ANCESTORS
and
DESCENDANTS
of
FREDERICK PLUMMER SACKETT


by

ANDREW P. SACKETT


(Title Page)


Permission Letter
From: Andrew P. Sackett

Permission to use contents of book

Frederick Plummer Sackett

2


Susan Earl

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[Page 4]

INTRODUCTION

Around 1950, my uncle, Frank Sackett of Litchfield, Michigan, suggested that I might want to act as family historian because I had expressed interest in family matters from time to time, and he gave me a great deal of material to get started. On one occasion he took me to a farm north of Lansing, Michigan to meet Asher Sackett, a distant cousin, then an old man. Asher wrote me some of his recollections and these are produced in the text. Later, Frank also drove me down to Ligonier, Indiana to meet cousin Schuyler Sackett, also a very old man who also gave me some anecdotes. He remembered Joel Bascom Sackett (1815–1904) very vividly. Later I found a book entitled "The Sacketts of America, Their Ancestors and Descendents 1630–1907" by Charles H. Weygant in the New York City Library. Relevant pages of that book are copied herein. Weygant could not identify the part of England from which the colonist Sacketts had emigrated. However, more recently a communication was received from Samuel Jefferson Sackett of Chicago, Illinois which provides further information on this point. He enclosed a report from a Sackett daughter, Lucinda Sackett Williams of East St. Louis, Illinois, who described the family church in Sandwich, England. In 1962, with two of my sisters who were visiting us in London (I lived there 1961–1962) I drove to Sandwich and we visited St. Mary's Church. It is as Lucinda describes it. There is now a plaque in the church which describes the restoration of the building and gives recognition to the Sacketts of America who contributed to the project. Maintenance of the building is the only tangible family wide project going, so if anyone wants to contribute make your check payable to the Sandwich Parochial Church Council and mail it to C. S. Martin, 2 Hadley House, Seven Post Alley, Sandwich, Kent CT 1398W, England. I looked in telephone directories in several towns in the area and found no Sackett listings at all.

In the early nineteen fifties I worked hard on the project with voluminous correspondence with Sacketts listed in the telephone directories in various cities. I also followed various leads including getting the Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City to review their records. And I enlisted the help of professional genealogists from time to time, most notably, Percy Hamilton Goodsell, Jr. of Cheshire, Connecticut and Marjorie G. Waterman of the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford and Eva M. Locke, Genealogy of Old New England, Montpelier, Vermont. One of the "telephone directory" Sacketts who responded was Mary Sackett Keller of Bergen, N. Y. She identified herself as a granddaughter of Alonzo Sackett, a brother of Joel Bascom Sackett. She referred me to Mrs. C. T. Arthun of Bremerton, Washington, a cousin, and also a granddaughter of Alonzo Sackett. Shortly thereafter Mary Sackett Keller visited the Arthuns and Mrs. Arthun invited my wife and I over for a Sunday dinner which proved to be delicious, and she allowed me to make copies of the photographs of Saloma Bascom Sackett and Charles Sackett which are also included herein as well as a letter concerning family history which Mrs. Arthun's mother had written.

When I was transferred to Washington, D. C. I became distracted and did very little for many years. Then, in the past two or three years I was stimulated anew by my immediate family, especially by the energy and interest of my brother, Manley Ray Sackett, who has helped in many ways by collecting data and especially by collecting photographic material. He also enlisted the help of Susan Coldsnow Dungar of Spokane, Washington and of Susan Sackett Champion and her brother Russell Sackett of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Russell accepted the challenge of collecting data from that part of the world and did a magnificent job.

The reader will note that some of my sources indicate a somewhat different route from the colonist Sackett brothers, Simon and John, to Aaron Sackett who was the great grandfather of Frederick Plummer Sackett. The one that has been widely distributed among our branch was prepared, I believe, by Mrs. Mamie Phillips early in this century. From some of the language it is clear that her prime source also was Weygant, probably from his entries in "The Family Record" in the eighteen nineties which were not as comprehensive as his final compilation in 1907. At any rate, Mamie chose a different Aaron.

To elaborate on this somewhat, it seems that there were four Aaron Sacketts of about the same age in the same general area. One was the son of Benjamin Sacket (one 't') and Deborah Buell Sacket and this is the one identified by Mamie Phillips. 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 1558. 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. I've included the pages from Weygant's book that refer to all four of these Aarons and their respective ancestry.

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[Page 5]

My letter of November 2, 1978, to Percy Hamilton Goodsell, Jr. describes the problem, and his reply of March 2, 1979, describes his findings and also summarizes his review of the material I had gotten from the Genealogical Society of Salt Lake city. Copies of this correspondence are included in the text to follow. To my mind the difference is of no great consequence. As a matter of fact, following a family tree back using one particular surname as the "line" is essentially just a sampling procedure. In my researches I've found that there is information available on the Harts and Bascoms and so on that is comparable in detail to that of the Sacketts and of equal importance from any genetic or social consideration.

The first person in the genealogy to take on flesh and bones and some known personal qualities is great great grandfather Charles Sackett (1793–1879). We have a picture of a house that is believed to have been his home, and we have a photograph of him and one of his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett, as well as a few words that gives some feeling for his character. Prior to him we have only names and some impersonal historical accounts to which it is more difficult to relate in a personal way.

