Person Page - 4173

Mary Sackett, daughter of Oramel Almeron Sackett and Cornelia M Willey, was born say 1840. She married first on 27 March 1860, Edwin C Porter.¹

Henry "Harry" Ackley Sackett, son of Henry "X" Ackley Sackett and Edith Fetterly, was born on 25 April 1912.¹ He died in Oregon^G on 6 November 1999.^1,2
     In 1925, at the age of thirteen, Harry was placed with foster parents in Marshfield, Oregon, after his father became ill and was committed to the Oregon State Mental Hospital.² He married in Coos, Oregon^G, on 25 August 1937, Frances Ruth Conliffe.³

Henry "X" Ackley Sackett, son of Orsemus Sackett and Geraldine H Mathews, was born in New York State^G in 1859.¹ He died aged 79 in Eastern Oregon State Hospital, Umatilla County, Oregon^G, on 28 July 1938² and was buried at Pendleton, Umatilla County^G.⁴ He married first at the Immaculate Conception Church, Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey^G, on 6 October 1881, Mary E Sweeney, daughter of John Sweeney and Elise Courtney.³ Mary was born in New York City^G on 6 June 1857.⁵ Henry and Mary separated in the early 1890s and probably divorced. She died aged 70 in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania^G, on 2 April 1928 and was buried at Montclair Heights, Essex County^G.⁶ He possibly married second say 1910, Edith Fetterly.⁷
     In 1860 Henry was living in Maryland, Otsego County, New York State^G, in the household of his parents Orsemus and Geraldine, and was recorded in the census as Henry Sackett, aged ten months and born in New York.⁸
Henry, talented silhouette artist
After first working for his father Orsemus in his lecture bureau, Henry made a living from the 1880s as a portrait artist, unusually producing portraits as profile silhouettes of his subjects, working with no more than black paper and a pair of scissors. He worked at speed, travelled widely to reach a large audience, and made silhouettes of many prominent people. He adopted the name 'X' Ackley at the suggestion of the St Paul Daily Globe newspaper, recognising the precision of his work. Henry was in St Paul, Minnesota, in the late 1880s when his half-brother Jacob was operating his theater there. There is no indication from newspaper reports of cooperation between the pair, although Henry's craft would seem to have been a natural fit with Jacob's other bizarre entertainments.
Henry, failed eloper
Although Henry was a talented silhouette artist, able to judge to a nicety the line of a woman's cheekbone, his judgement in other areas was less acute.
     In 1894, he achieved notoriety when caught in Topeka, Kansas, having eloped with a young heiress, with a fortune of $40,000, he had recently met in Elkhart, Indiana. The elopement caused a sensation, at least among the newspapers, which reported every detail with barely concealed excitement.
     Although separated, Henry was a married man, with a wife and two children in Washington, D.C., and there was uncorroborated newspaper speculation that he had two more "wives", in New York and in New Jersey.
     While in jail in Topeka awaiting trial either there or in Chicago, where other charges were being considered, he telegraphed his father for urgent funds to meet his bail. His father, resentful that his son had ignored his plight when he had himself suffered ill health and financial loss years earlier, returned the message with the one-word answer "refused".
     The case, when it came to trial, was dismissed, apparently because it could not be established what, if any, crime had been perpetrated. The heiress had, in the meantime, been reunited with her family in Elkhart.
     Henry, spotting an opportunity, decided to stay in Topeka a while to offer his portraiture services. He opened a stand at Burkhart's cigar store and expected to do good business with a curious clientele. In an extraordinary example of facing both ways, the local paper commented both that Henry had been given too much free advertising and at the same time reported not only the setting up of the portrait stand but, for good measure, added Burkhart cigar store's street address. Despite the case having been dismissed, the newspaper had clearly decided his guilt, complaining of the "addition to the town's criminal element", describing Henry as "a foul scamp", and opining "the sooner he gets out of town the better."
Henry's failed suicide in Salt Lake City
In the event, Henry did get out of town, and next appeared in Salt Lake City. According to a story in the Deseret Evening News in February 1895, Henry had worked much of the previous year in SLC. He had worked hard and played hard, spending his money freely. The spree had ended in late summer with his attempting suicide at a saloon by stabbing himself with a penknife.
