Person Page - 84

John Sackett, colonist, of New Haven, Connecticut, was born, almost certainly in Thanet, Kent^G, in the early to mid-1620s.¹ His parents have not yet been positively identified. He died in New Haven^G on 3 September 1684.^1,2,3,4,5 He married in New Haven^G on 20 May 1652, Agnes Tinkham^1,4,5,6,7,8, who died there in 1707.^4,5,9
John Sackett's origins
It has not yet proved possible to establish with any confidence the origins of John Sackett of New Haven, although a number of possibilities may be considered.
     Weygant, in The Sacketts of America, records that he was the son of another John who would have been a brother of Simon Sackett the colonist, and that he was born in England in 1628 and brought to New England by his father in 1631.^1,10
The family tradition
Weygant relied on the family tradition, handed down the generations, that "Simon and John Sackett, brothers, came from England to Massachusetts, in company with Roger Williams. John Sackett followed Mr. Williams to Rhode Island and finally settled at New Haven, becoming the founder of the New Haven branch of the family. Simon Sackett remained in Massachusetts, was one of the founders of the City of Cambridge, and is the progenitor of the Massachusetts and Long Island, N.Y., branches."
     According to Weygant, the brothers journeyed from Bristol, England, on board Captain William Pearce's ship, Lyon, on the midwinter voyage which departed Bristol on 1 December 1630 and arrived at Nantasket Roads off Boston on 5 February 1631 after an 'unusually severe' crossing. It has not proved possible to confirm details of their passage, no reference to the Sackett name having been found in ships' passenger lists of the period.
Simon's brother John the fisherman
English records show that Simon did have a brother John, baptized in Thanet in 1586. This John is believed to have been the same man as John Sackett (the fisherman) who made his will in Thanet in 1628 and died there in 1634.
     If the family tradition about the emigrant brothers is correct, then it would have been this John Sackett who accompanied his brother Simon to the New World. If he did, then it must follow that he returned from New Haven to Kent sometime before or during 1634. However, the possibility that John the fisherman was the brother who allegedly accompanied Simon to the New World is not supported by the detail of the will which makes no mention of any children, the beneficiaries being John's wife Elizabeth, and his brothers and sisters.
     Identification of John the fisherman with John the brother of Simon then needs further examination. This identification depends upon John the fisherman's will, in particular to the reference in the will to a brother Simon. This is the only reference in English records of the period to a Simon Sackett (other than the records of Simon’s baptism in 1595, his two marriages in 1618 and 1627, and the baptisms of his three daughters, all of which events are undoubtedly correctly attributed to Simon Sackett the colonist). The context in which Simon's name is mentioned may also be significant. John made small bequests, of six pence each, to his brothers and sisters, who were not named. The only named sibling was Simon, and John made the request of his wife and heiress, Elizabeth, that she not demand repayment of a debt owed to John by Simon. It would perhaps be stretching the evidence too far to assume that the loan was connected to Simon's migration - still more than two years away - but it could be taken to indicate a special relationship between these brothers. Given the rarity of the name Simon, it would seem a remote possibility that there would have been two pairs of brothers named Simon and John. It is a reasonable conclusion that the sons John and Simon born to Thomas Sackett the younger were the same as the brothers John and Simon of John the fisherman’s will of 1628.
Simon's cousin John son of George
If we set aside the assertion that Simon's co-colonist was his brother, another possible candidate would be his first cousin, John Sackett, born in 1594 to George Sackett and Katherine Tompson. Although no evidence has been found to confirm that this John Sackett lived beyond infancy, he and Simon would have been close contemporaries, being only a year or so apart in age.
Other candidates
As well as attempting to identify adult English John Sacketts who may have accompanied Simon, we need also to seek out a child John Sackett in English records who may have been John of New Haven. The only John Sacketts known to have been born in the 1620s have all been identified with events in Kent later than 1631 and have been ruled out as possible candidates to have been John of New Haven. It is probably the case, given the fact of his migration to the New World, that his birth/baptism was not registered because of his parents' religious nonconformism.
     Anderson, in The Great Migration Begins, concluded that an elder John Sackett who would be Simon's brother was an "imaginary construct", and that there was "no evidence of any relationship between the immigrant Simon and John of New Haven." Although he noted records of "a servant by the name of John "Seckett" in New Haven by 1641, who is probably the same as the man who married in 1652", he made no further attempt to explain the origin of John Sackett of New Haven.¹¹
Weygant's 1897 and 1907 accounts
It is significant, and surprising in light of how little other information he had available to him, that Weygant omitted three important John Sackett events from his 1907 Sacketts of America, despite having included them in his 1897 Family Record. These were the Stolyon case of 1641, the swearing of the oath of fidelity in 1644, and the debt recovery action against Stephen Medcalfe in 1647.
     Weygant had attributed all of these events to the supposed elder John Sackett. Had Weygant remained convinced of the existence of an elder John, then surely he would not have omitted such important evidence from his definitive 1907 work. Given Weygant's painstaking diligence in researching and compiling this work, it must be concluded that the omission was intentional, pointing to the possibility that he had come to doubt this aspect of the family tradition.
Further research — DNA testing
Unless some hitherto undiscovered evidence, in either England or America, should come to light, the origin of John Sackett of New Haven looks destined to remain a tantalizing mystery. The documentary evidence found so far has not supported the family tradition that John of New Haven was taken to the New World by his father, a proposed elder John who would have been the brother of Simon Sackett the colonist. The evidence does not actually disprove the tradition, but nor does it offer an alternative explanation of the origin of John of New Haven.
     DNA testing of a number of present-day male Sacketts has been undertaken by members of the Sackett Family Association. Although it was expected that these tests would show a genetic link between Simon's line and that of John of New Haven, results suggest that these two men were not closely related, leaving open a wider range of options for the origin of John of New Haven.
John Sackett - a Chronology
The following is a list of events relating to John Sackett of New Haven, or relating to the search for his origins:
     Events in Thanet, Kent
     1586 Baptism of John Sackett, brother of Simon the colonist
     1594 Birth of John Sackett, son of George Sackett,
               and first cousin of Simon the colonist
     1595 Baptism of Simon Sackett the colonist
     1620s Birth of John Sackett of New Haven, almost certainly in Thanet
               (Weygant gives date of birth as 1628)
     1628 John Sackett the fisherman made his will
     1630 Departure from England, arriving Boston February 1631
     1634 Death of John Sackett the fisherman
     Events in New Haven
     1641 Court action, John Seckett servant to Mrs Stolyon
     1644 John Seckett swears oath of fidelity
     1646 John Sackett fined for attending training without musket rest
     1647 John Sackett sued Stephen Medcalfe for debt
     1652 Marriage of John Sackett of New Haven to Agnes Tinkham
     1653 Birth of John Sackett, son of John of New Haven and Agnes Tinkham
     1656 John Sackett listed in meeting house seating plan
     1656 John Sackett warned about bull and rewarded for catching a wolf
     1659 John Sackett's brook mentioned in court hearing
     1662 John Sackett listed in meeting house seating plan
     1666 John Sackett actioned Samuel Andrews for cost of treating a horse
     1669 Agnes, wife of John Sackett, named as beneficiary in & witness to will of Gillian Mansfield¹²
     1672 Highway built through John Sackett's land
     1674 John Sackett instructed, with others, to burn woodlands
     1680 John Sackett granted 48 acres in lands allocation
     1682 Town meetings, John Sackett Jr granted land to set up business as glazier
     1684 Death of John Sackett of New Haven
     1684 Inventory of estate of John Sackett of New Haven
     1707 Death of Agnes Tinkham.
New Haven
John Sackett arrived in New Haven at a very early stage of its settlement, the first mention of him in the records, as a servant to a Mrs Stolyon, being in August 1641, just three years after its foundation. The colony was established in the spring of 1638 when the companies of Davenport and Prudden sailed from Boston to Quillipiac, where they began the settlement that would become New Haven. The New Haven church was established, with seven founding members, Davenport included, on 21 or 22 April 1639, and on the latter day Peter Prudden and his following organized the Milford church.¹³
     A list of planters and their estates was drawn up in October/November 1640, although it was not written into the records until 1643.^14,15 John Sackett's name does not appear in this list. This is not surprising as, even if he were in New Haven by this date, he would not have qualified for inclusion in the list, being then a servant, not a freeman.
The Stolyon case
The first mention of John Sackett found in the New Haven records concerns a court action brought against him by Mrs Stolyon:
     "Att a Court held att Newhaven the 4th of the 6t M: 1641 ... John Seckett servant to Mrs. Stolyon for goeing about to slaunder and reproach his said Mrs, was admonished to tender to his Mrs such satisfaction as she might accept, wch was referred to Mr. Goodyeare to determine."¹⁶
     This John "Seckett" is now taken to be John Sackett of New Haven, although Weygant concluded that it referred to the proposed elder John.¹⁷ He gave this account of the case in The Family Record:
     "His [the proposed elder John's] 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."
     Although there is a discrepancy in the dates given for the court hearing (Weygant has 1640, not 1641), there can be no doubt that Weygant refers to the same case. His rather colourful description would appear to owe more to the "tradition" to which he refers than to the court record itself. It is noted that, while Weygant published an account of the Stolyon case in The Family Record (1897), he made no reference to it in his 1907 Sacketts of America.^18,19
Oath of fidelity
On 1 July 1644, "Joh: Seckett" swore the oath of fidelity at a General Court of New Haven.²⁰ The question is: which John Sackett was it, father or son, who swore the oath. If it was the proposed elder John, then this would confirm his existence in New Haven. He would not, however, have been the brother of Simon, as John the brother is shown to have died in Thanet, Kent, in 1634. If it was the younger John, then this would invalidate Weygant's statement that he was born in 1628. It may be assumed that a man taking the oath of fidelity would have been at least 21 years of age. This would give John's date of birth as no later than 1623.
As with the Stolyon case, Weygant recorded in his 1897 Family Record that John Sackett had signed the oath of fidelity (although he did not record the date of the oath), assigning the event to the proposed elder John Sackett, but then made no mention of the event in his 1907 Sacketts of America.
John Sackett's fine
On 6 October 1646, John Sackett was fined six pence for attending a training without a rest for his musket.²¹ Weygant attributed this event to the "younger" John Sackett, i.e. John Sackett of New Haven, in both his 1897 Family Record and his 1907 Sacketts of America.
John Sackett's debt
John appeared in court again later that year, on 2 March 1646 [1647 new style], when he "demanded a debt dew from Stephen Medcalfe of 18s." At a further court hearing two months later, on 4 May 1647, two townsmen who had been appointed to assess work carried out by John on Medcalfe's house confirmed that John had erected fencing, and John "gave in a noate to the court" showing that he had spent 17s 8d on materials.²²
     Weygant recorded this court action in the 1897 Family Record, assigning the event to the proposed elder John Sackett, but he made no reference to it in his 1907 Sacketts of America.
     In the Family Record, he records that [the proposed elder] John Sackett "in 1646 was made the custodian of the Public Building in which the General Court was held". He quoted from the court record, without mentioning Medcalfe, "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 would seem that Weygant took the reference to "the house" to mean the Court House and concluded that John had been made the custodian of the building. It is not known whether Weygant had access to Hoadly's work, which had been published in 1857. Hoadly's account makes it clear that the work carried out was to Medcalfe's house, not to the court house.
John Sackett's occupation
Atwater does not report the Medcalfe case but records John Sackett's occupation as "carpenter". He may have deduced this from this court action. It could equally be concluded from the report of a later case [John Sackett v. Samuel Andrews, 1665/66] that John was also a "horse doctor"! The truth is likely to be that John, along with most of his compatriots, was both a farmer and, by necessity, a "jack of all trades." Atwater also gives 1641 as the date of the first mention of John in the New Haven Colony records and records his death date as 1684. This would imply that Atwater believed that the John Sackett of the 1641 Stolyon case was the same as the John Sackett who died in 1684, and not a possible elder John.²³
New Haven Town Records
John Sackett's name appears a number of times in the New Haven Town Records. None of these events (following) is recorded by Weygant. There is no reason to doubt that the events relate to John Sackett of New Haven, and none hints at the existence of an elder John Sackett.
John Sackett's seat in meeting house
John Sackett was listed in the seating plans for the meeting house in February 1655/56 and in February 1661/62. His name did not, however, appear in an earlier list, of 10 March 1646 [presumably 1647 new style].^{24,25,26,27,28,29,30} This omission is puzzling as he was clearly in New Haven at that date and had sworn the oath of fidelity in 1644.
