William Haskell was an extensive owner and operator of grist and sawmills in that part of the town now Rockport. His estate at the time of his death inventoried at 660 pounds, most of it going to his eldest son, William.
Mrs. Mary Robinson Brown married (third) Henry Walker. Her only daughter, Mary Brown, assumed the surname of her stepfather and was commonly known as Mary Walker.
William HASKELL came to New England with his brothers, Roger and Mark, and settled first, about 1632, in that part of Salem then called "Cape Ann Side," but later, about 1643, removed to Gloucester. He probably resided at Planter's Neck two years later. Though not on the town records continuously, he was there in 1656, and settled on the westerly side of Annisquam, where several parcels of land, including a lot of ten acres with house and barn, on the westerly side of Walker's creek, belonged to him. His sons had land on both sides of this creek still held by their descendants. William Haskell was a mariner, engaged in fishing, but found time to attend to much of the town's business, serving as selectman several years, and as representative to the General court six times in twenty years. In 1661 he was appointed lieutenant of the "trayned band" of which he was afterwards captain. He was one of the officers who refused to assess the taxes levied in 1688 by Sir Edmund Andros, and was fined by the Superior court at Salem. The repudiated governor, Andros, was finally driven out of New England by the indignant victims of his tyranny. In 1681, William Haskell joined with others in a petition to the King praying for the interposition of the crown to prevent the disturbance of title to Gloucester lands by Robert Mason, who made claim to them. He was one of the first two known deacons of the first church at Gloucester, and married there, November 16, 1643, Mary, daughter of Walter Tybbot. (See note.) She was born in England and died at Gloucester, August 16, 1693, just four days before her husband.
WILLIAM BROWN, was a settler in Gloucester, Massachusetts, before 1650,
and died there May 3, 1662. He married July 15, 1646, Mary, widow of Abraham
Robinson. Mrs. Mary Robinson Brown married (third) Henry Walker. Her
only daughter, Mary Brown, assumed the surname of her stepfather and was
commonly known as Mary Walker. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Robinson Brown
Walker, died April 17, 1690. William Brown owned several parcels of land which
later was inherited mostly by his stepson, Abraham Robinson. Mr. Brown resided
at the Harbor where he was selectman in 1644 and 1647. His only child,
Mary Brown, married, July 3, 1667, William Haskell of Gloucester (see Haskell
I), and died November 12, 1715. (History of Gloucester, Massachusetts (Badson),
p. 65. Vital Records of Gloucester.)
Widow of Abraham Robinson.
HASKELL
The surname Haskell is variously spelled Hascal, Haskill, Haskall, and other forms, depending dargely upon the nationality and educational advantages of the early town clerks. The origin of the English family of Haskell (from whom it is claimed the American ancestor descended) is one anciently distinguished, as evidenced by the fact that they are an armigerous family whose crest is descriptive of the legendary history of its origin in the battle of Hastings, where Roger de Haskell, a knight attendant upon the Conqueror, gave proof of great valor. The coat-of-arms of the English family is recorded in Burke's "Armourial Families," and Matthews, in his "American Armoury and Blue Book," records these arms for descendants of the ancestor herein traced.
He came to Gloucester with the Rev. Mr. Blynman, removing from their former residence in the Old Colony; he was made Freeman in the Bay colony in 1642. He was one of the commissioners at Gloucester; a judge, and exempt from training. He was elected one of the selectmen in 1642, '44, '45, '46 and in 1650-51. Not only was he of the first board elected by the town, but he had previously been one of the eight appointed by order of the General Court to the commissioners and empowered to order all the concerns of the settlement, 1641. He died in 1651, aged sixty-seven. He left a good estate. His wife survived, and one daughter, Mary. His widow married John Harding in 1652. Walter Tybbott was one of the largest proprietors.
His will, dated June 5, 1651, makes his wife executrix, and names his grandchildren, Richard and Elizabeth Dike; John and Joseph Clark, and Joseph and William Haskell. His daughter, Mary, is the only child whose name is known.
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