William P. Haskin, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of William P. Haskin
William P. Haskin, a Johnson county pioneer and a successful farmer now living retired in Olathe township, was born in St. Clair county, Michigan, September 20, 1835. He is a son of Harley and Mary (Pennock) Haskin, the former a native of Vermont, born in 1801, and the latter of New York, born May 9, 1811. Harley Haskin was the son of Richard Haskin, native of Londonderry, Ireland, who immigrated to America in 1865 and settled at Middletown, Vt. He died in 1850. Richard Haskin served in the Revolutionary war and also had a brother, Harvey, who served in that war. They were with the "Green Mountain Boys," who were commanded by General Stark, at the battle of Bennington. Harley Haskin, the father of William P., went to Michigan when a young man and was married there. In the spring of 1836 he moved to Lake county, Indiana, where he was frozen to death on "Twenty Mile Prairie" while returning to his home after a day's work, December 24, 1836. The mother and William P., then a baby, were left alone in the world and she later married Elkanah Raskins and they moved to Lee county, Iowa, and William P., the subject of this sketch, remembers being where the city of Keokuk, Iowa, now stands, when the Indians were the only inhabitants of that place. The family settled on some Indian land along the bluffs of the Mississippi river. There was some question about the title to the land but the Haskins family remained there for some considerable time. In 1846 they returned to Indiana and located in Porter county. William P. Haskin lived in Porter and Laporte counties, Indiana, until 1865, when he came to Kansas and settled in Olathe township, Johnson county, on the place where he now resides. The following year after coming to Kansas, he went back to Vermont but remained only a few weeks when he returned to Kansas and settled on the 160 acres of land in Olathe township which he bought September 26, 1865, for which he paid only $500, but even at that price Mr. Haskin says that it required more effort to pay for it on account of the scarcity of money than it would to pay for it at its present valuation. Mr. Haskin bought this land from James A. Crawford, of Staunton, Va. Mr. Haskins made a success in general farming and stock raising. He retired a few years ago and divided most of his property between his children. However, he has retained enough of the world's goods to easily keep the wolf from the garage. Mr. Haskin was married February 25, 1869, to Miss Diana Brush, of Laporte county, Indiana. She was born in Clinton township, that county, January 31, 1845, and is a daughter of Samuel R. and Sarah Cora Brush, natives of Pennsylvania and early settlers in Indiana. To William P. and Diana (Brush) Haskin have been born the following children: Diana Keyes, a teacher in the Kansas City schools; Samuel Brush, a banker of Shawnee township; and E. H., a personal sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Haskin is a Republican and since casting his first vote for John C. Fremont in 1856, he has missed only one Presidential election. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and the Grange. He also joined the I. O. of G. T. in 1859, and was Deputy D. G. W. C. T. in Indiana, and has never violated the obligation. The marriage license of Mr. and Mrs. Haskin, issued February 25, 1869, has a prominent place on the wall of the sitting room and is enclosed in a neat frame.
Source: Blair, Ed. 1915. History of Johnson County, Kansas. Lawrence, Kansas: Standard Publishing Company. 469 p.
Page(s) in Source: 360-361
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook