The Sacketts of America

Knowledge of the French language, which was of service to him in after years.  In 1827 he was graduated from Columbia College with highest honors, and immediately began the study of law with Peter A. Jay, son of Chief Justice Jay.  Three years later he was admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with William Beach Lawrence, editor  and commentator of Wheaton's International Law.  He devoted himself to chancery and real estate practice and gave much time to the study of international law.  Outside of his profession he took an interest in political affairs, in promoting movements for advancing the welfare of Columbia College, and the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which he was a member; and also in the establishment of public libraries and other institutions and charities in New York City.  In 1842, at the age of thirty-four, he was elected to Congress and served one term.  In 1847 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York for the unexpired term of one year, occasioned by the resignation of Lieut. Governor Gardner.  In 1848 he was elected Governor of said State, beginning his term on the first of January, 1849.  On the expiration of his term as Governor he was chosen by the New York Legislature, United States Senator, for the term commencing that year, 1851.  On the expiration of his term as Senator, in 1857, he with his family visited Europe and made an extended tour, increasing his knowledge of foreign countries and foreign affairs by personal observation and intercourse, having after attaining his majority come into possession of three separate fortunes, one from his father, one from his mother, and one from his uncle, Petrus Stuyvesant, he was free to use his time and his talents as to him seemed best.  He, however, returned to his native land in time to give his earnest and effective aid to the election of Abraham Lincoln.  When the Rebellion broke out in the spring of 1861, he united in the formation of the Union Defence Committee, and soon afterwards, when General Dix, its first chairman, went into military service, he became chairman of the committee.  This committee in its influence and labors was of immense value to the Union cause.  Later in the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Fish was the leading member of the commission appointed by President Lincoln to arrange with the Confederate authorities for the exchange of prisoners.  Through the efforts of Mr. Fish and his associates, an arrangement after much difficulty was agreed upon, which continued to the end

of the war.  In march 1869, Mr. fish became Secretary of State and continued in that office throughout the entire eight years of General Grant's terms as President, during which he was General Grant's most trusted advisor.  The invaluable services rendered his country by Mr. Fish during these eight years, form an important chapter in the history of this Republic.  The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him in 1850 by Columbia College, in 1869 by Union college, and in 1871 by Harvard University.  He was President of the National Society of the Cincinnati for nearly forty years; a trustee of Columbia College for more than fifty years, during thirty-five of which he was their chairman; a trustee of the Astor Library; one of the presidents of the New York Historical Society; and frequently a delegate to the Diocesan and General Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church.  A fitting tribute to his memory was paid by the Legislature of New York State on the evening of April 5, 1894, at the Capitol, at which the Governor and State Officers were present, and an eloquent oration upon his life and public services was delivered by Senator Edmunds of Vermont.

Children.

2045. Nicholas Fish, m. Clemence S. Brice.
2046. Hamilton Fish, b. Apr. 17, 1859.[sic][1849]
2047. Stuyvesant Fish, b. June 24, 1851.

795.  William Woods Sackett, 1791-1836, of Sullivan County, N. Y., son of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, never married.  He was educated at Columbia College, was admitted to the bar in 1815, and practiced his profession with marked success.  His reputation for strict honesty and a thorough knowledge of the law brought him into many cases of importance and he became a well known figure in the higher courts of the State.  He died at the Sackett Homestead, In Lumberland, and was buried by the side of his father in the cemetery at Halfway Brook Village, now called Eldred.

796.  Louisa Sackett, 1792-18__, daughter of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, never married.  After reaching maturity she became a school teacher and taught in various places in Sullivan

County, N. Y., and in Carbon County, Penn.  For a considerable period she made her home with her sister, Mrs. Isaac Gould, at Hickory Run.  She died at an advanced age at the home of her brother, Nicholas Fish Sackett, at Honesdale, Penn.

797.  Harriet Sackett, 1793-18__, daughter of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, was married, Oct. 12, 1822, to Spicer McNish, 1795-1848, of Middletown, Orange County, N. Y.  Mr. McNish, a short time after his marriage, removed with his family from Middletown to Forestburgh, in the county of Sullivan, where he engaged in the lumbering  business, and was there, on Sept. 7, 1848, so badly injured by the falling of a tree that he lived but few days thereafter.  Mrs. McNish removed, several years after her husband's death, to Honesdale, Penn., and from there to Port Jervis, Orange County, N. Y.  She died at Pittsburg, Pa.

