Change Log

December 2014

The history of the Warren church has references to a number of early Sacketts in that town, as well as having been written by a Sackett. Thanks to Richard Price for finding this item.

November 2014

The shipwrecking in 1802 of John Sackett's corn hoy was a major tragedy for Thanet and made nationwide headlines. A fund was set up for public donations to alleviate the financial hardship of bereaved families. A book, A Circumstantial Narrative of the Stranding of a Margate Corn Hoy, was published, "the Profits arising from the Sale being applied to the Benefit of the Orphans, and other Sufferers by the Calamity."

Judge Homer Sackett's small-town fame in Gary, Indiana, spread to the English newspapers when they reported an incident in 1946 where "he left the Bench and grappled with the defendant in a divorce case who struck a woman witness. The judge twice threw to the floor the defendant, who was six feet three inches and weighed 175 pounds. Judge Sackett then returned to the Bench and fined him £50 and sentenced him to 90 days for contempt of court." In contrast to this rather macho image, Homer wrote a memoir, at his son's request, which rings with honest simplicity and charming humility.

October 2014

Captain John Sackett, of Thanet, Kent, was master of several ships in the 1700s plying the Atlantic with cargoes between Antigua in the West Indies, Virginia, Spain, Portugal, and England. His shipwrecks, capture by the French, and release by British privateers made the headlines of the day. Following his supplier's failure to provide a cargo of tobacco in Virginia, he brought a legal action in London's Chancery Court.

September 2014

A number of coats of arms have been claimed for members of the Sackett family. However, all are entirely bogus. This article details the claims, tracing the first counterfeit Sackett arms to a book published in 1815.

August 2014

Sir Richard Burton, although not a Sackett, was an early occupant, perhaps the first, of Sackett's Hill House. He was an Equerry to King William IV, by whom he was styled 'The First Gentleman of Thanet'. When the King came over from Hanover from time to time and landed at Broadstairs or Ramsgate, Sir Richard would meet His Majesty and put him up at Sackett's Hill House.

"Our" Sir Richard is not to be confused with the more famous Sir Richard Francis Burton, the Victorian explorer and translator who, among much else, brought the Kama Sutra to publication in English.

Website tip—
When viewing lengthy genealogical sketches it may be found helpful to click on the superscripted citation reference numbers in the text. These are linked to the Notes & Citations at the bottom of the page.

July 2014

June 2014

May 2014

April 2014

The Great Migration update includes a sketch of William Bloomfield, second husband of Isabel Pearce, widow of Simon Sackett the colonist. The record details William and Isabel's moves from Cambridge to Long Island, via Hartford and New London. The Bloomfield sketch has some data on Simon and Isabel's son Simon, who married his stepsister Sarah Bloomfield. Extracts from sketches of William Hannum and John Stiles have data on Simon and Isabel's second son, John Sackett, who married Abigail Hannum and later Sarah Stiles.

March 2014

February 2014

January 2014