Genealogy of the Haskell Family

William Haskell was Churchwarden at the Church of St. Stephen in Charlton Musgrove in 1627–1628. He married Elinor Foule in 1610; their seven children were baptised in Charlton Musgrove. The three sons — Roger (bp. 6 Mar 1613/14), William (bp. 8 Nov 1618) and Mark (bp. 8 Apr 1621) — emigrated to Massachusetts.

Roger married Elizabeth Hardy in 1639 and had ten children. William married Mary Tybott in 1643 and had nine. Mark married Hannah Woodbury, widow of James Patch, in 1658 and had two sons. William has the most descendants, Roger the next most, and Mark, with only two sons, the fewest.

Of the four daughters, only Joan emigrated. The single mention of her is in the will of her brother Roger, 1667: “I likewise give to my sister Joane a heifer as soone as the calfe is taken of.” Cecille remained in England and on 30 July 1637 married Edward Cobe of Wincanton at the Penselwood parish church, Somerset; their descendants, if any, are not known. Dorothy and Elizabeth are thought to have died young, in England or on the voyage to New England.

Elinor’s maiden surname is variously reported as Foule, Frowde or Cook. Contributors to the Haskell Journal prefer Foule, pronounced to rhyme with “goal”. Her first husband died in 1630; sometime after, most likely in England, she married John Stone, who had two sons from a previous marriage, John Jr. and Nathaniel.

Probably in the spring of 1635 or 1636, John Stone, Elinor and three of her Haskell children (Roger, 21; William, 16; and Joan, 6) sailed from England, most likely from Bristol, and settled in the “Basse River” section of Salem — the Cape Ann side, now Beverly. John Stone farmed and fished, and also operated a ferry across the Basse River between the two settlements.

The youngest son, Mark, was on 26 April 1635 apprenticed by the Overseers of the Poor for Charlton Musgrove to John Whiting, a broadweaver of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, for nine years. Sometime between the end of that apprenticeship and 30 September 1652, when he was fined by the Salem Court for “wearing broad-lace”, he had arrived in Massachusetts and settled at Basse River.

Nearly half of the original 102 passengers on the Mayflower did not survive the first winter in the Plymouth Colony. Yet from the survivors it is estimated that over ten million descendants are alive today, many unaware of their Mayflower heritage — among them countless Haskells.

The best-known connection is to George Soule, whose daughter Patience married John Haskell, son of Roger Haskell, in January 1666/67. The association has published a 435-page volume, Mayflower Descendants of John Haskell and Patience Soule. The Roger–John line is not the only Haskell line with a Mayflower ancestor; at least eleven others are known.

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