Children.

2070. William Franklin McNish, b. Aug. 9, 1823, d. July 24, 1837.
2071. Henry Lewis McNish, b. May 30, 1825, d. Apr. 2, 1871.
2072. Augustus McNish, b. Apr. 17, 1827.
2073. Nathan Sackett McNish, b. May 25, 1830, d. Dec. 17, 1853.
2074. Susan E. McNish, b. May 4, 1833, d. Feb. 11, 1906; m. J. Geegon.
2075. Charles Alexander McNish, b. June 27, 1835.
2076. James Edgar McNish, b. Feb. 5, 1839, d. Mar. 4, 1842.

802.  James W. Sackett, 1803-1887, of Lumberland, Sullivan County, N. Y.; Hickory Run, Carbon County, Pa., and Allegan County, Mich., son of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, was married, July 31, 1834, to Nancy Beers, 1815-1890, daughter of Silas Beers, of Neversink, Sullivan County, N. Y.  He was by occupation a surveyor, millwright, lumberman and farmer.  Early in life he became an ardent abolitionist and his house in Sullivan County was at one time a station on the so called Under Ground Railway, leading from the South to Canada.  He is removal from Sullivan County, N. Y., to Carbon County, was in 1835, and while residing there he built a  number of mills for his brother-in-law, Isaac Gould.  After remaining in Carbon County a few years he returned to his home in Sullivan County, and for some years held the offices of school director and assessor of his town.  His removal

to Allegan County, Mich., was in the year 1854.  He there build several large mills and served his town as Justice of the Peace and Postmaster.  A short time before his death he returned to Pennsylvania, and died and was buried at Wilkes Barre in that State.

Children.

2090. Laura Jane Sackett, b. June 3, 1835; m. Chandler D. Frew.
2091. William W. Sackett, b. Oct. 25, 1836; m. Anna M. Lentz.
[#2092 was skipped]
2093. Susan E. Sackett, b. Sept. 25, 1838; m. George J. Stanton.
2094. James E. Sackett, b. Sept. 29, 1840; Eliza Evans.
2094a. George Oscar Sackett, b. Apr. 2, 1843; m. Eliza Carroll.
2095. Nicholas Fish Sackett, b. July 19, 1846, d. Aug. 6, 1848.
2096. Wesley N. Sackett, b. Sept. 24, 1847, d. Mar. 11, 1864, unmarried.
2097. Frances A. Sackett, b. July 8, 1848, d. Apr. 18, 1870; m. Albert Stanton.
2098. Martha M. Sackett, b. June 22, 1850; m. Rivelo Dunham.

803.  Sarah Case Sackett, 1805-1876, daughter of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, was married, Jan. 25, 1827, to Hebardon Nicholas Murray, Honesdale, Penn.

Children.

2099. Susan M. Murray, b. Feb. 16, 1828, d. Mar. 15, 1881; m. E. M. Hunter.
2100. Cornelia H. Murray, b May 30, 1831, d. May 12, 1885; m. J. B. Bryant.
2101. W. S. Murray, b. Oct. 20, 1833, d. Nov. 26, 1902; m. Ruth Carpenter.
2102. Gertrude W. Murray, b. Nov. 30, 1835, d. Feb. 18, 1896; m. E. C. Lynde.
2103. Frances H. Murray, b. Aug. 9, 1830, Milwaukee, Wis.

805.  Susan Smith Sackett, 1809-1881, daughter of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, was married about 1830 to Isaac Gould, a young lumberman of the town of Plains, Luserne County, Penn. Isaac Gould at the time of his marriage owned jointly with his brother, Stephen Gould, several extensive tracts of Pennsylvania timber land, located mainly in the counties of Carbon and Lycoming.  On one of these wilderness tracts the young couple, soon after their marriage, established themselves in a comfortable pioneer cottage, on the banks of a mountain stream called Hickory Run.  On this stream, about two miles below the Gould cottage, was a quaint hamlet containing a score or more wood choppers' cabins, a blacksmith

shop, a store, and a church.  Some three or four miles below this hamlet the mountain stream emptied into the Lehigh River.  This hamlet took its name from the stream and was called Hickory Run; and the stream derived its name from a large and solitary hickory tree which grew among the tall pines at its junction with the river.  On the night of November 1, 1849, Mrs. Gould and her family were involved in a frightful disaster, the following graphic account to which is from the pen of one of her daughters, Mrs. Josie Gould Truesdell:

When I was a girl of six years I was living with my parents at Hickory Run.  There were seven of us children who were often left alone with our mother, as my father's extensive lumber business frequently required him to travel long distances through the unbroken wilderness, blazing the trees an he went that he might find his way back.  It was after a tramp of sixty miles in this fashion that he purchased the well known Beunavista tract, which proved highly remunerative to him.

