HASKELL, CHARLES L. - Any detailed narrative tracing the tenure of many of the property holdings in the first farming settlement of what is now the Middle West, naturally leads to a review of the transitions undergone by them since the pioneer days, when the entire region was just emerging from the primeval solitude. Among the old farming properties in western Illinois transmitted during the three past generations is that belonging to Charles I. Haskell, who was born in Virginia, Cass County, September 15, 1845, and is a son of John E. and Emeline (Brady) Haskell.

John E. Haskell was a native of Thomaston, Me., and died in Cass County, Ill., in 1876. He came to Cass County in 1835, making his first journey by canal-boat and sleigh. The second time Mr. Haskell came to Cass County, he rode a pony, with a big New Foundland dog for company, and just east of the then village of Princeton worked in a mill for Beggs & Brady. Later he bought this mill and moved it, in 1838, to his eleven acres of land which he had bought. This eleven acres of land was on the south side of the city square in Virginia, on which he pastured the cattle that did the work of treading for his mill. Subsequently this ground was subdivided into building lots and sold by his son, Charles I. Haskell. In this, which was the first woolen mill in the state, he carried on carding and weaving until 1865, when he disposed of the mill. He had learned the wool carding and weaving business before coming to the West.

The marriage of John E. Haskell and Emeline Brady took place at Virginia, in Cass County, Ill. She was born near Louisville, Ky., March 4, 1826, and was brought to Cass County in 1835, and died October 22, 1901, at the home of her brother, john J. Brady, in Pomona, Cal. Her remains were brought home and committed to the earth in the Virginia cemetery. The children of John E. and Emeline (Brady) Haskell were: Lydia, who died in infancy; Charles I.; Adelia M. (Mrs. D. M. Duffield), of Springfield, Ill.; and Harry, John and Edward, who died in infancy.

In political affairs, John E. Haskell took an active part, first as an ole-line Whig and afterwards as a Democrat, becoming a Democrat at the time of the Lincoln-Douglas campaign. For forty years he held the office of justice of the peace, never in all that time having a decision reversed. Short in stature and of portly form, he was known among the lawyers throughout the state and elsewhere especially in Supreme court circles, and was familiarly called "Pud" Haskell. After disposing of his mill, he relinquished all business effort, giving himself entirely to the duties pertaining to his official position.

Charles I. Haskell grew to manhood under the paternal roof, and received his early education in the public schools of the neighborhood. Beginning at the age of twelve years, he assisted his father in the mill, and continued a helper until he enlisted for service in the Civil war, January 4, 1865, in Company K, Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being assigned to the Sixteenth army corps. He served nearly a year, and, although not under fire, was a witness of the battles of Fort Blakeley and Spanish Fort while going down the Mississippi River. The boat that carried, the James Watson, struck a snag and sank, at the mouth of White River, March 3, 1865. Mr. Haskell was injured in the back, and was taken to a New Orleans hospital, where he was confined for some time. His regiment was encamped on Bayou Beff on its way to Mobile, and was discharged at Vicksburg, January 1, 1866. Mr. Haskell proceeded to Springfield, where he received his final papers and was paid off and returned to Virginia, Cass County. He is a member of Stephenson Post No. 30 G. A. R. of Springfield. For about a year afterward Mr. Haskell was not very busy, but in 1867 he became a clerk in the general store of Stephenson & Bergen, for whom he worked until 1869. In that year, together with Charles Gatton, he bought out the grocery department of Stephenson & Bergen, and later sold to Dunaway & Raybourn. Afterwards he went to the East, spending a year in traveling and visiting in the vicinity of the old Haskell home in New England. After returning to the West, he clerked a year, engaging then in the hotel business at Carlinville. This he disposed of in 1873 and then went to Decatur, where he was employed in the old Illinois Central Depot Hotel until the spring of 1875.

On May 25, 1875, at Virginia, Ill., Mr. Haskell was married to Mary C. Cole, who died December 17, 1897, and was buried at Virginia. She was a daughter of Robert and Kathryn (Soule) Cole. They had one child, John R., of Pittsfield, Ill., a wholesale tobacco clerk.

Politically, Mr. Haskell is a democrat. He was appointed postmaster by President Cleveland and served as such during both Cleveland administrations. He held the office of deputy sheriff of Cass County eight years, four years under Sheriff Widmayar and four years under Sheriff F. E. Shweer. For thirteen years he served as alderman of the Third Ward of his native town. Fraternally, Mr. Haskell is a charter member of the M. W. A. and has been long been connected with the I.O.O.F. He belongs to the Christian church, of which he is a trustee. After a long, industrious, honorable and useful life, Mr. Haskell is now living in retirement, respected by all who know him, and in the quiet enjoyment of the competence he has so worthily acquired.

William Haskell, a great-uncle of Charles J. Haskell, a great-uncle of Charles J. Haskell, introduced the first chain pump ever brought into the state of Illinois.