Person Page - 233

541. Major Buel Sackett, 1763–1840, of Litchfield, Conn., and New Lebanon (formerly Canaan), N. Y., son of (174) Benjamin and Deborah Buel Sacket, was married, about 1784, to Sally Earl Beach, 1761–1815. About 1818, he was married to his second wife, Lydia Buell, 1775–1832. When but 16 years of age he enlisted in the 5th Continental Regiment, which at the time was encamped at New Windsor, about two miles distant from General Washington's Headquarters, at Newburgh, N. Y. This regiment subsequently served on both sides of the Hudson and was on duty at West Point when Major Andre was executed. After the close of the war Mr. Sackett became a resident of New Lebanon, N. Y., and joined the Lebanon company of the Columbia County regiment of militia, which was composed mainly of veterans of the Revolutionary army. In this company he served first as a private and then passed through the non-commissioned grades to Ensign, receiving a commission as such in March, 1803. The following year he was promoted to Lieutenant, and in 1805 to Captain. In 1807 he retired from the militia service with the rank of Major. A newspaper notice of his death, published at the time, closes as follows: "He was a soldier of the Revolution, and was one of the guard at the execution of Major Andre. Thus, one after another, fall and are deposited beneath the clods of the valley, the few remaining patriots of early days. Very shortly the death knell of the last one must sound in the ears of those who have inherited the rich legacy left by these patriots."

714. Aaron Sackett, grandson of (75) Capt. Richard and Margery L. Sleade Sackett, was by occupation a farmer and resided near Rutland, Vermont. He had at least three

Aaron Sackett's Disputed Ancestry
There is a question concerning who the parents of (714) Aaron Sackett were. And despite the efforts of many Sackett researchers through the years, the identity of the parents of the Aaron Sackett who married Phebe Hart is still disputed. He has been listed as:

1. Aaron as the grandson of (75) Capt. Richard Sackett
According to Weygant [Source 1] (714) Aaron Sackett was a grandson of (75) Capt. Richard Sackett and Margery L. Sleade. But it is not stated which son of Capt Richard Sackett he believed to be the father of Aaron. Nor does Weygant tell us what information he had to indicate that Aaron was a grandson of Capt. Richard Sackett. It is also interesting to note that Weygant did not give the name of (714) Aaron Sackett's wife. He also stated that Aaron had at least three children but he only named two of them: William and Charles.

2. Aaron as the son of Capt Richard Sackett's son (268) Dr. John Sackett
Andrew P. Sackett, [Sources 2 & 3] in his book "Ancestors and Descendents of Frederick Plummer Sackett", states that Aaron was "Believed to be the eighth child of John Sackett, "Chirugeon", and his wife Elizabeth Maston." (268) Dr. John Sackett was one of the sons of (75) Capt. Richard Sackett.
     Placing Aaron Sackett into the family of (268) Dr. John Sackett would present some problems. According to Weygant, page 113, Dr. John had 10 children and the eigth child listed was (722) Catherine Sackett. Catherine would have had to have married a Sackett for Aaron to have been her child. The.only chld of (268) Dr. John Sackett not named is (724) ___ Sackett m. ___ Wadsworth. Listing of the surname of the spouse of (724) would seem to indicate that (724) was a daughter rather than a son. If (724) was a son, then he married a woman with the surname Wadsworth. This would not quite fit with Aaron who married Phebe Hart, unless he was married twice. Adding Aaron to this family would make a family of 11 children which was not unusual in that time. However, Dr. John lived his life in NY and his children for whom we have records lived in NY and PA., not CT.
     Dr. John's older brother, (267) Richard, Jr. did not remain in NY. Following the death of his father in 1746, he refused to qualify as an executor for his father's estate because of numerous lawsuits involving title to much of his father's land. Instead he bought a farm a few miles to the east, at New Milford, CT. Following the death of (267) Richard Jr., his son (711) Richard Sackett sold out the holdings in New Milford, CT. and in 1775 moved to Arlington, Bennington Co., VT. And his daughter, (710) Mary Sackett m. Israel Camfield in Arlington, VT. [Hemenway's Historical Gazetteer -Name Index: pg. 762; "Mary (Mollie) m. Israel Canfield", i 134(2) 2nd ed. 136 (2)]. So then, (267) Richard Jr. seems to be eliminated as the father of (714) Aaron. It has also been noted that the children of Richard, Jr. were of an older age bracket than has been assumed for Aaron.

