Harvey Madison Haskell and Adelia M. Miles
Husband Harvey Madison Haskell 1
Born: 31 Dec 1831 - Tunbridge, Orange Co, VT 1 Christened: Died: 25 Feb 1888 2 Buried:
Father: [Father] Haskell ( - ) Mother:
Marriage: 1866 2
Wife Adelia M. Miles 2
Born: Christened: Died: Aft 1919 Buried:
Father: Mother: [Unk] Keene ( - ) 2
Children
1 M Frank Haskell 3
Born: 1867 - Philadelphia, PA 4 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Jane Mitchell Brown ( - ) 5 Marr: 1896 - ? Venango Co, PA
2 M William A. Haskell 2
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
3 M Fred M. Haskell 2
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
4 F Annie Haskell 2
Born: Christened: Died: when about five years old Buried:Spouse: Did Not Marry
5 M Harvey Harrison Haskell 2
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Catherine Sargent ( - ) 4
General Notes: Husband - Harvey Madison Haskell
HARVEY MADISON HASKELL (deceased), a resident of Venango County from 1864 until his death, is one of the memorable men of early fame as oil operators in this region. With a taste for the excitement and adventure that were long associated with activity in the oil industry he combined many of the traits essentially typical of present-day business methods in all fields, particularly an appreciation of the value of scientific knowledge of his property and the capacity for large ventures which often accompanies wide vision. Mr. Haskell was one of those attracted to Pithole in 1864 and one of the group that removed thence to Pleasantville, where he became permanently established. Much of the prosperity in the latter field after the first wave of heavy yields subsided was due to his persistence in overcoming certain obstacles which had caused untimely cessation of production in many wells. His sons followed him in the business with even greater success, made possible by modern understanding of the best means of exploiting the great natural commodity which has revolutionized conditions in all branches of industry. Mr. Haskell died in his prime, but not before he had the satisfaction of realizing many of his ambitions, and he laid a foundation upon which his four sons built up enterprises that were among the most extensive of their kind in the country.
Mr. Haskell belonged to a family of English origin settled in Vermont from about 1662. There he remained up to about the time he reached his majority, when he went West to Portage, Wis., at which place he soon became clerk of the court, holding that position until he left. His brother, Col. Frank Haskell, commanded a Wisconsin regiment in the Civil war until he met his death at Cold Harbor; his troops took part in the battle of Gettysburg. The discovery of oil at Pithole, Pa., drew Harvey M. Haskell hither in 1864, and he at once set about securing oil leases, sinking a number of wells, some of which yielded as much as one hundred barrels a day. His profits enabled him to ex-tend his operations, so that he acquired several good wells in the surrounding territory. In 1868, with the decline of the Pithole operations, he located four miles north at Pleasantville, in which locality a number of productive wells had been brought in, many of the buildings from Pithole being removed to that point. The land in the vicinity was divided up into small tracts of two or three acres for leasing, some of these small plots bringing almost fabulous prices. Mr. Haskell extended his operations into the Shamburg field, two or three miles west of Pleasantville, and also had a valuable lease on the Bean farm near Pithole. He had the experience common to practically all operators in the section. A light-colored oil-bearing sand was struck at a depth of about three hundred feet, but it was so impregnated with paraffin that a coating of wax soon formed, preventing the flow of the oil, many good wells being put out of commission in this way. At first the operators tried drilling two hundred feet deeper, to the black oil sand, but these wells also often ceased to produce within a few weeks from the same cause, the wax flowing down from the upper strata and clogging the opening effectively. It was obvious that some efficacious method of dealing with this difficulty would be very valuable, and considerable thought was given to the problem, Mr. Haskell being one of the first to suggest suitable treatment. He believed that by maintaining a thorough saturation of the well with benzine or even with the oil from the upper sand the formation of the wax could be so retarded as to mitigate its bad effects. Benzine was so employed for some years, being a cheap article in those days when there was little demand for it in the arts. Mr. Haskell had tested his ideas sufficiently to give him absolute faith in them, and he imparted his views to his sons and during his last years also published articles setting them forth, in order to interest others, feeling that the successful application of his method would greatly extend the productive period of the entire Pleasantville territory, or any other where similar conditions prevailed. He made preparations to demonstrate his plan on a large scale, buying large tracts in what became known as the Tight-pinch district, where he knew all the wells were drilled through a productive amber vein saturated with oil, but like Moses he was never permitted to enter the promised land to which he led so many others. His death on Feb. 25, 1888, occurred in the midst of these negotiations, but it is noteworthy that his ideas were carried out almost to the letter and resulted in bringing into profitable activity between one thousand and two thousand wells operating in the amber sand. His arrangements to take over a tract adjoining what he already had had gone so far that when it was purchased by W. P. Black he turned over a three-eighths interest in it at a nominal price to Mrs. Haskell and Col. Isaac Doolittle, who had been a partner of Mr. Haskell in some previous operations. The yield of black sand oil there had almost ceased, but production was brought up to one hundred and fifty barrels a day of the amber sand fluid, and the property was later sold for fifty thousand dollars. In every locality where the plan was applied the productive area was much extended, no other one thing ever devised having probably such great value in retaining production at a profitable stage all over the northern part of Venango County. In one instance (after Mr. Has-kell's death) a well yielding only a barrel a day of black sand oil was shot by his son and had a daily flow of fifty barrels in the amber sand, and at the end of a year was still producing ten barrels daily. A. P. Bennett was Mr. Haskell's partner in many operations, restricting oil operations to producing crude oil. For several years Mr. Haskell was cashier of the Citizens' Bank at Pleasantville. [CAB, 438]
Mr. and Mrs. Haskell met at Portage, Wis., while she was on a visit there. During their early married life they boarded at the "Chase House" in Pithole, then a town of ten thousand population, and this famous oil region hotel was one of the buildings removed to Pleasantville at the time of the exodus previously mentioned, the family staying in it at the new location until they began housekeeping, in the dwelling which Mrs. Haskell continues [1919] to occupy-her home for fifty years. [CAB, 439]
General Notes: Wife - Adelia M. Miles
Her family was connected with several old Philadelphia families, tracing her ancestry on both sides from French Huguenot stock.
Mrs. Haskell was a woman of native refinement and broad culture. In her early years she had the advantages of metropolitan life, but she found social conditions no less interesting at Pithole, whose population included many residents of the best quality, some of the keenest witted and ablest men of the country having been attracted to the district. Her personality largely influenced the character of her sons, who made successful efforts to realize the high ideals of civic, business, social and domestic relations instilled by their charming home life. [CAB, 439]
1 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 438.
2 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 439.
3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 439, 479.
4 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 440.
5
Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 440, 479.
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