William A. Haskell

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Husband William A. Haskell ¹

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         Father: Harvey Madison Haskell (1831-1888) 2
         Mother: Adelia M. Miles (      -Aft 1919) 1

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General Notes: Husband - William A. Haskell

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The HASKELL BROTHERS, of Pleasantville, sons of the late Harvey Madison Haskell, are recognized leaders among the producing firms in the oil business in the United States. The partnership includes the four brothers, Frank, William A., Fred M. and Harvey Harrison Haskell. At the time of their father's death, in 1888, the two elder sons gave up their studies at Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, to assume the management of his extensive affairs. Five years later the eldest, Frank Haskell, went into the newer oil fields, though he never gave up his interest in the home concern. The three other brothers continued operations in partnership, and so extended their interests that they were producing in the oil territories of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma as well as in their home State, where they had holdings in Venango, Butler and Warren counties. In the course of their widespread activities they owned and operated over one thousand wells, about one third of this number being in Pennsylvania - approximately one hundred in Venango County. The brothers developed their father's well conceived ideas as to the possibilities of amber oil sands, nearly all their Venango wells yielded that product, which proved one of their valuable assets. As illustrative of the influence which temporary conditions have on important transactions, the brothers in 1899 leased to the Standard Oil Company a 320-acre tract for which they received a one-hundred-dollar-per-acre cash bonus besides the regular compensation in share, though it is safe to say that the cash bonus was not realized out of the profits for a number of years.

As progressive operators, the Haskell Brothers investigated the possibilities of gas production on their properties, and so far as they were concerned that end of the business had emerged from the experimental stage, casing head gas being produced at four plants owned by them, when the venture was one of comparatively recent origin. Though they were never ostentatious or spectacular in any of their operations, they gave substantial evidences of ability and judgment which held the respect of all their contemporaries in business, making no displays of activity to attract curious attention or create sharp and possibly harmful changes in oil conditions, but using their means and facilities wisely toward the creation of steady prosperity. [CAB, 439]

1 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 439.

2 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 438.