My mother was carefully reared among educated and cultured people, but nature evidently intended her for the helpmate of a pioneer, and she cheerfully accompanied her young husband into these lonely solitudes.  And never during the long years of toil, danger and sorrow did she utter a complaining word.  She cheered him when he was discouraged, counseled with him when he was perplexed, and by the example of a sweet Christian life commanded and maintained the love and respect of every member of her household.

On coming to Hickory Run our father began without delay the erection of a number of saw mills.  Each of these required a dam for accommodation of water power.  The first of these was three miles from the mouth of the run, which was the point of shipment, and the others were about half a mile apart. Several hundred men were employed at these mills, for whom comfortable homes were built at convenient distances.

Just above the boundary line of my father's property, a wealthy Philadelphian owned a fine tract of timber land, on which he erected and operated a mill.  This gentleman made the mistake of laying the foundation of his dam on a bed of treacherous quicksand.  While he was building it my father went to him and pointed out the danger, and begged him to desist, and went so far as to serve legal notice upon him, without avail, and the dam was finished.

Our house, a one and a half story building, stood about midway between this dam and the river.  Two hundred feet below our house was the barn, and about a mile further down the run were a number of other houses, in one of which lived the village blacksmith and his large family.  From this point could be seen the country school house, on the summit of a hill.  Near the school house dwelt an uncle of ours, and half a mile further on, near the village of Hickory Run, was the home of another uncle.

During the last week of October it rained continually day and night

The streams were greatly swollen and all the mill dams were placed in imminent peril.  I remember that on the last day of the month, when the rain was coming down in torrents, one of the mill hands visited our house and urged mother to move at once to higher ground, saying the dams above would almost certainly be carried away before morning.  My father was absent at the time, while my oldest brother was at boarding school.  My mother was in sore distress.  She went to the door several times and peered longingly into the gathering gloom, anxiously praying for the speedy return of father.  She was so accustomed to leaning on his strong arm that she could not be induced to move until he should return and advise it.  At her earnest request, two of the most trusty mill hands came to stay at our house throughout the night.

My sister Lizzie, aged eleven years, had been on an errand, and returning about dusk, added to our fears by saying she had heard many say that the dam above us could not withstand the fearful pressure much longer.  When night had fully come, mother took three of us with her into her own chamber, which was on the first floor, adjoining the sitting room.  Lizzie, after disrobing, rolled up her clothing and placed it on the chair which held mother's saying. "If the water does come, my clothes will go with yours, mother, and that is what I want them to do."  In the bedroom directly above were two small brothers and another sister.

The children soon fell asleep, but mother did not close her eyes.  It was about four o'clock when she heard a faint rumbling sound, which increased rapidly to an overwhelming roar.  There was no mistaking its awful meaning.  She threw open the window and called, "Heaven save us, the waters are coming!"  It was utter darkness within and without the house.  Not the faintest ray of light appeared in any direction.  She had hardly time to close the window when the onrushing flood struck the house, lifting it from its foundation as though it had been an egg shell.  It sped downward with the torrent, spinning as it went, for five hundred feet, when it crashed against the fragments of the barn which had been caught by the stumps of trees.

Incredible as it may seem, the house was submerged the entire distance, and thousands of feet of lumber shot over it, while we escaped drowning because of the air that remained within when the flood engulfed it.  The breaking of the dam formed one prodigious wave that passed so rapidly that almost immediately after the house was caught by the drift pile made by fragments of the barn being caught by the stumps, the roof rose above the submerging waters.  Had the torrent continued a few moments longer not one of us could have escaped.  Mother, groping in the darkness, found that the floor overhead had settled on our bed and we were captives.  She was able, however, to loosen the boards enough to push me through.  She then handed me my infant brother, bidding me to sit quietly there until she joined us.  Then I hear mother calling for Lizzie, who had been in the room with us, but there was no response to her calls.

I was now benumbed with the cold and do not remember anything more that occurred until daybreak.  Then the rain was still falling in torrents.