     The same newspaper went on to quote a current story from the San Francisco Chronicle which described, with embellishments, the earlier elopement. The Chronicle had somehow doubled Frances Davenport's fortune to $80,000 and, in an interview, Henry had claimed that he had tried to dissuade the girl from following him. Answering the charge that he had two wives, one in Washington and one in New Jersey, he explained that they were the same, and that his wife had moved from Washington and was now selling peanuts on a Jersey ferryboat. He stated that they had separated in 1884 and he was seeking a divorce (according to the Indiana State Sentinel, citing Washington sources at the time of the elopement in February 1894, Henry had left his wife and children just three months earlier.)
Henry resumes trade in California
By the following year, 1895, Henry was focused on his art, cutting portraits in March at a store in Los Angeles where he was described as "the greatest silhouette artist in the world", and in December at a drugstore in San Francisco.^9,10
Henry's inheritance
Henry was named in his father Orsemus's will made on 20 May 1896. He and his brothers Jacob and Fitch were left just one dollar each, the residue of their father's reportedly considerable estate being divided among his nieces, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Henry's charitable work
Henry visited Washington, DC, in 1899 and 1900 and made silhouettes at a charity event and in a store there. In 1904 he toured Arizona, making silhouettes in several towns and cities.
     Henry was back in California by 1906, and had a studio and living accommodation at Windward Pier, Venice, California^G. In May of that year he helped a charity provide school books for needy chiildren by making portraits free of charge of children handing in books for re-use.^11,12,13,14
Henry in trouble again
Later the same year, in October, he was in trouble again, falling out with a gang of card sharps who allegedly threatened to tar and feather him for exposing their racket, causing him to flee to Los Angeles.
     He was back in Venice in early November, when he was arrested for throwing a bottle of ink at some people standing outside his studio allegedly making insulting remarks about his morals.^15,16
     In 1910 he was living in Washington, DC^G, and was recorded as X Ackley Sackett, silhouettist, a lodger in a hotel, aged 50, single.¹⁷
     In 1930 he was living at Eastern Oregon State Hospital, Umatilla County^G, and was recorded as Henry Sackett, an inmate, widowed, aged 70.¹⁸
     Henry "X" Ackley's final years are described in an article by his grandson Robert Sackett in Ancestry Magazine.

Orsemus Sackett, son of Ezekiel W Sacket and Ruth Hart, was born in Chili, Monroe County, New York State^G, on 19 July 1826.¹ He died aged 70 in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan^G, on 18 August 1896^2,3 and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Grand Rapids^G.² He married first about 1846, Caroline E ___.⁴ Caroline was born about October 1826.⁷ She died aged 25 on 29 July 1852 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Owego, Tioga County, New York State^G.⁸ He married second in Allamakee County, Iowa^G, on 10 August 1858, Geraldine H Mathews.⁵ She was born in Iowa^G about 1840.⁹ He married third in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri^G, on 23 December 1873, Nettie Jones.⁶ They divorced in 1891.¹⁰
     In 1860 Orsemus was living in Maryland, Otsego County, New York State^G, and was recorded in the census as Orsemus Sackett, a laborer, aged 34 and born in New York. Living with him were his second wife Geraldine, aged 19, their son Henry, aged ten months, and Orsemus's children, Althea, 12, and Edwin, 10, by his first wife Caroline.⁹
     Orsemus registered for the Civil War draft on 31 July 1863. He was a card writer, aged 37, living in Indianapolis, Indiana^G.¹¹
Orsemus, the Yankee card writer
     In the 1850s and early 1860s, Orsemus made a prosperous living as a card-writer, travelling the eastern cities and producing at high speed elegant hand-written visiting cards for discerning customers.
     Doubtless fuelled by a talent for self-promotion, Orsemus attracted much favorable press coverage for his penmanship, announcing his arrival in towns visited.
     However, he was not universally popular, the Syracuse Daily Courier in 1857 reporting that "Sackett, the impudent puppy who styles himself the "Yankee Card Writer," and is most unfavorably known in this locality, was horse-whipped in New Orleans last week for insulting a lady, and made to leave town for the same offence. He deserved all he got." This account would seem to have been somewhat exaggerated, a subsequent report in the Lowell Daily Citizen revealing that Orsemus's offence had been to "send a couple of ladies a bouquet with a card attached, stating that he wished to make their acquaintance." An uncle of the young ladies "took umbrage at the supposed insult, and castigated the gentleman accordingly." A response in the Boston Post, presumably given by Orsemus, stated that, "The report that the "Yankee Card Writer" had been horse whipped at New Orleans is untrue. The Y.C.W. is not a man to submit to any personal indignity."