John Sackett's bull
John Sackett appeared in court again in May 1656 when he, with three others, "were complained of because their cattell trouble the cowheards." They were advised "to take care that it be no more so." In particular, John was "warned of a bull which is wont to runn at some people." He was instructed to ensure that the bull was properly secured "that hurt may not come thereby, for if it doe, after this warning, the blame will lye wholy upon him."³¹
John Sackett's wolf
At the same court, John appealed against a decision of the town treasurer who had refused to pay him a bounty of £1 for the capture of a wolf at the last harvest. John explained to the court that the wolf was "catched in a pitt" but was so "devoured by flyes" that "the head was not fitt to bring to the Treasurer, and he refuseth to pay." The Town agreed that if he could provide sufficient proof "he shall be alowed halfe, which is ten shillings."³¹
John Sackett's brook
Mention is made in a general court hearing at New Haven on 28 February 1658 [old style] of John Sackett's brook. To provide an adequate water supply for the town, the court decided "to make a dam over ye creeke. . . & there to sett up a brest mill, which with the help of the brooke at John Sackett's . . . would be sufficient to serve ye towne."³²
John Sackett, horse doctor
In a court hearing on 5 March 1665/66, John actioned Samuel Andrews for the cost of treating a sick horse. Andrews "denied that [John] had cured the horse" but the court found in John's favour and awarded him five shillings and court costs.³³
Highway through John Sackett's land
On 12 February 1671/72, it was reported at a town meeting that agreement had been reached for the construction of a "hie way through the playne field" belonging to John Sackett and, in consideration, John was given about three acres of swampy land.³⁴
John Sackett and the burning of woods
At a town meeting on 11 March 1673/74 it was decided that areas of woodland were to be burnt. The sections to be burnt were allocated to various townsmen and John Sackett and Edmund Dorman were to burn the area from "the west rockes to the Mill river."³⁵
John Sackett's division of land
A town meeting of 20 December 1680 determined the division of land on the western side, John Sackett being allocated an area of 48½ acres.³⁶ The next entries in the records of the town meetings refer to John's son, John Sackett, Jr. who, in November and December 1682, was granted land to set up a business as a glazier.
Inventory of estate
Weygant's conclusion that John of New Haven was the son of another John Sackett depended largely on the evidence of an inventory of the estate of John of New Haven, who died in 1684. A mis-reading of this document, by which the word "senior" was read as "junior", led Weygant to the wrong conclusion that an elder John had outlived his son.
     It would seem that Weygant did not, himself, have sight of this document but, relying upon a report of it from the Hon. L B Sackett (#4361), he stated in the 1897 Family Record: "That he [the proposed elder John] outlived his son John, Jr. is made apparent by following extract from a search of Probate office of New Haven, viz: 'John Sackett, inventory of the estate of John Sackett, Junior, late of New Haven, deceased, taken this 6th day of Oct. 1684'." Weygant further stated in The Sacketts of America that: "On October 6 [1684], he [the proposed elder John] filed an inventory of the estate of "John Sackett, Jr."
     The error in the interpretation of this evidence results from a mis-reading of the word 'Senior' as 'Junior' following the second mention of the name 'John Sackett'. This error resulted in Weygant taking the first mentioned 'John Sackett' to refer to an assumed elder John Sackett. A corrected transcription of the text of the heading would be: 'Jno Sackett Snr/ An inventory of the estate of Jno Sackett Senior late of N=Haven deceased taken this Octobr 6th 1684.' [Inventory] The first mentioned 'John Sackett' was indeed John Sackett Snr. but the second mentioned 'John Sackett' was also John Sackett Senior. The two mentions are of the same man, the first being merely an index entry, rather than an indication of who filed the inventory, as Weygant had concluded. Confirmatory evidence that the man who was the subject of the inventory was John Sackett Senior, not Junior, is found in the New Haven Vital Records, which record that "John Sackett senior dyed 3 september 1684." Further, a record of the inventory in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register also refers to the subject of the inventory as John Sackett Sr.³⁷
     For some time prior to 1684 John Sackett of New Haven would have been referred to as John Sackett Sr, his own son John, born 1653, being referred to as John Sackett Jr. Indeed, in the records of town meetings held in November and December 1682, there is reference to John Sackett Jr. There can thus be no doubt that the John Sackett who died in 1684 was John Sackett Senior, and that he was not survived by an elder John.
Proprietors in 1685
The last mention of John Sackett of New Haven in the New Haven records appears in a report given to a town meeting on 22 December 1712 when a list of proprietors of the town in the year 1685 was submitted. The list, which had previously been exhibited in the General Assembly on 20 October 1704, included: "John Sackets heirs" [i.e. the heirs of John of New Haven] and "John Sacket, Junior" [i.e. John Sackett born 1653].^38,39

The Sacketts of America Weygant, The Family Record, 1897