I was sitting in my night clothes beside my mother on the drift pile.  She was holding my baby brother on her lap and the water was still flowing about us, but was only a few inches deep.  I remember that I took several steps in different directions, and finding the water on every side ran back to mother saying  we would all have to die.  She replied, saying, I hope not, and wrapped her night robe about me.

The roof having fallen upon the bed in which my brothers lay, they managed with great difficulty to struggle out upon the floor, only to find that the stairs had been washed away.  By this time the two mill hands hearing the voice of mother calling for help, leaped down to her.  She was almost insensible from the cold but was still guarding me and the baby.  By means of a standing board the men now climbed to the upper story and released my brothers and little sister.  But one was missing.  Never can I forget the anguish of my mother when she said, "I can't find Lizzie, but she is near me.  I hear her voice, look for her!  I hear her now!  Listen, she is calling me!"  No one heard Lizzie call, but mother was right Lizzie was indeed near her.

Under mother's direction the men wrought diligently, and down under the driftwood beneath the wrecked house they found the lifeless body of Lizzie.  By this time the neighbors were flocking to the spot, and it was decided that we go to our nearest uncle's house.  The body of Lizzie was wrapped in a bedspread and tenderly borne thither.  My mother, whose knee was found to be badly injured, was assisted by two mill hands, while another carried me all  the way on his back.  He held my bare feet - one in each hand - and often slapped my chilled limbs to keep up the circulation.  On the way to my uncle's we saw the havoc which had been created on every side.  In the sand bank was found the body of one of the blacksmith's little daughters.  His wife and four of their children were drowned and many other lives were lost.

Investigation proved that the disaster had been caused by the breaking of the upper dam, against the faulty construction of which father had protested in vain.  The very disaster he had feared and warned the owner against had occurred.  The indignation against the owner was so great that he was obliged to flee from the neighborhood to escape  violence at the hands of the community.

A messenger was dispatched to the woods to hunt for father, who arrived about the middle of the afternoon.  He looked eagerly into the face of mother and the little ones clasping each in turn in his arms; and he wept over the cold form of Lizzie,  who could not respond to his caresses.  My baby brother died a few weeks later as a result of the exposure to which he had been subjected that awful night.

For weeks and months articles which had been washed from our house were found, some of them miles distant.  The floor of mother's bedroom, with the carpet intact, was discovered near the river, and a bag of gold coins was picked up more than four miles distant.  Fully a year after the disaster a small boy picked up and brought to our house a gold chain that father had worn for years.

A few years after the Hickory Run disaster, Mr. Gould purchased a beautiful home in the city of Trenton, N. J., into which he established his family and spent the remainder of his days.

Children.

2110. Susan Sackett Gould, b. Dec. 1, 1832, d. June 5, 1837.
2111. Elijah Gould, b. Apr. 19, 1834, d. Jan. 15, 1871.
2112. William Sackett Gould, b. Feb. 16, 1837, d. Feb. 13, 1863.
2113. Elizabeth Louisa Gould, b. May 26, 1839, d. Oct. 30, 1849.
2114. Robert Stephen Gould, b. Aug. 9, 1849, d. about Oct. 1849.
2115. Joanna Gould, b. July 21, 1843, d. Sept. 3, 1896; m. Thomas Wescott.
2116. Caroline Gould, b. Nov. 20, 1845.
2117. Winfield Scott Gould, b. July 4, 1848, d. Feb. 14, 1850.
2118. Isabella Child Gould, b. Mar. 25, 1850, d. Mar. 10, 1857.

806.   Elizabeth Smith Sackett, 1812-189_, daughter of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, was married about 1840, to Henry Starks, of Plains, Luserne County, Penn.  They had no children.  Mr. Starks was early in life a farmer.  Later, after serving for several years as the superintendent of the extensive lumber plant for his brother-in-law, Isaac Gould, at Hickory Run, in Carbon County, Penn., he engaged in the lumber business on his own account and at the same time became interested in Pennsylvania coal lands.  In these ventures he soon amassed a satisfying fortune, and retiring from business builded for himself and wife at West Pittson, Pa., a spacious home, in which they lived in winter, spending the great part of the remainder of the year in travel, and at summer resorts.  Mr. Starks died June 25, 1888, aged 74, and was buried at Wilkesbarre City, near the place of his birth.  Mrs. Starks outlived her husband several years.