3. As the son of (271) Josiah Crego Sackett
Dr. John's younger brother, (271) Josiah Crego Sackett married about 1750, Miss Douglass. He resided several years previous to his death at New Milford, CT. They were said to have had five children: Nelly, Prime, Prince, Skene Douglas, and one child whose name is not known. He and his wife "died several years previous to the Rev. War and their orphan children were distributed among their mother's family." Perhaps there might be guardianship records for these children in the Town Records of New Milford that could give the names of the children and who their guardians were. But it appears that no such record exists. Concerning the question as to the parents of (714) Aaron Sackett, none of the known children in any of the families above were named Aaron, unless he was (728) the unnamed child Weygant has in the family of Josiah Crego Sackett.
     In the material presented in his book, Andrew P. Sackett publishes a letter dated March 2, 1979 from a genealogical researcher, Percy Hamilton Goodsell, Jr. of CT., whom he had contacted to research this matter. Mr. Goodsell indicated that he believed that the one unnamed child of (271) Josiah Crego Sackett would be the most likely prospect:

     Mr. Goodsell also stated in a P.S. to the letter:
     One consideration that appears to have influenced Andrew P. Sackett in his conclusion that (714) Aaron was the son of Dr. John Sackett is found on page 13 of his introduction; "In a letter to me of December 29, 1955, The Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City reported their finding that Dr. John Sackett, son of Richard Sackett married Elizabeth Matson, daughter of John or Arthur Maston. They also gave their opinion that Aaron Sackett was a son of Dr. John Sackett." This statement seems to disagree with Mr. Goodsell's assessment of the reports that Andrew P. Sackett sent to him. It may be that Andrew P. Sackett had two different reports.
     Another consideration that seems to have influenced Andrew P. Sackett to discount the conclusions of the Utah Genealogical Society and Mr. Goodsell is that Josiah Crego Sackett is said to have been the son of Capt. Richard Sackett and a second wife, Margery Crego. He concluded, therefore, that; "Josiah Crego Sackett, the third son of Captain Richard, and the son of his second wife, Margery Crego, is excluded because Weygant stated that William Sackett, a grandson of Aaron, married a distant cousin, Mercy Sleade Earle, thought to be a relative of Richard's first wife." (page 13). He concludes that, if Aaron was the son of Josiah Crego Sackett, his son, (12720) William Sackett would not have been related to Capt. Richard Sackett's first wife Margery L. Sleade and therefore a relative of hers would not have been related to William.
     All of this is based upon Weygant's statement being accurate when he says that William married "a distant relative" when he married Mercy Sleade Earle. In light of the fact that Weygant also states that Josiah Crego Sackett was the youngest son of Capt. Richard Sackett and Margery L. Sleade (page 113) and does not show a second marriage for Capt. Richard; it would only be natural for him to state that Mercy Sleade Earle was "a distant relative" of Aaron's son William (page 491). If Capt. Richard Sackett did, indeed, have a second marriage to a Margery Crego which produced a son, Josiah Crego Sackett (as stated above); it would prove nothing concerning Weygant's statement about William Sackett and his wife, Mercy Sleade Earle being "distant" relatives. If Weygant was in error concerning Margery L. Sleade being the mother of Josiah Crego Sackett, then his statement about Mercy Sleade Earle being "a distant relative" would prove to be an error as well. To use Weygant's statement that they were distant relatives as fact and use that to argue for Dr. John Sackett to be Aaron's father; and at the same time discount Weygant's statement that Margery L. Sleade was Josiah Crego Sackett's mother does not make a very strong argument.

Since writing the options above, new information has been presented to the Sackett mailing list which proves that Capt. Richard Sackett did not have a son named Josiah Crego Sackett.
     Weygant based his argument upon his interpretation of an abstraction of the will of Capt. Richard Sackett. However, an examination of a handwritten copy of the will shows that the person in question was Josiah Crego, not Josiah Crego Sackett. In the will, Richard names his sons, Richard and John, giving their full names, Richard Sacket and John Sacket. When he states "I also give to my Welbeloved son Josiah Crego ..." he does not use the surname Sacket. Josiah Crego was Richard's stepson, the son of Margery L. Sleade by her first, of four, marriages.

