Pioneer's Information
Type of Pioneer: Early Pioneer
Pioneer's Name: Haskell, George (more stories about this Pioneer)
Birth Place: Danbury, Grafton, New Hampshire
Date of Birth: Mon, 16 Oct, 1797
Date of Death: Mon, 05 Nov, 1883
Father: Ebeneezer Haskell (more stories with this pioneer)
Mother: Mary Pittsley Haskell (more stories with this pioneer)
Spouse: Sally (more stories with this pioneer)
Other Spouses: (more stories with this pioneer)
Arrived in Utah: 1850
Education:
Profession:
Honors:
Civic Activities:
Church:
Authentic Mormon Pioneer: Yes
Excerpt from Pioneer Story
President Young told the men; "There would be no death from fighting befall you, if you keep the Lords Commandments. "There shall be no fighting except with wild beasts." The wild beasts turned out to be wild bulls of which there were several injuries and mules gored. The Battalion shot over twenty bulls before they quit charging the men, mules, and horses.
George Niles Haskell enlisted at the age of 49. They journeyed on to Winter Quarters where he took his wife, one girl and a son and proceeded on to Kegs Creek, where he left them with friends and acquaintance. Malinda had married prior to this time. The men then left for Fort Leavenworth where they received their gear and proceeded toward Mexico.
The family was to await the return of George Niles Haskell and the military pay from the Army was used to help to support them. President Young made arrangements with the Army and Govt. to remain here on Indian Land for the duration. George was Private #46 of Company B. Many of the Mormons traveled to the Missouri River with the enlisted men. He had enlisted for a year, 16 July 1846 to 16 July 1847.
Full Pioneer Story
GEORGE NILES HASKELL
Submitted By: Ivan Y. Haskell (more stories by this author)
GEORGE NILES HASKELL And FAMILY
George Niles Haskell was born in the small town of Danbury, County of Grafton, State of New Hampshire, and was the first son of Ebeneezer Haskell and Mary Pittsley Haskell. He was born 16 October 1797. Mary and Ebeneezer were married 16 February 1797 in Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
Ebeneezer had come to New Hampshire to be the "Surveyor of Roads" and also because of property he had inherited of his father, Zuriel Haskell. They lived here till after 1803, and then moved to Vermont near 1810, City of Fairfield, Franklin County. They then moved to Dickinson, Franklin County, New York after 1820, but George moved from Vermont after 1832 to a nearby town(possibly Waterloo) of Dickinson, New York.
I suppose that part of the reason was the English background of some of the various clerks that made the recordings, and the other part to be the spelling ability of the clerks. Robert, her father, is a military man and has a Military Retirement. Sally was born in Unity, Maine.
George is twenty years old at their marriage but Sally is twenty one, born 13 June 1796. "George was light of complexion with brown hair and brown eyes, five foot three inches tall",and probably on the stout side.
Their first child was a girl born 12 December 1817, named Malinda. In a Bible that Chester Kise Haskell kept, and was quite -accurate in his record, states that Malinda was born in New York. Malinda is baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ with her mother and sister about 1838 by Elam Mekam (Meacham) in New York. Malinda marries Joseph Meacham about this same year and the first two of their children, a boy named Arza born in 1839 and a girl named Elvira in 1840, and born in New York. In 1845 the family is in Nauvoo/Illinois.
The second girl is born on the 24 December 1826, named Sarah Elizabeth Haskell, at Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont.
The only boy of the family was born in Vermont, 28 August 1832, and named Chester Rise Haskell. Ebenezeer, the father, George and brothers worked on the building of the Erie Canal during its construction, in surveying and labor. However they did live only a few miles from the canal in Seneca County New York.
George Niles Haskell and family arrived in Hancock County late in the year of 1843. They farmed here for two years, about three and a half miles north of Nauvoo. They lived in a place designated the "Woodland Branch". George and his son Chester became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, having been baptized by Emer Harris at this place. Emer is a brother of Martin F. Harris, the 3rd witness to the Book of Mormon, on it's divine authenticity. Emer Harris was the President of the Woodland Branch at Nauvoo, Illinois.
His wife and daughters had previously been baptized in 1838 at New York by Elam Mekam/Meacham, quite possibly a relative to Joseph Meacham, that married Malinda.