Orsemus, entertainments manager
     From the later 1860s, he managed a bureau organising lecture tours from a base in Kansas City. Although it is unclear how much contact Orsemus had with his sons during their early years, it may have been as a result of this business that his son Jacob started his own career as an impresario, and his son Henry, the silhouettist, would appear to have inherited his father's artistic streak.
Orsemus, inventor
     Orsemus took out a patent with the United States Patent Office on 29 July 1879 for a new and improved hotel casket.¹² This invention was what might now be called a desk tidy, "to provide for the use of hotels, offices, and other places of business a simple, neat, and compact device for holding conveniently various kinds of inks, pens, pins, cards, envelopes, paper, sand-paper, call-bells, tooth-picks, card-trays, matches, pencils, and similar articles, and also to hold conspicuously various advertisements, cards, notices, directories, and other articles of that character."
     In 1880 Orsemus was living in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan^G, and was recorded in the census as O Sackett, a manufacturer of caskets, married, aged 54. He appears to have been living alone.¹³ He was listed in the Grand Rapids City Directory for 1880 as a cabinet maker, of 205 N Ionia, living at 112 Stocking. An amendment in the directory for removals and alterations listed him as an inventor, living at 26 Center. In the 1881 directory he listed his occupation as "office furniture", and was living at 404 Jefferson Avenue. In 1883 he was listed without an occupation, living at 306 Lyon. In 1889 he was listed as a news dealer and had rooms at 34 W Bridge.^14,15,16,17
Orsemus, newspaper vendor
     The Chicago Herald reported on 11 November 1892 that "Orsemus Sackett, once a great personal friend of James Fenimore Cooper and a lecturer of some note, is now half blind and destitute and peddles papers for a living on Grand Rapids streets."¹⁸
     Orsemus was listed in the Grand Rapids City Directory of 1893 as a newsman, living at 50 Canal.¹⁹
Orsemus, and son Henry
     Orsemus resented his son Henry who he believed had ignored him when he had lost his health and his money. He took his revenge when the tables were turned and Henry asked his father for help. He not only refused Henry's appeal for funds but went public with a bitter condemnation of his son's behaviour. The story was printed in the Chicago Tribune on 7 February 1894.²⁰ It is not known whether father and son were reconciled before Orsemus died two years later, but Henry (recorded as X Ackley Sackett) did attend his father's funeral.^2,21
Orsemus, in his own words
     Orsemus gave an interview to the Chicago newspaper The Daily Inter Ocean, published on 20 June 1895.²²
Orsemus's will
     Orsemus made a will at Grand Rapids^G on 20 May 1896 in which he left his sons, Jacob, Henry, and Fitch, just one dollar each.²³ The residue of his estate, which according to newspaper reports was considerable, was to be divided among his nieces, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Orsemus specified that his assets be sold and the entire proceeds deposited in the Peoples Savings Bank for nineteen years (presumably so that the youngest beneficiary would by then be 21), when the accumulated sum was to be distributed equally to the named beneficiaries. They were named as: nieces Anna Mary Sackett and Eva Sackett, grandchildren Geraldine Irving and Byron Coles Irving, and great-grandchildren Althea Gertrude Wade, Julia Adeall Wade, and William Sherman Wade.
     Jacob contested the will but, at a hearing of the Kent County, Michigan, probate court held on 25 and 26 September 1896, it was ruled that the will should stand, and probate was granted to Charles Kelsey, the executor appointed by Orsemus.
     On 12 October 1903, the executor also proved the will at the Ramsey County, Minnesota, probate court after finding that Orsemus had owned real estate there.
Orsemus, an eccentric
     Orsemus Sackett was clearly an eccentric, but not an unpleasant or unpopular one. Certainly he was popular with the newsboys, some of whom passed a "resolution" stating that they "liked Mr Sackett very much", and that "he was always good to us and gave us jolly times by his sleighrides." The preacher at his funeral described him as "an eccentric who had, in his manner of living, separated himself from the rest of the world and lived a life apart from his fellows, but his qualities were not repellant, and he had attracted much sympathy."
