Charles N. Haskell

Charles Nathaniel Haskell (March 13, 1860 – July 5, 1933) was an American lawyer, oilman, and politician who was the first governor of Oklahoma. As a delegate to Oklahoma's constitutional convention in 1906, he played a crucial role in drafting the Oklahoma Constitution and gaining Oklahoma's admission into the United States as the 46th state in 1907. A prominent businessman in Muskogee, he helped the city grow in importance. He represented the city as a delegate in both the 1906 Oklahoma convention and an earlier convention in 1905 that was a failed attempt to create a U.S. state of Sequoyah.
During Oklahoma's constitutional convention, Haskell succeeded in pushing for the inclusion of prohibition and blocking the inclusion of women's suffrage in the Oklahoma Constitution. As governor, he was responsible for moving the state capital to Oklahoma City, establishing schools and state agencies, reforming the territorial prison system, and enforcing prohibition. The constitution prohibited persons from having successive terms in the governor's office. Lee Cruce succeeded Haskell, who returned to his law practice and related business activities. Haskell died of a stroke in 1933.
== Early life and education ==
Born in West Leipsic, Ohio on March 13, 1860, Charles Haskell was the son of George R. Haskell, a cooper, who died when the boy was three years old. His widowed mother, Jane H. Haskell (née Reeves), worked for the local Methodist church as a bell ringer and custodian to support her six children.
At the age of 10, Haskell started working as a farm boy for a farmer named Miller in Putnam County, Ohio. He lived and worked there for eight years as he grew into adulthood. Miller was a school teacher, but the young Haskell did not have time to attend school because of his work. Instead, Miller's wife taught him at home, and Haskell earned a teaching certificate at age 17.[citation needed]
== Private career ==
Haskell became a schoolteacher at age 18 and taught for three years in Putnam County. After "reading the law" as an apprentice with an established firm, on December 6, 1880, he passed the bar exam. He became a practicing attorney at age 20, setting up his practice in the village of Ottawa, Ohio. In his work as an attorney in Ottawa, he became one of the most successful lawyers in the county seat. He also became prominent in the Democratic Party in northwestern Ohio. In 1888, Haskell started work as a general contractor; for the next 16 years, his business career gave him an understanding of American industrialism. During this time, he lived part of the time in New York City and in San Antonio, Texas.
== Marriage and family ==
Haskell married Lucie Pomeroy, daughter of a prominent Ottawa family, on October 11, 1881. Their children were Norman, who became a lawyer in Muskogee, Oklahoma (where the family moved in 1901); Murray, who worked as a bank cashier; and daughter Lucie.
Lucie Pomeroy Haskell died in March 1888. Her widower remarried in 1889, to Lillie Elizabeth Gallup. They also had three children together: Frances, Jane and Joseph.