Brigham Young, the President of the Apostles, championed Joseph's project, and it indeed, was completed and dedicated to the Lord May 1, 1846.
The people are being expelled from Nauvoo by mobs in February of 1846 and are leaving to avoid bloodshed and a civil war. It was unusual because Nauvoo had a Charter that empowered them to have a militia and they had over 5000 men at the ready. The whole community left Nauvoo a semblance of a ghost town.
Sarah E. worked with Irene Haskell Pomeroy in the Temple when it was being used at Nauvoo, Illinois. Irene is a daughter of Green Haskell and Ursula Billings and a sister to Thales Haskell. They were relatives, Thales, a great Indian Missionary and his father, Green was a Mill¬wright in the construction of Sutter's gristmill when gold was discovered in January of 1848.
George heard the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. preach the doctrine, and very well could of known him personally as a friend and acquaintance. George and his family leave Nauvoo in the spring of 1846, with the many other saints that have left a beautiful temple, homes, a drained swamp, many brick homes, log cabins and their dreams, and lives of promise, to an uncertainty through a land inhabited by the Indian, to a desert surrounded by mountains.,
It had also been inferred that the Mormon People would be prevented from leaving the United states, for fear they would join forces with Mexico. This had stepped up their plans to leave Nauvoo from, "When the grass grows and the streams flow", or spring, to the dead of winter when the ice on the Mississippi River and the other rivers would make it extremely difficult for the United States to mount any kind of a force to prevent them from leaving Nauvoo and the United states. The West boundary was the Mississippi River.
The greatest offense, was their two Prophets, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, being assassinated by a mob while in the protection of Governor Ford of Illinois, at Carthage jail, having escorted them from Nauvoo and assuring them of such.
They left Nauvoo and were at Mt. Pisgah, Iowa when Capt. James Allen brought a request from the President of the United States for five hundred men to help fight the War with Mexico.
They had endured bloodshed, having their homes burned and torn down, looting, whipping with bull whips and the cat of nine tails, and had their leaders put in prison, all in the name of the law. Also the militia was commanded by Generals of the U.S. Government in this action. The Governor of Missouri declared an "Extermination Order" on the Mormons in the late fall of 1838, and caused them to walk in bitter cold, without shoes or coats, out of Missouri to Illinois after November tenth of 1838 causing many deaths.
The Captain was given a letter of introduction, to President Young at Winter Quarters on the Missouri River. After 3 days discussion of the request, it was decided to provide the men and volunteers were called for.
President Young came back to Mt. Pisgah to assist in the enrollment of volunteers. George was directed to secure the flag of the United States that President Young had brought from Nauvoo. The men at Mt. Pisgah enlisted under this banner. George joined the military. Brigham said, "We must fill this requisition if we are to live in peace".
President Young told the men; "There would be no death from fighting befall you, if you keep the Lords Commandments. "There shall be no fighting except with wild beasts." The wild beasts turned out to be wild bulls of which there were several injuries and mules gored. The Battalion shot over twenty bulls before they quit charging the men, mules, and horses.
George Niles Haskell enlisted at the age of 49. They journeyed on to Winter Quarters where he took his wife, one girl and a son and proceeded on to Kegs Creek, where he left them with friends and acquaintance. Malinda had married prior to this time. The men then left for Fort Leavenworth where they received their gear and proceeded toward Mexico.
The family was to await the return of George Niles Haskell and the military pay from the Army was used to help to support them. President Young made arrangements with the Army and Govt. to remain here on Indian Land for the duration. George was Private #46 of Company B. Many of the Mormons traveled to the Missouri River with the enlisted men. He had enlisted for a year, 16 July 1846 to 16 July 1847.
The day before the march started, there was a dance, begun by a double cotillion. It was held in the Bowery, a place with poles supporting a roof of boughs and leaves, with a dirt floor, but it did not stop the enthusiasm of the men leaving on a march tomorrow. They danced the French Fours, Virginia Reels, Fox Trots, Copenhagen Jigs, and the like. The dance started early and lasted to sundown. Then a young lady came out and sang a song, which began to draw tears, the first sign of feelings surfacing. Then a prayer was offered by an Elder for the blessings of God to be with them and then a slow break-up of the crowd.
