Extracts from Weygant, The Family Record, 1897
page 3
"Near the close of the year 1630 the ship Lyon, laden with provision and having on board 26 passengers, sailed out from the seaport of Bristol, England, bound for Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her passengers were cultured and well-to-do Puritan Colonists, who, in consequence of persecution and social ostracism because of their religion, had determined to leave comfortable homes in the land of their birth, and seek liberty of conscience with such fortune as might await them on the green shores or in the primeval forests of the fair land of New England.
The member of this little company destined to meet with severest trials, and to be most favorably remembered in the land whither they journeyed, was the able and fearless young Cambridge student and minister, Roger Williams. Our interest, however, is centered more directly in a family group of his fellow passengers, consisting of Simon Sackett, his young wife Isabel, their infant son Simon, and John, a stalwart lad, the brother of Simon the elder. From these are descended all the older lines of the family in America."
page 50
2. JOHN SACKETT, the founder of the New Haven branch of the Sackett family, came to New England with his brother Simon on the relief ship Lyon, which sailed from Bristol, England, December 1, 1630, and reached Boston in the early part of the following February.
Either before leaving England, or during this tedious midwinter voyage, he seems to have formed a strong attachment for the talented young non-conformist minister, Roger Williams, who was a fellow passenger.
In looking up the record of the Sackett family in America, the writer has been led to suppose that John Sackett, on the occasion of his embarkation for America, was a lad in his teens and a member of the household of his brother Simon. But authentic records have recently come to light which show conclusively that he was at the time a married man and the father of an infant son, John Jr. He may also have had other children, but if so, the proof is as yet lacking.
A few months after the Lyon sailed into Boston Harbor, Simon Sackett became interested with Governor Winthrop and his Assistants in laying the foundation of the City of Cambridge. John Sackett, meantime, followed Roger Williams to the Plymouth settlement, and afterwards to Rhode Island. But life in the wilderness, surrounded by treacherous Indians, evidently soon lost for him all its charms, and he made his way to New Haven. Like many of the early colonists he seems to have been of a somewhat roving disposition, and no reliable information concerning the history of any member of his family, save of himself and his son, John, Jr., has been found among the early colonial records. It is probable his wife died shortly after his arrival in this country, and that John, Jr. was their only child. His name is first mentioned in New Haven records under date of 1640, at which time he was in the employ and would seem to have been superintending the estate of a widow named Stolya. According to a tradition which is in the main verified by official records, he was a man of pleasing address, and the widow Stolya from playing mother to the son fell desperately in love with the father, who does not appear to have reciprocated her affection and spoke slightingly of her love making. Whereupon she made complaint to the General Court that he had slandered her. When the case was heard the finding of that August body, "then the supreme power in the province," was that "John Seckett (Sackett) be admonished to tender to the widow Stolya such satisfaction as she might accept."
At a subsequent session of the General Court, held at New Haven, John Sackett signed the "Oath of Fidelity," and in 1646 was made the custodian of the Public Building in which the General Court was held. The following is copied from Court records of 1647:
"John Sackett presented to court bill for putting up some poles and spending some nayles; the said John gave in a note to the court, of charges which had been spent about the house, to the value of about 17s, 8d."
It is not now known how long John Sackett, the elder, continued a permanent resident of New Haven after 1647, nor is it known where he spent the closing years of his life or when he died. That he outlived his son John, Jr. is made apparent by following extract from a "search of Probate office of New Haven," made by the venerable L. B. Sackett, Esq., Attorney-at-Law, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1850, viz:
"John Sackett, inventory of the estate of John Sackett, Junior, late of New Haven, deceased, taken this 6th day of Oct. 1684."
45. JOHN SACKETT, Jr., was born in England about the year 1628. His father brought him to America when he was probably not more than two years old. In 1646 he was a resident of New Haven and a member of the Train Band, or local militia company. The records of General Court of that year contain a minute setting forth the fact that John Sackett had been fined 6 cents "for wanting a rest at a training he attended." A rest was a stick, crotched at one end, and was used to steady the heavy muskets when taking aim. On May 20, 1652, John Sackett, Jr. married Agnes Tinkham, and continued to reside at New Haven until his death, which occurred Sept. 3, 1684. He was survived by his wife Agnes, three sons and two daughters. Widow Sackett seems to have outlived all her children, dying in 1707.
The records of New Haven Probate office show that on Apr. 25, 1707, an inventory of Estate of Agnes Sackett was filed by Joseph Sackett, administrator. Also that on July 8, 1712, Lieut. Joseph Sackett, administrator of John and Agnes Sackett, was discharged from his bond. This Joseph Sackett was the grandson of John and Agnes (Tinkham) Sackett.