Florence (Burt) Haskell

Florence “Flora” Harriet Burt was born in May 1840 to George Burt and Harriet Hildreth.  Her father, George, was known for his many inventions, notably the American hay tedder. This implement stirred and spread cut hay so that it could dry evenly. Although he wished Flora were a boy, George Burt sent Flora to be educated at the Groton Academy, now called Lawrence Academy. She was fortunate to attend through high school, unusual for a girl in those times. Harvard education did not include high school.  She finished schooling just as the first wave of soldiers was called to war. Flora was inspired to join the war effort as a nurse, serving under Dorothea Dix, who was recruiting for an all-female corps of nurses. Prior to this, all military nurses were men. At age 22, Flora joined the war and went to Washington.

Some of her duties as a nurse included dressing wounds, feeding paraplegics, writing letters for patients, tending to their spiritual needs, and informing families of deaths.  She met Joseph Haskell, Company C of the 19th Maine Regiment, in 1864 when he was transferred to the Invalid Corps, where she may have cared for him. They were married on September 20, 1866, in Baltimore, Maryland. They had one child, Harriet (Hattie) Burt Haskell, who had the same red hair and blue eyes as her father.

Flora died in Harvard at the age of 30 from consumption and is buried in the town Center Cemetery. After Flora’s death, her husband  married Sally Catherine Hartman in Baltimore, Maryland. They had at least one child together, Raymond Haskell (1878–1918).  Hattie remained in Harvard and lived with the Burt family.

Flora’s family lived on what is now Ayer Road in the Mill district. Her father, George Burt, owned a mill and had a machinery workshop where he employed his nephews, Edwin and Stanley Hildreth. None of these buildings is still standing.

(#3 on the Center Cemetery Tour map)