There were places where no water was available to drink for several days. When they carne to water, sometimes it was very brackish, but because of the extreme thirst, many took a swallow and became sick. After an excessive dry area and the need for water was very great among animals and men, they came to a sparkling stream of clear water. The excessive dryness of men and animals caused a great amount of over drinking.
Men got sick and many mules died, wagons had to be left and the attendant supplies that were unable to be put in other wagons, it did over burden the wagons and the mules to pull them. The men were then tethered to assist in the pulling of the wagons, also on many of the sandy stretches of the route.
At one place in the trek in which they carne to water after a dry stretch, Lieutenant Smith ordered the men back and let the mules drink first. There was much dissatisfaction among the men and George Niles Haskell let the Lieutenant know just how he felt about it. George was made to carry a sack of sand the rest of the day for speaking out to the Lieutenant.
They crossed such a desert that for ten days, there was nothing to burn except the Buffalo chips they could gather. The Buffalo chip is the excrement of the Buffalo that has dried.
And on top of all these natural privations that occurred, the Commander was also causing other privations on his account. He was causing them to march on forced marches. They would cross creeks and he would force them to march several more miles and then the necessity of a dry camp was the result (A dry camp is when there is no water available there). The Battalion marched from Leavenworth to Santa Fe, 900 miles and averaged 15 miles per day.
Lt. Col. Phillip St. George Cook took command at Santa Fe. Norman Sharp accidently shot himself in the arm. He and several others stayed with him, but died in a few days, so the Commander, Cook told the Battalion not to load their guns, to pack them unarmed.
They came to a large herd of wild cattle, many of them bulls. Many of the mules were gored and the men were attacked, but the men had not totally obeyed the Commander and their guns were loaded. They shot and killed near twenty head of the bulls.
The Doctor was dreaded to go to for an illness. No matter the ailment, they were treated the same. The Doctor had an old iron spoon and he dispensed a liquid called, calomel and arsenic to everyone from this same spoon. It was never washed and even had some rust on. The Battalion felt that the treatment was worse than the sickness, and never informed the Doctor of their illness if they could get by without.
The ladies and families that were with the enlisted men of the Battalion, with the sick, were detached and sent to Pueblo from Santa Fe to spend the winter, and to join the rest of the Mormons in their trek to the Great Salt Lake Valley next spring. They were under the command of Captain James Brown. About a month later, another group of women which were laundresses and sick men were detailed to Pueblo also.
The Battalion had left Santa Fe near October 20, 1846 and on 12 November, while crossing the Riogrand River, George Niles Haskell was injured. He became injured while engaged with several others, in pushing a wagon out of a bog. He was never a stout man again. The wagon they were trying to hold from rolling back into a hole, rolled into George causing a rupture. In fact, he was troubled with the rupture in the continuing travel of the Mormon Battalion to California and the rest of his life. He struggled on with the march, and toil.
At a river, it was decided to float two wagons of supplies down it, but changing terrain, rocks and sandbars caused the wagons to turn over and their contents lost causing more hardship.
Another huge obstacle was the Colorado River. Mules were drowned in its crossing but they were now in California and were able to trade with some of the Indians for mules, clothes and even food.
There was a rocky gorge they had to go through that was a foot narrower than their wagons. The men chipped away the rock to enlarge the gorge and they also took some of the wagons apart and carried them through the pass. Wagons were also left behind because some of the mules were eaten for food.
The war was practically over and part of the Battalion was detailed on to San Diego for the next several months till they were discharged. They rested and worked for the people there, building homes, wells, and etc.
George stayed in California a year to recuperate and regain strength from the effects of the rupture and the march. Upon discharge at Los Angeles 16 July 1847, George remained in California till he felt better and took a job in assisting to make shingles. 81 men re-enlisted into the military and some went to build a grist mill for John A. Sutter and was involved in the gold discovery, Jan. 1848.
Captain James Brown had been sent to California by Brigham Young to collect the pay and the discharge of those members of the Mormon Battalion detailed to Pueblo for the winter. After he had accomplished this task, he left California in the spring of 1848.
"George Haskell" is identified as one of the men coming from California at the Santa Clara in Southern Utah. He, Captain Brown and the money, with a few other men returned to the Utah Territory. George may have stayed in Salt Lake during the winter of 1848/49, for he is a mail guard in April, taking the mail to Winter Quarters. He got to Winter Quarters and continued to Kegs Creek to again be with his family.
The family returned to Utah and was assigned to Provo, Utah and to be a steward of a small farm (everyone was assigned a plot of ground for farming purposes). They were there in time to be listed in the Utah Census taken the latter part of June 1850.
Malinda and Joseph Meacham bring Caleb Davis Jr. with them to Provo, Utah in 1850. His parents, Caleb Hersey Davis & Tryphena Atherton, and the oldest brother, Samuel, died and are buried in Nauvoo, leaving six small boys to be taken care of by their friends and neighbors, the fall of 1845.
They made their way to Utah and settled in Provo in 1850. It was a new town having started to be settled this year at the direction of President Brigham Young. By April 1851, it was Chartered and the first election held and Ellis Eames was elected the first Mayor of the city.
Sarah Elizabeth had married Ellis Eames, in the late fall of 1850. She was the #2 wife in a plural marriage arrangement.
It was tough farming at Provo, as it had been an Indian center and there was lots of Indian traffic. Also the Indians were careless about where they went, or rode their horses, even if it was over a person’s field or they would pasture their horses in a lush grain field nearby.
Chester Kise Haskell was married in 1853, to Lydia Catherine Haws and the baby boy, Henry was born in January.
George had never been well or very strong since he received the rupture. Nearly everything he did that required extra effort, would put him in pain and agony again. The years from 1850 to 1854 had not been kind to them either, requiring a great deal of labor to make a living from the virgin soil. With George being unfit for hard work, it was very difficult. The first two or three years had not been termed a success. The climate too seemed to add an extra burden on them.
The year of 1854 in Provo was a very trying year, the crops had been planted and had come up and were looked upon with interest and the promise of a good harvest, but it was not to be. There was an infestation of crickets and grass hoppers that ate the vegetation to the ground. The Haskell's and their neighbors planted once again and the crop came up, but once again the leaves were stripped bare by the insect pests. The cricket and hopper infestation was the straw that broke the camels back. The decision was made to go to California.
George's little family group rallied around him and they too, were going with them to California. The entire Haskell clan were leaving, George and Sally, Malinda and Joseph Meacham (son-in-law) and family, Ellis Eames, Olive, Sarah and families, also Chester Rise Haskell, Lydia and toddler Henry.
There was a wagon train leaving from Payson, going to California. They were going to meet it there and President Brigham Young was going to give them a blessing before leaving. When Brigham saw the size of the train leaving for California, he was greatly disappointed and asked one of the other brethren to give the prayer and remained in the building at the fort.
Brigham had been exhorting the people to remain in Utah and to not go to California in the Gold Rush, "For you will prosper as much or more here than you will in California". They left and made San Bernadino, California their home for a few years.
There were some hard times there also, for it had been a draught year and there wasn't as much grain for food as usual. They were able to get work around the gold fields and the towns. The people of California still remembered the pluck of the Mormon Battalion and what good workers they were, and the reputation of them, still existed.
On 24 July, 1857, three dusty tired horsemen came to the celebration in progress, up Cottonwood Canyon where Brigham Young and the Mormon people were commemorating their tenth year in the Utah valley. One of the riders was Porter Rockwell, who was riding for the Pony Express. They reported about the United States Army coming to quell the Mormon rebellion.
A rebellion of the Mormon people had been reported by several of the Judges that had been appointed by the U.S. Government in the Utah Territory. The Mormons never used the lawyers and judges to settle any questions of the law, for this was part of the responsibility of the Bishops and the High Council. The Judges and Lawyers had left Utah and reported erroneous stories when they returned to the East.
The statement had been made, that "if they would leave us alone in these valleys for ten years, they would not be able to remove us" by Brigham Young, a Prophet of God. The decision was made; "We were going to fight". The men on Missions were summoned back to Utah, along with many small settlements in the surrounding area; San Bernadino, California; Carson City and Las Vegas Springs, Nevada; several small communities of Idaho and Arizona; "Come to the defense of Zion and bring all the caps, lead, and powder you can".
