1834–1922

Summary

Stephen Nelson Haskell was a soap-maker and farmhand who, after his conversion to the Sabbath in 1853, gave nearly seventy years of unbroken service to the Seventh-day Adventist Church as evangelist, conference president, missionary pioneer, and author. He helped found the church’s first regular tract and missionary society in 1869, served three separate terms as president of the California Conference (1879–1887, 1891–1894, 1908–1911), and traveled to England, Switzerland, France, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, and South Africa promoting the spread of the third angel’s message. He was the husband of Mary Howe (m. 1850, d. 1894) — twenty years his senior — and after her death married Hetty Hurd (1897). He died in 1922 at the age of eighty-eight.

A Promise to a Dying Father (1850)

Steinweg’s Lest We Forget opens with the moment that brought Haskell into a marriage that would shape the next forty-four years of his life: “Promise me, the dying man begged. Promise me you’ll take care of Mary when I’m gone. She’s so helpless and she’ll be all alone in the world.” The dying man was Farmer Howe, an old friend of Haskell’s. The seventeen-year-old Stephen — already mature beyond his years — gave the promise, took charge of the farm, and married Mary Howe in 1850. Steinweg records: “Mary was twenty years older than Stephen. They would share nearly 45 fulfilling, though childless years, before Mary would pass away to her rest” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 301, ¶ 4).

Birth, Conversion, and the First Sermon (1834–1853)

Steinweg records that Haskell was born “the 22nd of April, 1833 in the little town of Oakham, Massachusetts” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 301, ¶ 6). Town records actually give the year as 1834 — Haskell himself appears to have used 1833. The same paragraph records Steinweg’s portrait of his early self-formation: “Haskell’s parents were members of the Congregational Church. At the tender age of eight, young Stephen signed a temperance pledge, and after his conversion at age 15 in 1848, he joined his parents’ church. Haskell learned soap making as a trade and also hired out to Farmer How to help maintain his farm” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 301, ¶ 6).

In 1852 Haskell heard his first advent sermon. Steinweg records his impulsive reaction: “He talked of that sermon to every one he met, and was presently asked by a neighbor why he himself did not preach” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 301, ¶ 7). Haskell was at first unsure, and preached his first sermon under great embarrassment.

The Sabbath, the Tract, and a Canadian Forest (1853–1854)

Steinweg records the moment that brought Haskell to the seventh-day Sabbath: “In 1853 the Review began to publish a little tract entitled simply ‘Elihu on the Sabbath.’ This tract was to play a large role in making Stephen N. Haskell a Sabbath-keeping Adventist.” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 302, ¶ 8).

Travelling to Canada to visit a group of Adventist believers, Haskell stopped to leave his trunk at a shop in Springfield, Massachusetts, owned by William Saxby. Steinweg records that through Saxby’s tactful home missionary work the seeds were sown: “the seeds of Sabbath truth in the visitor’s somewhat stubborn heart” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 302, ¶ 8).

Saxby gave Haskell a copy of the Elihu tract, and Steinweg records the moment of decision: “Brother Haskell decided” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 302, ¶ 9) — on his knees in a Canadian forest — that he would obey the Sabbath commandment.

A few months later, Joseph Bates appeared at the Haskell home: “Some time later Joseph Bates suddenly appeared at Haskell’s door, announcing himself as a friend of William Saxby. Before Bates left, the Haskells had accepted all the doctrines the captain had presented and sent along with him an order for every tract and paper published by the Review.” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 302, ¶ 11).

Tract and Missionary Societies; the New England Conference (1869–1870)

Steinweg records what is perhaps Haskell’s most distinctive contribution: “Haskell had a burden to distribute Seventh-day Adventist publications everywhere. Because of this, he helped inaugurate the first regular church tract and missionary society plan in 1869. This is perhaps the accomplishment for which Stephen N. Haskell is best known because of its far-reaching results.” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 303, ¶ 12).

