered almshouses, founded as a leper hospital in 1204.
Whether James' return at the age of 31, after trying a variety of employment, was permanent is not yet known. Nine years later on 16 Januery 1801 a further settlement for the family from Cranborne to Wimborne Minster was granted, and by this date another son James, and daughters Charlotte and Joane had been born. After a hard working life and having had but a single inheritance of £20 payable after his stepmother's death, James died at the age of 85 years. His burial on 19 March 1845 is recorded in the Parish Registers of the Minster. His widow Sarah was 90 years of age when she died. She was buried there on 31 August 1847. Quite naturally their death certificates record cause of death as 'old age'.
Dorset, England, Dorchester Prison Admission and Discharge Registers, 1782-1901
Name: William Steel
Age: 21
Birth Year: abt 1794
Received Date: 4 Aug 1815
Place of Origin: Verwood
Record Type: Prisoner Register
Year Range: 1812-1827
Reference Number:NG PR1 D2 1
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New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849
Name: William Still
Vessel: Sir Chas Forbes
Province:Tasmania
Title: List of convicts (incomplete)
Year(s):1832