December 18, 2017
My fifth-great-grandfather Lieutenant Nathaniel Haskell (1742-1794) was a Revolutionary War veteran from Maine. From my notes, I knew he was born in 1742 in Hampton Falls, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, and an Internet search led me to HaskellFamilyHistory.com, where I learned a bit more about his life and military service:
“Nathaniel Haskell moved, as a young man, from Hampton Falls, Rockingham Co, NH, to New Gloucester, Cumberland Co., ME, and served in the Thirty-First Regiment of the Revolutionary Army from that town.”
–Source: HaskellFamilyHistory.com
I knew that regiment was commanded by Col. Edmund Phinney – so next, I searched for Col. Edmund Phinney’s name in GenealogyBank to see what else I could learn about the regiment.
In the “Government Publications” collection I found an American Historical Association report that mentioned a book about Phinney’s regiment, written by Nathaniel Goold.
I then searched the Internet and found that Goold’s book has been scanned and put online by the Internet Archive. I have written about them before here.
Goold’s book gave me more information about Nathaniel’s service in that regiment:
“Second Lieut. Nathaniel Haskell entered the service from the same town, May 15, 1775. He married at Falmouth, Aug. 30, 1763, Deborah Bailey, and probably moved to New Gloucester before the war.”
Nathaniel died in 1794 in New Gloucester, Cumberland County, Maine, and was buried in the Lower Corner Cemetery. I found his gravestone on Find a Grave.
The time-worn inscription reads:
In memory of
CAPT. NATHANIEL HASKELL,
who was an officer in the American Revolutionary war.
He died Feb. 14, 1794. AEt. 52“The graves of all his saints He bles’d,
And soften’d ev’ry bed:
Where shall the dying members rest,
But with the dying Head?”
I’m lucky to count Nathaniel as one of my many Revolutionary War veteran ancestors.
Genealogy Tip: Get additional information on your Revolutionary War veterans by searching the names of their commanding officers for more information about their military service.
Related Article:
Wow, thank you for this information. Nathaniel’s son, also named Nathaniel (born 1764) settled Haskell Plantation which became the town of Greenville, Maine along with his widowed daughter Deborah Walden (born 1793 in Paris, Maine) who was my dad’s great-grandmother. Deborah’s mother, Sarah Stevens (born 1770) of Stevens Plains, now Deering in Portland, Maine, remains a complete mystery to me although this post of yours gives me a possible clue. I wonder if she may also be buried in this same cemetery. She and her other seven children apparently did not come along when Nathaniel and Deborah settled Haskell Plantation.
I believe it is generally held that Deborah’s father, Nathaniel Haskell, was from New Gloucester but came to Greenville from Westbrook and was in the 1820 census as being a Westbrook resident. However, another Nathaniel Haskell, descended from Samuel Haskell Jr., must have been the owner of a major piece of real estate in the Saccarappa district in Westbrook in that same time period. This other Nathaniel also married a Sarah (Jordan) so the possibility for confusion exists.
Oh and your Nathaniel’s son Nathaniel (born 1764) is said to have discovered the Black Oxford apple while living in Paris, Maine about the time of his daughter Deborah’s birth (1793). He found this tree in Paris, Maine on the property of one John Valentine, a nail maker.
Thank you for the tip!
You’re welcome, Bill. We’re glad the article was helpful to you!
Correction, not Samuel Haskell Jr. of Saccarappa, Solomon Haskell Jr.
Captain Nathaniel Haskell is my 6th great-grandfather. His daughter Mercy is my 5th great grandmother. I trace the relationship through my grandmother Myra May (Gammon) Haskell. Captain Nathaniel’s grandfather is Deacon William Haskell who is then my 8th great-grandfather. Deacon William’s father is Mark Haskell (9th great-grandfather) and Mark’s father is Captain William Haskell who is my direct paternal 8th great-grandfather and through Mark he is also also my 10th great-grandfather. Two of Captain William’s son’s are my 7th great-grandfathers (my 6th and 5th direct paternal great-grandfathers married Haskell cousins). My 4th great-grandfather Caleb (son of Caleb, son of Daniel, son of Deacon Joseph, son of Captain William Haskell) was also a Revolutionary soldier out of Newburyport, Massachusetts and he wrote a diary which has been published. Through his wife Ednah (Hale) Haskell I am related to Captain Nathan Hale (hanged as a spy), but through her mother’s side. He’s a distant cousin. Another 4th great-grandfather who fought in the Revolution is Dr. Azor Betts from Connecticut, but he had a medical practice in New York City. In 1776 he was arrested and brought before the New York Committee of Safety for “cursing congresses and committees” (called them a “bunch of damned rascals”) after the the Committee had ransacked his house and shut up his business. He was released, but arrested and jailed again for inoculating four Continental Army officers against smallpox (inoculation was forbidden in the army until 1777). After the British occupied New York he was freed and he joined Colonel Roger’s Queen’s Rangers until Rogers and most of the other officers were suspended. He then joined up with Colonel James DeLancey’s Westchester Chasseurs in the Bronx until the end of the war when he and his family left for Nova Scotia in (New Brunswick was created shortly afterwards). Somehow Caleb’s son, also named Caleb met Dr. Betts’ daughter Fanny Matilda Betts (who was born in New Brunswick) and they were married in Canada in March, 1815, a couple months after the end of the War of 1812. They moved back to Newburyport and their grandson George Whitefield Haskell Jr. (my great grandfather) eventually left left Newburyport and moved to South Paris, Maine, marrying Alice Arminta Crockett from Buckfield. The Crocketts had originally settled in Kittery (Crockett’s Neck).