808.  Charles Joseph Sackett, 1816-1885, of Narrowsburgh, N. Y., son of (314) William W. and Susan Smith Sackett, was married about 1850 to Margaret Schoonover.  He married for his second wife, Eveline Bond, widow of Paul Tyler.  For the greater part of his adult life he was in the employ of the Erie R. R. Company, and for many years was their freight agent at Narrowsburgh.  During the latter part of his life he resided in a pretty cottage near the Delaware bridge at that place.

Children.

2120. Charles Joseph Sackett, d. in infancy.
2121. Walter J. Sackett, b. Feb. 3, 1859.

809.  Prof. Clement Clark Moore, 1779-1863, was the son of (315) Bishop Benjamin Moore and Charity Clark.  He was a graduate of Columbia College and became a noted Greek Scholar.  For many years he was a professor in the General Theological Seminary in New York City, and gave to that institution the plot of ground on which it stands.  In addition to compiling the earliest Hebrew and Greek lexicon published in this country, he wrote several prose works and a volume of poems.  The most noted of the latter is that matchless child lore poem, "A visit from St. Nicholas," beginning:

"'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

Children.

2210. Elisha B. Sackett, b. Feb. 24, 1802, d. in 1884; m. 1st, Abigail E.. Moore.
2211. Justus R. Sackett, b. Mar. 29, 1804, d. Aug. 29, 1820.
2212. Mary Sackett, b. Feb. 6, 1806, d. Mar. 5, 1829.
2213. William H. Sackett, b. Jan. 27, 1807, d. Jan. 29, 1886; m. Amanda Harper.
2214. Clarissa Sackett, b. Aug. 10, 1810, d. Dec. 31, 1838; m. William E. Smith.
2215. Amos Meade Sackett, b. Dec. 29, 1812, d. in May 1869; m. Sarah E. A. Mead.
2216. Alice B. Sackett, b. Feb. 2, 1814, d. Sept. 19, 1846; m. William E. Smith.
2217. Martha W. Sackett, b. Aug. 6, 1816; m. Rev. Wm. A. Hyde.
2218. Lyman Sackett, b. May 21, 1818; m. Lydia Ostander.
2219. Justus R. Sackett, b. July 29, 1819, d. Nov. 27, 1889; m. Mary E. Mead.

2220. Sarah P. Sackett, b. Aug. 5, 1822, d. Mar. 3, 1897; m. William K. Mead.
2221. Martha B. Sackett, b. Jan. 29, 1825; m. Gertrude Van Rayner.
2222. Lydia A. Sackett, b. May 29, 1827, d. Mar. 24, 1828.

831.  John Sackett, 17__-1864, of Greenwich, Conn., son of (340) Justus and Ann Lyon Sackett, was married, Jan. 12, 1809, to Mary Mead, daughter of Whitman Mead and his wife Rachel Mead.

Children.

2224. Henry L. Sackett, b. Nov. 24, 1809, d. Sept. 15, 1895, unmarried.
2225. Rachel E. Sackett, b. Dec. 19, 1811, d. July 18, 1885; m. Charles Mead.
2226. Whitman M. Sackett, b. Nov. 2, 1813, d. Sept. 30, 1835.
2227. Abigail Sackett, b. Dec. 4, 1816, d. June 14, 1882.
2228. Mary Ann Sackett, b. May 8, 1820, d. Mar. 5, 1900.
2229. William H. Sackett, b. Apr. 18, 1822, d. Feb. 13, 1903.
2230. Thomas Sackett, b. Aug. 5, 1824.

832.  Mary Sackett, daughter of (340) Justus and Ann Lyon Sackett was married, Jan. 27, 1788, to Josiah Brown.

Child.

2231. Rachel Brown, m. a Mr. Halsey.

833. Sally Sackett, daughter of (340) Justus and Ann Lyon Sackett, was married to Jonathan Secor.

Children.

2232. Sackett Secor.
2233. Ann Secor, who was married to George Webb.

834.  Betsey Sackett, 178_[1783]-1837, daughter of (340) Justus and Ann Lyon Sackett, was married, July 1, 1810, to Thomas Merritt Wilson.

Children.

2234. Mary Lyon Wilson, b. Nov. 9, 1811, d. Feb. 11, 1884, unmarried.
2235. Elisabeth Ann Wilson, b. Apr. 27, 1816, d. July 13, 1889, unmarried.
2236. Sarah S. Wilson, b. Dec. 22, 1819, d. May 27, 1903, m. Elkanah M. Reynolds.