Contributed by:

 Deborah Tasker Sena  10/4/2013

Deborah sent us this update to the Tasker Family Tree in the form of a letter.  It mentions their origins in France and three brothers coming to the United States in the early 1800's.  One settled in Dover and the other two went to Bartlett and one operated a hotel in Intervale, NH.  (Correction:  "one operated a hotel in Intervale, NH" is actually referring to a contemporary cousin of the author, not one of the 3 brothers. Rather the descendants who stayed in Barlett. She is referring to the Taskers who owned Fairview Cottage in the Intervale.

Author of letter: Bernice (Tasker) Harris- daughter of Millard Tasker and Annie Barrows, Millard was the son of James Bassett Tasker. One of the five brothers who walked from Bartlett to Haverhill. Bernice was born and lived her whole life in Haverhill. So Elijah Tasker was her uncle to operated the shoe business with her father as mentioned in the letter. (I am descended from Millard's brother, George F.) Although not completely confirmed, we believe the letter was sent to Charles Worthen, son of Lillian (Tasker) Worthen and her husband Herbert, also of Haverhill. Lillian was a daughter of the above mentioned George F.

Read the letter in this PDF attached file:  HERE

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Deborah also wanted to share/comment on the content and claims in the letter and how she has researched them to date.
 
Tasker arrival in Bartlett- This is later than the known facts such as Jonathan Tasker being present for the formation of the town government in 1790.
 
3 brothers, Dover and Bartlett- Elements of what others have determined but a big generational difference with Dover and Bartlett being simultaneously settled.  The more accepted version is that we are descended from William Tasker who arrived in the then called Dover area (Madbury) in the late 1600s. His great grandsons, Ebenezer and Jonathan moved to Bartlett (although there are some versions that start with John, grand father of the pair). 
 
Huguenot orgins- There are assumptions that the Taskers were of English origin but no documentation to that effect.  While Tasker is a fairly known English name it is often explained as coming from the Norman French when they invaded and, therefore, has the same root as the French equivalent name, Tascher.  I found online another researcher claiming the Hugeunot connection but with a timeline more fitting to the Wm Tasker of Madbury origin.  He has not responed to many requests by me and others for the documentation of the claims.  I suspect it has some of the same sources as Berenice's.
 
Is it possible, yes.  Wm's arrival in Dover is very close to the date when the Edict of Nantes was revoked, and its not hard to imagine that conditions were bad just prior to the official revocation. But he would have to had come to the colonies from France, not via England (unless a transient stopover). Also there are records of Huguenot Taschers being in England in the early 1700's.  I did check with the American Huguenot Society and they say some did come directly to the colonies.  They do not, however, have any record in the US of a Tasker/Tascher Huguenot line.
 
Also of interest is that Wm.'s granddson married into another Madbury family, the Demerrits, whose first immigrant Eli has been hotly debated as to his origins, including that he was Huguenot.  It would make sense that coming to the colonies with no resources they would find their way to the new/cheaper land opening up, such as rural NH, and also would settle near/marry into other Huguenot families.
 
But in the end I have more or less concluded its unlikely and possibly the result of skewed/prejudicial genealogy trying to meet people preferences as anglophiles or francophiles.  Possibly with an anti-catholic overlay which makes the Huguenot connection the more acceptable.
 
5 brothers  - Berenice is correct, there is no record anywhere for a Joshua or Joseph Tasker (others of that name have other established ancestry in Nh) including Civil War service/death, etc.  Although I have not probably searched that as thoroughly as possible.  Elijah on the other hand clearly existed and shows up in Haverhill directories as partner with Millard Tasker.  I also found a California state census that recorded an E. Tasker in gold country.  One of these days I will see if I can find a death cert to verify his parents.  He certainly was not buried near any of the other Tasker graves in Haverhill.
 
That summarizes my research to date.  Hope you enjoy the document.  Please let me know when it arrives.
 
Deborah Tasker Sena

October 2013
 
 

Subject: William D. Tasker bio on society site

 Contributed by:

 Deborah Tasker Sena  9/1/11

THIS INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED FROM THE CONWAY PUBLIC LIBRARY WEBSITE: 

WILLIAM D. TASKER, propiertor of the Fairview house, at Intervale, Carroll County, was born January 28 1852, at lower Bartlett, a son of the late Cyrus A. Tasker.  The following is a brief review of his line of descent. 
John Tasker, the founder of the Tasker family of America, emigrated from England to this country at an early day, settling in Madbury, N.H., where his four sons - Evenezer, Samuel, John, and William - lived for some time.  Ebenezer Tasker served in the French and Indian war.  At one time, when out on scout duty, he stumbled on a camp of Indians, and was discovered by them.  With great courage and presence of mind, he shouted, "Come on, boys!" as though leading an attack, at which the indians took flight and fled.  Settling in Bartlett, about two miles below the present village, he cleared a farm, and there reared his two sons - Ebenezer and Jonathon.  Seargent Jonathan Tasker, the next in his line of descent, served in the War of the Revolution, being in Colonel Reed's regiment and Captain Clay's company.  He reared six children two sons, Jonathan and Ebenezer; and four daughters, namely: Polly, who became the wife of Elder Hazeltine; Lucrieta and Lurana, twins, who married two brothers, Daniel Rogers and Joshua Rogers; and Comfort, who married Benjamin F. George.  Ebenezer Tasker was a lifelong farmer and one of the leading citizens of Bartlett during the greater part of his long life of eighty-four years.  His worth and ability were fully appreciated by his fellow townsmen, who elected him to numerous offices of trust, including those of Selectman, Tax Collector, and Representative to the State Legislature.  He married a Miss Hussum, and their children were: William, Cyrus A. Ebenezer, Eliza, John, Mary, Andrew, and Martha.  William, born in 1813, for nine summers led a horse over the bridle path across Mount Washington, giving to his father the money thus earned, sixty dollars.  Then going to West Newbury, Mass., he began mercantile business on a small scale by peddling combs, in which occupation he soon acquired sufficient capital to open a store there.  The extent of his operations subsequently became so great that he was enabled to corner the comb market and to exchange his stock for the land on which Kansas City now stands, thus acquiring a large fortune.  During the Civil War he suffered financial ruin; but, starting again with a capital of three hundred dollars, he made another fortune.

Eliza, daughter of Ebenezer Tasker, married Hazen Pitman, proprietor of the Pequawket House, at Lower Bartlett.  She died April 22, 1899.  John, who was educated by his brother William, was Quartermaster in the War Department at Washington, D.C.  He married, and reared three children: Herbert Delman, a resident of Providence, R.I.; Ida, now Mrs. Ida Avis, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Jennie, wife of Charles McCutcheon, of New York.  Mary, daughter of Ebenezer Tasker, is the wife of Thomas M. Chase, a comb manufacturer, of West Newbury, Mass.  They have two children: Elwood N., who married Anna Noyes; and Emma M., who is the wife of Ezekiel Whitman.  Martha Tasker married, first, W. Silver, and after his death became the wife of George Bennett.  Ebenezer Tasker was a merchant and business man of Bartlett.  He married KeziaLaighton, who bore him five children - Ida, John, Sarah, Mary, and Lydia.John reisded in Newburyport.  Sarah, who is a tailoress at Manchester, N.H., has made a coat for every Governor of the state for the past fifteen years.  Lydia married Frank Locke.