Page:One of a thousand.djvu/305

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HASKELL. HASKINS. 29I Rosilla Haines, daughter of Captain Peter I lames, who emigrated from New Hamp- shire to the then district of Maine in 1795. Mr. Haskell was educated in the district school and at Kent's Hill Seminary, and was prepared for college at the age of six- teen. The limited means of his parents prevented him from taking up his college connection, and when seventeen, he entered the office of the " Portland Advertiser," then edited by Henry Carter. After staying one year and learning the art of type-setting, he went to New Orleans in the autumn of 1855, and worked there and in Baton Rouge as a journeyman printer until the following June. He then returned to Boston and took a situation as compositor on the " Saturday Evening Gazette," then published by William W. Clapp, now of the "Boston Journal." In the spring of 1S57 he was employed on the " Boston Journal " as printer and re- porter, and went to the "Boston Herald" as a reporter, in the spring of i860. The " Herald " was then owned and managed by Colonel E. C. Bailey, who quickly discovered the newspaper abilities of Mr. Haskell, and added him to his staff of editorial writers. In that position he remained until 1865, when he and four other employees of the " Herald " bought the paper of Colonel Bailey. Mr. Haskell was then installed as editor-in-chief, a position which he held uninterruptedly (save during a year's absence in Europe) until October, 1887, when he sold a large moiety of his third proprietary interest in the " Herald," and has since had nothing to do with the management of the paper, save as one of the directory of the " Bos- ton Herald Company." This company succeeded the partnership under the firm name of R. M. Pulsifer & Co. By his good judgment he was enabled to steer this independent journal between partisan extremes and make it a widely recognized conservative power and author- ity. As an editorial writer, Mr. Haskell was terse and direct, going to the core of the theme under discussion, and his keen sense of humor was a no less noticeable trait of his professional outfit. Mr. Haskell is chief owner in two daily newspapers in Minneapolis, holding with his associates there, including his eldest son, a monopoly of the press franchise in that city. Mr. Haskell's fortunate business and pro- fessional career has been happily matched by his social and domestic life at his ele- gant and beautiful home overlooking the valley of the Charles River in Auburndale, Newton. In 1877 and '7S, accompanied by his family and a small retinue of invited friends, he made a tour of Europe. Hence the unique descriptive serial sketches in the " Herald " of the adventures of " The Scribbler Family Abroad." In 1S82 he declined a nomination to Congress, which would have been equiva- lent to an election, preferring journalism to what he held to be a more limited field of usefulness and honor. Mr. Haskell was married in August, 1861, to Celia, daughter of Jonas and Joanna (Hubbard) Hill, of Fayette, Me. Of this union were seven children, of whom four are living. The eldest son, William, is editor of the "Minneapolis Tribune," having graduated at Harvard in the class of 1884. The second son, Harry Hill, is a student in Harvard, preparing for a medical education. HASKINS, David Greene, the sec- ond son of Ralph and Rebecca (Greene) Haskins, was born in Boston, May 1, 1818. Ralph was the sixteenth and youngest child of John and Hannah (Upham) Has- kins. The father of John was Robert, who came to Boston from England in the early part of the last century. Ralph was a well-known Boston merchant. He began life in 1800 in the employ of Theodore Lyman (with whom he was afterwards in partnership) as supercargo of the ship " Atahualpa " on a three years' voyage to the northwest coast in search of furs. Rebecca Greene was the eldest daughter of David and Rebecca (Rose) Greene. David was a direct descendant of John, who was associated with Roger Williams in the Providence purchase. His wife was a daughter of John Rose, of Antigua, W. I. Mr. Haskins was fitted for college at the academy of his uncle, Charles W. Greene, at Jamaica Plain. He was grad- uated from Harvard University in the class of 1S37, and was immediately em- ployed as assistant teacher in Mr. Greene's Academ)'. In 1839 he entered the junior class of the theological seminary, Andover. From 1841 to '44 he was preceptor of the Portland Academy, at Portland, Maine. Removing to Roxbury in 1S44, he con- ducted a private school for girls, and at the same time studied for the ministry under the direction of Rev. Dr. Howe, now bishop of central Pennsylvania. He was admitted to deacon's orders in 1847, and to priest's orders the next year.