4. Aaron as the son of (174) Benjamin Sackett
There are other Sackett researchers who believe that Aaron Sackett m. Phebe Hart is (544) Aaron Sacket born January 14, 1767, son of (174) Benjamin Sackett m. Deborah/Dorothy Buell, a descendant of John Sacket of Westfield, MA. The main source for this view seems to be Mamie Phillips. Weygant, p. 101, says that Benjamin Sackett was "of Sheffield, Mass., Litchfield, Conn., and New Lebanon, NY." and (p. 102) that in 1780 he was deeded some property in Goshen, CT., 6 miles north of Litchfiled, CT., by Ebenezer Buell: "given in consideration of the natural love and affection which I have and do bear unto Buell Sacket, my grandson." This indicates that (541) Buell Sacket, brother of (544) Aaron, received property in the area 6 years before Aaron Sackett married Phebe Hart there in 1786. However, this presents us with a problem of his age. Barbour's Collection of CT. Vital Records for Litchfield, CT. gives the marriage of Aaron Sackett and Phebe Hart as 6 Jul 1786. This would mean that (544) Aaron Sackett b. 14 Jan 1767 would have been 19 1/2 years old at that time of the marriage while Phebe Hart would have been age 23 years. If he is the spouse of Phebe Hart, and if the primary source document for this marriage could be found, it should include some form of a consent for Aaron to be married at age 19 1/2 yrs. Andrew P. Sackett believes that Mamie Phillips was influenced by Weygant's 1890s "Family Record" in selecting these parents for Aaron because "The Family Record" has Benjamin's son Aaron but does not have Aaron, the grandson of Richard. A. P. Sackett believes that Mamie did not know of Weygant's inclusion of (714) Aaron Sackett as a grandson of Capt. Richard Sackett in his 1907 "The Sacketts of America."

The following items should also be considered:

(1) The 1810 census indicates that Aaron was younger than Phebe:
1810 Census; Wallingford, Rutland, Vermont
Roll: #65; Page: 141[214]
Enumerated on or about 06 Aug. 1810 (Census Day)
Aaron SACKET (indexed as Aaron SACHIL)
Census: 101 10 - 320 01
1 male under age 10 (William)
1 male aged 16 - 26 (Charles)
1 male aged 26 - 45 = b. 1765-1784 (Aaron, b. 1767)
3 females under aged 10 (Electa, Nancy, Malinda)
2 females aged 10 - 16 (Amanda, Phebe)
1 female aged 45+ = (b. before 1765) (Phebe, b.1763)

(2) The DAR qualifies descendants of Aaron and Phebe (Hart) Sackett as members of the organization based upon descending from Benjamin Sackett and his Revolutionary War service.

Conclusion
We must face the possibility that the disagreement may never be resolved. Mr. Goodsell indicates that the relevant documents have been thoroughly searched with no success in determining the parents of Aaron Sackett who married Phebe Hart:
Although it is not conclusively proven, my personal belief is that (714) Aaron Sackett was the same person as (544) and actually the son of (174) Benjamin and Dorothy Buell Sackett.

— Thurmon E. King, Jan 2011

Sources
[1] Weygant, Charles; The Sacketts of America; Page 491:
714. Aaron Sackett, grandson of (75) Capt. Richard and Margery L. Sleade Sackett, was by occupation a farmer and resided near Rutland, Vermont. He had at least three
Children.
12720. William Sackett, b. Sept. 2, 1800, d. July 29, 1863; m. Mercy Sleade Earle.
12721. Charles Sackett.
[Although Weygant said at least three, he only listed two.]
[2] Sackett, Andrew P; Ancestors and Descendants of Frederick Plummer Sackett; Introduction; pg. 4:
"....it seems there were four Aaron Scketts of about the same age in the same general area.
One was the son of Benjamin Sacket (one "t") and Deborah Buell Sacket. This Aaron was born January 14, 1767.
Another was the son of Reuben Sacket, and this Aaron was born December 26, 1760.
Another was the son of Jonathan Sacket, and he was born in 1758. Reuben and Jonathan, incidentally , were brothers, the children of Jonathan and Ann Filer Sacket.
The fourth was a grandson of Captain Richard Sackett. My findings seem to indicate that it was the latter Aaron who is our link back to the colonist Sacketts."

Note by Thurmon King: Weygant's numbers for the Aaron Sacketts mentioned above are:
1. (544) Aaron Sacket born January 14, 1767
2. (647) Aaron Sackett b. 1758
3. (664) Aaron born December 26, 1760, Dorcas Clark
4. (714) Aaron Sackett b. ???? m. July 6, 1786

545. Lieut. Elijah Sacket, 1768–1813, farmer, son of (174) Benjamin and Deborah Buel Sackett, was married, June 17, 1789, to Dorothy Hitchcock, daughter of Russell Hitchcock, of Springfield, Mass. He was born at Sheffield, Mass., but previous to commencement of Revolution removed with his parents to New Lebanon, Columbia County, N.Y. Shortly after his marriage he settled in Washington County, where he became interested in local military affairs, and after serving for several years as a private and non-commissioned officer, was commissioned, first as Ensign and later as Lieutenant in Washington County Regiment. In 1809 he removed to Gouverneur, St. Lawrence County, N. Y., and resided there until his death in 1813.

548. Isaac Sacket, 1773–1854, son of (174) Benjamin and Deborah Buel Sacket, was married, Dec. 25, 1799, to Polly Hammond,1780–18__, and on Apr. 26, 1818, to Silence Washburn, 1770–1865.