When President Brigham Young summoned the return of his Saints to Utah, giving as a reason the news of Johnston's Army, Ellis Eames would not return and Sarah left him and returned with her four children with the "Haskell Clan".
George and families returned to Utah in late winter of 1857/1858. They sold everything they possibly could and either brought what was left with them to Utah or it was left there in California. Everything was sold at a fraction of its cost, but the response to their Prophet was their God-given command and their stellar performance was in answer to the test of the journey.
Ellis Eames and his #1 wife Olive and their numerous children did not return, consequently there was fewer wagons for the "Haskell family" and their children to return in, and even though a hardship existed, still they returned the 900 miles through desert and over mountains to return to Utah.
Chester Kise Haskell and Lydia had two more children, James Haskell and Isadora Haskell. The children walked with their mother a lot of the way. They settled in Pond Town, 3 miles to the east of Payson.
Malinda and Joseph Meacham had also increased by one child, but the older children easily made provisions for the little girl. They settled in Spanish Fork, Utah eight miles north of Payson toward Salt Lake City.
Sarah and children remained at Payson with her father and mother. In 1859, Sarah Haskell Eames was approached about marriage by Shadrach Richardson, a man that had lost his wife, Lavina Stewart. Sarah and Shadrach were married and moved to Benjamin, 3 miles to the north. They had four more children.
Sarah Haskell Eames Richardson died December 1882, a bad year for men, women and children with a type of flu that caused many deaths.
There were many men in Payson that was in the Mormon Battalion with George and he stayed there. Men like Levi Ward Hancock that was the "Chaplin" & song leader. Also nephews C. B. Hancock and George W. Hancock; also Levi Colvin, James Pace, Zebidee Coltrin & others.
George was still plagued by the rupture and along with age, it was even more difficult to make a living than before. Sally died 21 November 1880. There was no one to help George now except Chester, his son and in 1880, this son was also having family problems. He had a large family of nine girls and two boys. George applied to the U.S. Government for a pension. He had signed into the service in 1846 as George Haskell and had signed the pension application, George Niles Haskell.
The mail was slow, taking about three months to get there and then getting an answer to a letter in return. Due to the difference in signature. he had to get two witnesses that he was truly, "George Haskell". By spring 1882, he had sent in all the required data, and was no closer to a pension than before.
He sold his home in Payson to Joseph Bills, and moved in with his grandson, Rudolph (Dolph) Eames at Benjamin. By Spring of 1883, he had filed all the affidavits, with Daniel Stark Notarizing it and George W. Hancock and Chester Kise Haskell as witnesses, but there was no record of his hernia in the records of the Mormon Battalion. He seemed to have lost his negotiations for a pension, however a return letter was not in the file and no evidence of a pension being paid.
On the 5th of November 1883, George died in Benjamin and was buried in Payson, Utah. George and Sally are buried next to Chester Kise Haskell and daughter Lois Ann in the Payson City Cemetery.
They lived in Payson Community from 1858 to 1881 in a little house he sold to Joseph Bills at approximately 25 South 1st West on the west side of the road.
Sarah Elizabeth was a strong, yet a petite woman just over five feet tall. She knit often and when she was aged, her sight had nearly failed. Her neighbors reported that she would sit in her rocking chair and her hands would go like she was knitting and they would even bleed. Also that she was a kindly, gracious woman. She died at the home in Payson in 1880.
This information is taken from: Church History; Early Payson Ward Records; U.S. Census of 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850; Family History, Mormon Battalion by TYLER, Mormon Battalion by Eliza R. Snow; I.G.I.; Woodland Branch Bapt. records; Washington D.C. Military Records; Levi Ward Hancock JOURNAL. Researched and Written by IVAN Y HASKEL
Sources:
This information is taken from: Church History; Early Payson Ward Records; U.S. Census of 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850; Family History, Mormon Battalion by TYLER, Mormon Battalion by Eliza R. Snow; I.G.I.; Woodland Branch Bapt. records; Washington D.C. Military Records; Levi Ward Hancock JOURNAL. Researched and Written by IVAN Y HASKEL
Virtues: Commitment, Courage, Endurance, Faith, Hardship, Difficulty, Trials