     Orsemus's relationship with his three sons (his daughter Althea had died at age 20) was clearly distant, but that there had been a relationship at all was evidenced by his son Henry's remark that he believed himself to have always been his father's favorite.²¹

Althea G Sackett, daughter of Orsemus Sackett and Caroline E ___, was born in Sherburne, Chenango County, New York State^G, on 2 July 1847.^1,2 She died aged about 20 in 1868 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Owego, Tioga County, New York State^G.³ She married about 1865, Charles M Wade, son of Lewis W Wade and Nancy ___. Charles was born in 1842.^3,4 He died aged about 83 in 1925 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Owego^G.³ After Althea's death, Charles married Sarah J ___.
     In 1855 Althea was living in Sherburne^G in the household of her grandparents Ezekiel and Ruth Sacket, and was recorded in the census as Alp..? G Sacket, aged seven and born in Chenango County.⁵
     In 1860 she was living in Maryland, Otsego County, New York State^G, in the household of her father Orsemus and stepmother Geraldine, and was recorded as Althear [sic] Sackett, aged 12 and born in New York.⁶
     In 1865 she was living in Owego^G in the household of Jacob Hand, a farmer, and his wife Polly, and was recorded as Elthea Sackett, a domestic, single, aged 18 and born in Chenango County.⁷

Jacob Edwin Sackett, son of Orsemus Sackett and Caroline E ___, was born in Chenango County, New York State^G, about 1850.^1,2 He died aged about 48 in Chicago, Illinois^G, on 29 August 1898 and was buried at Westlawn Cemetery, Goffstown, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire^G, on 31 August 1898.^6,7,8 He married first in New Zealand^G in May 1878, Margaret Brewer.^3,4 They divorced in Denver, Colorado^G, on 22 May 1883.⁹ He married second in Denver^G on 24 May 1883, Ida L Curtis.⁵ Ida was born in 1855.⁶ She died aged about 44 on 15 February 1900 and was buried at Westlawn Cemetery^G.⁶
     In 1855 Jacob was living in Sherburne^G in the household of his grandparents Ezekiel and Ruth Sacket, and was recorded in the census as Edwin J Sacket, aged five and born in Chenango County.¹⁰
     In 1860 Jacob was living in Maryland, Otsego County, New York State^G, in the household of his father Orsemus and stepmother Geraldine, and was recorded in the census as Edwin Sackett, aged ten and born in New York.¹¹
     Jacob was listed in the St Louis, Missouri^G, city directory in 1883. He was living at Everett House and was a co-owner of the Sackett, Day & Gregory museum.¹² In 1885 he was the director of the Indianapolis Dime Museum, Indiana.¹³
     In September 1885, J E Sackett opened a Dime Museum at Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota^G, in partnership with E W Wiggins. The venture was extensively promoted with articles and advertisements in the St Paul Daily Globe. The museum displayed all manner of curiosities, including stage productions.
     In June 1886, Sackett & Wiggins announced plans to build a new theater at the corner of First Avenue and Fourth Street. Jacob was then living in Chicago. Sackett & Wiggins were said to control theaters and museums in Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Kansas City. Jacob had recently sold his interest in the Cleveland theater. In the following year, they were involved with others in setting up the Murray Opera House Company.
     By the end of 1887, the firm of Sackett & Wiggins was in financial trouble. While the Dime Museum was reported to be profitable, the loss-making Hennepin Avenue theater and the commitment to build another theater in St Paul had overstretched their resources. The firm was declared insolvent in February 1888 and a receiver was appointed. Several parties were interested in taking over the business and it was sold by auction later that month. The deal was mired in controversy, even resulting in a free fight in which the attorney for Sackett & Wiggins had his nose broken after refusing to give up the Dime Museum building to the receiver.
     Jacob Sackett was still active as a museum proprietor in 1890 when the English Syndicate was reported to have taken control of the freak show houses in Sackett & Lawter's circuit at Omaha, Missouri, and Lincoln, Nebraska, leaving Sackett & Lawter with a one-fifth share.
     Jacob was named in his father Orsemus's will. He and his brothers Henry and Fitch were left just one dollar each, the residue of their father's reportedly considerable estate being divided among his nieces, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.