In the summer of 1870 Haskell and P. C. Rodman of Rhode Island purchased a fifty-foot tent for evangelism. Steinweg records: “he and a friend, P. C. Rodman, of Rhode Island purchased a fifty-foot tent and pitched it on the ground of the first New England camp-meeting near South Lancaster, Massachusetts.” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 303, ¶ 13). The same paragraph adds: “Haskell invented a special tent stake removing tool that is in use today” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 303, ¶ 13).

At that camp meeting the four New England states — New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut — were organized into the New England Conference. Steinweg records: “Haskell was ordained and, much to his surprise, elected president of the newly-formed conference” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 303, ¶ 14).

James White, visiting Haskell’s field the following November, judged the work to be ahead of any other field in the church’s expanding territory. Steinweg quotes White’s assessment from the Review: “under the well-directed efforts of Brother Haskell, our people are in advance of those in any other part of the field, in systematic, energetic action for the advancement of the cause of truth” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 303, ¶ 15).

Worldwide Missionary (1882–1908)

Steinweg records Haskell’s first overseas tour in 1882, including his visit to a very feeble J. N. Andrews in Switzerland: “From England, he toured Switzerland and France where he visited a very feeble J. N. Andrews. He commended the success of the work among the French made possible by Andrew’s publications and sought to inspire other workers to do the same for the Italians” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 303, ¶ 16).

In 1885 he was in New Zealand, then Australia. Steinweg records the moment a New Zealander, a member of the Hare family, overheard him in prayer through the door of his rented room: “Bro. Hare eavesdropped as Haskell prayed for him and his family. He and many other members of his family accepted the present truth” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 303, ¶ 17).

In 1889–1890 he made a comprehensive world tour. Steinweg records the fruit of it: “Haskell had a burning desire to reach more countries for Christ. He took an extensive trip during 1889-1890 to Western Europe, Southern Africa, India, China, Japan, and Australia.” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 304, ¶ 20). Steinweg adds, in the same paragraph, that on that world tour Haskell “baptized one individual in China and another in Japan, the first [S.D.A. converts] in these countries” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 304, ¶ 20).

Mary’s Death and the Marriage to Hetty Hurd (1894–1897)

Mary Haskell died in January 1894 — forty-four years into the marriage. Steinweg records: “He was 61 years old, and by no means ready to retire. In fact, in just two years, in 1896, he was on the move again to Australia where he helped establish the new school at Avondale.” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 304, ¶ 21).

In 1897 he married Hetty Hurd, an old friend, and they spent twenty-two years together. Steinweg records that Hetty and Stephen Haskell were blessed with two and a half decades of joint ministry, marked, as the chapter describes, by “listening for [and following] God’s directions in their lives” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 304, ¶ 22).

New York City Campaign and Closing Years (1903–1922)

In 1903 Haskell led a major urban evangelistic effort in New York City. Steinweg records the integrated approach he urged: “That house-to-house literature work be conducted, opening doors for Bible studies by competent instructors; that health service and education be given through vegetarian restaurants, hydropathic treatment rooms, and lectures; that when the groundwork had been sufficiently done, there follow evangelistic meetings” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 305, ¶ 23). Steinweg records the consequence: “This they did not only in New York but in other cities, creating churches and building or purchasing meeting-houses. Restaurants and treatment rooms were established in main cities” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 305, ¶ 24).

From 1908 to 1911, between the ages of seventy-five and seventy-eight, Haskell served his third term as president of the California Conference.

Steinweg’s closing assessment captures the man, including the rebukes that came his way as he received messages from Ellen White and as he submitted: “Haskell was by no means a man who never made mistakes. Ellen White had to reprove him as she did many other leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church after receiving messages from God for them. Haskell was willing to listen and to allow God to work in his life. During his long, productive life he kept but one purpose in mind—to complete the Gospel commission” (Lest We Forget, ch. 152, p. 305, ¶ 26).

Death (1922)

Per the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists (Gerald Wheeler), Haskell died in 1922 at the age of eighty-eight, having outlived his second wife Hetty Hurd Haskell, who died in 1919.