Person Page - 158

75. Capt. Richard Sackett, 16__–1746, of New Haven, New York City, and Dover, Dutchess County, N.Y., son of (18) Jonathan and Hannah ___ Sackett, appears to have been employed in early life, for considerable period, in the forests of New England to have there learned how tar was extracted from pine trees. In 1699 he was a resident of New York City and the proprietor of a malt house or brewery. This malt house was located on the north side of Cherry Street, which at that time was known as Sackett Street, having been named for said Richard Sackett.
     On May 11, 1699, a marriage license was issued in New York City authorizing the marriage of Richard Sackett and Margery L. Sleade. At about the same date Richard Sackett was commissioned Captain of the 7th Company of the New York City regiment commanded by Colonel William Peartree. This company was composed in the main of prominent young business men and Capt. Sackett commanded it for several years.
     On March 11, 1703, Capt. Sackett petitioned the Lord Cornbury Government for permission to purchase from the Indian proprietors a certain tract of land in Dutchess County, called Wassaic. The license petitioned for was duly granted, the purchase from the Indian proprietors was made, and a patent for same, covering 7,500 acres, was issued to Richard Sackett and Company (Richard Sackett, Josiah Crego, Joseph Sackett, William Huddleson and John Mitchell), bearing date Nov. 2, 1704.
     At the time of which we are writing Capt. Sackett was enjoying marked prominence and popularity in both government and social circles, and his name appears frequently in official records of both New York and Connecticut.
     In April, 1703, Lord Cornbury appointed him Chief Revenue Officer for the South Eastern Section of the Province of New York. In April, 1704, he filed a minute of expenses incurred in seizing the sloop Betsey of Oyster Bay, for trading contrary to law, and bringing her up to New York. This proceeding shows that he had jurisdiction over the harbor and seacoasts as well as over the city and surrounding country. On June 16, of the same year, he was granted license to dispose by lottery, of several lots and tracts of land in New York City and Dutchess County, N. Y.
     The date of birth of Mr. Sackett has not been ascertained. It is claimed by some of his descendants that at one period before his marriage he was a sea captain. It is also stated on supposedly reliable authority that "having perfected his title to the Wassaick tract, he, in connection with several wealthy residents of New York City, purchased the Indian titles to several other extensive tracts in same vicinity, and the colony line between New York and Connecticut not having at the time been established, he probably availed himself of his knowledge of astronomy, acquired in the study of navigation, and made experiments and observations, based upon the treaty of partition made in 1683, but which had never been carried out by actual survey, and persuaded himself that the boundary line when surveyed would run within about two miles of the Ouastonic River. And that in this belief he purchased of Metoxan, the Great Chief of all the Indian tribes in that region, 22,000 acres of land -- more than 7,000 acres of which the survey of the boundary line showed to be in Connecticut." The foregoing probably refers to the Little Nine Pardners tract for which a patent was issued on April 10, 1606 (hand written note: "1706?"), to Richard Sackett and associates, the larger section of which is to-day the most productive portion of Dutchess County, and contains some of the most valuable farms to be found in the State of New York.
     The records of Connecticut General Assembly, under date of May, 1705, contain the following minute: "Mr. Richard Sackett, of the Province of New York, petitions this Assembly for full liberty for himself and associates to get and transport all such timber of pine and spruce and whatever growing in this colony, that might be of use in furnishing his Majesty's navy, and that he might have a patent for the same. Referred to the next General Assembly to be holden at New Haven in October next."
     At said October session the above petition, having been modified by the insertion of certain limitations and conditions, was favorably considered, and a resolution ordering the issue of a patent accordingly was duly passed.
     In the Census of the City of New York, taken about 1708, Richard Sackett is shown to have resided in the East Ward, and to have a household consisting of himself, his wife, four children (two sons and two daughters), and four negro slaves (three male and one female).
     In 1711 Mr. Sackett settled his family permanently in Dutchess County, building his residence about one mile south of the present village of Wassiac. French, in his "Gazetteer of New York." says that Richard Sackett purchased several large tracts of land of the Indians in Dutchess County and in Sharon, Connecticut. P. H. Smith, in his "History of Dutchess County." says that "at the time Richard Sackett established his family in Amenia there was not another white family nearer than Paughkeepsie. Woodbury and New Milford." In other words within a radius of fifteen miles.
     In same year, 1711, Governor Hunter, somewhat in opposition to the Lords of Trade, who favored another person, appointed Mr. Sackett superintendent of the manufacture of naval stores in the Province of New York, and subsequently of New Jersey also. This important position he filled acceptably throughout the term of office of Governor Hunter, who mentions him favorably in no less than twelve of his official reports to the Lords of Trade.
     In the first one of above mentioned reports Governor Hunter says: "I have provided another here by the name of Sackett, who hath lived three years in the Easterne Countries among the manufacturers of tar, and gives me a very rational account of the method of preparing the trees; I have also wrote to Connecticut for two more, who, as I am informed, understand ye matter very well."
     Mr. Sackett was also one of the presiding officers of the "Court over Palatines," appointed by "His Excellency, Brigadier Hunter, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief," to manage the affairs of the several Palatine villages within his jurisdiction. The extraordinary powers conferred on this court are shown in the warrant creating it, which is recorded on page 669, Vol. III, Documentary History of New York, and reads as follows:      In 1715, Richard Sackett was, on recommendation of Judge Leonard Lewis, made the first clerk of Dutchess County, which office he held until 1721.
     On Nov. 29, 1722, it is recorded that Richard Sackett petitioned the New York Assembly for "a warrant of survey, to run the north line of Madam Brett's patent, his land lying adjacent thereto (in Dutchess County)."
     In 1732 the General Assembly of Connecticut granted a charter to "The New London Society, United for Trade and Commerce," in which Richard Sackett is named as one of the incorporators.
     Among the acts passed by the New York Colonial Assembly at session of 1734-5, was one "For the partition and division of a certain tract of land in Dutchess County, granted to Rip Van Dam, Richard Sackett, and others." A full account of proceedings taken under this act, together with copies of official maps, showing the specific allotments in this thirty-five mile trace, may be found in the "History of Little Nine Partners," by Isaac Hunting, of Pine Plains, N.Y., issued from the press of Charles Walsh & Co., Amelia, N.Y., in 1897.
     Capt. Richard Sackett died at Wassaick in 1746, and is buried in a private plot on a small rise of ground on the original Sackett Homestead farm at that place. Van Alstine in his "Burying Grounds of Sharon & Vicinity," referring to this particular plot, says: "This is a small enclosure on the hillside above the steel works, on the old road, half way between South Amenia and Wassiack. Here was buried in 1746, Mr. Richard Sackett, the earliest settler of Anemia. The stone that marked the spot has long since disappeared. The whole place is shamefully neglected."
     The will of Capt. Sackett was probated April 28, 1746, and was recorded both at Albany and New York City. It reads as follows:      The later years of the life of Capt. Sackett were attended with great annoyance occasioned by suits at law brought by persons claiming title to his estate, or the greater part of it, by virtue of grants or patents which it was claimed antedated those held by him.