Aside from family interest, the story of our branch of the Sackett family illustrates the history of the Country itself. It is typical of the families of the early settlers of the New England states. The exodus from New England of the early eighteen hundreds is reflected herein. In another way also it is illustrative. The changes in lifestyle from that of Frederick Plummer Sackett to those of his grandchildren are much more profound than those that took place in the nine generations between the first Sacketts in America in the early sixteen hundreds down to Frederick Plummer Sackett. To illustrate the latter point to present day readers, considerable intimate detail is given in recording the life stories of Fred, Frank and James Earl Sackett whose lives and times were a bridge between the old and the new, between the horse and buggy era and the jet age.

I realized that our generation, the grandchildren of Frederick Plummer Sackett, has about completed its time. It is appropriate now to bring it all up to date for those later on who may be interested.

Andrew P. Sackett

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[Page 6]

RESTORATION OF ST. MARY'S CHURCH
(By Lucinda Sackett Williams)

In tracing back the orgins[sic] of the Sackett family of America, it seems that the strands of ancestry lead to the county of Kent, in the southeast of England, and particularly to the neighborhood of the town of Sandwich and the Isle of Thanet.

Sandwich, about seventy miles east of London, was formerly one of the famous cinque ports, but the sea has receded and Sandwich has lost its importance for shipping. It is spoken of in a recent guide book as a "surprising place of pure delight where the mysterious spirit of the past has refused to die in these queer streets and these ancient houses." This vital and undying past is, in part at least, the Sackett past, for to it generations of Kentish Sacketts have contributed.

St. Mary's Church, the present building dating from before 800, is perhaps the most interesting structure in Sandwich. It stands on the site of a monastery or nunnery which was built by Domneva, the aunt of King Egbert of Kent, in 640 A.D. This cloister was destroyed by a Danish invasion, and a church was built on the spot by Queen Emma around 800. This building was burned by the French and was replaced during the eleventh and twelfth centuries by a more ambitious church, many parts of which still remain.

With the Norman French conqueror came the first Sacketts, who settled in Kent, and left their imprint on the area in the form of place names. An identation in the chalk cliffs of the shore line near Margate is called Sackett's Gap. A hill south of Margate is Sackett's Hill, and an adjacent farm is Sackett's Hill Farm. These places are all shown on present day maps of this Section.

Here, then, generations of Sacketts have lived and died, and it is assumed that the two Sackett brothers, John and Simon, came from this Kentish region to found the families from which all American Sacketts have descended. These Kentish Sacketts were faithful church-goers; more than sixty names of Sacketts appear in an ancient record book of St. Peter's Church in Thanet, and on the wall of this church is a brass {memorial) to John Sackett, 1623. On the floor a stone slab tells of another John Sackett who died in 1736, aged 67; his daughter Mary who died in 1739; and his wife Margaret. Out in the churchyard at St. Peter's are tombs and memorial stones commemorating the Sacketts who have lived in this area. Many Sackett graves are also found at the church of St. Nicholas-at-Wade.

But it is at St. Mary's Church, Sandwich, that the most interesting Sackett memorial is to be found. Here there is a large floor slab commemorating Captain Jeffrey Sackett, who, as a "Jurat" and "Twice Maior of this Towne" and who "Died in 1695 aged Four Score Years." The body of his son Jeffrey was interred at his side, as were those of twin daughters, Sarah and Patience, who died at the ages of 21 and 28 respectively. Captain Jeffrey Sackett is a link with history, for he attended the coronation of James II in 1685 with Samuel Pepys, who besides being a famous diarist was an important official in the Admiralty department.

St. Mary's Church has survived all these centuries because it has had numerous repairs and two complete restorations. Now it is in need of another reconstruction, as it has become unsafe for use. Some people in the area feel that the old building should be demolished but many others are opposed to this and point out that so historical a building should not be lost to posterity, so they have formed the Association of Friends of St. Mary's Church to negotiate with the Parish Church Council, the Diocesan Advisory Committee, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the result that the Faculty (order) for demolition has been suspended until the Friends are able to raise the funds for restoration.

East St. Louis, Illinois
September 20, 1957

The Friends were successful. The former treasurer of the project, C. S. Martin, sent me a picture of the plaque, which he calls the Charity Board, in the Church which reads as follows:
"In the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty six the church had fallen into such disrepair that faculty was sought for its demolition which calamity was averted by the formation under the chairmanship of the Mayor of the town and port, Alderman James Jeffrey Thomas of the Association of the Friends of St. Mary's, Sandwich, who not only provided a sum of seven thousand pounds for the repair of the fabric but purchased four thousand pounds of 2 1/2 per centum Consolidated Stock to be held in trust for the maintenance of this sacred building in future years.

Among many generous donors from this ancient burough, from all parts of the country and from as far as the United States of America, the name of Ivor Bulmer Thomas, a friend of this work, is specially commemorated."

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[Page 7]

ANDREW P. SACKETT
Star Route 1-6
Keaau, Hawaii 96749

November 2, 1978

Mr. Percy Hamilton Goodsell, Jr.
Post Office Box 192
Cheshire, Connecticut 06410

Dear Mr. Goodsell:

Thank you for your offer to do some genealogical research for me. I'll describe the problem on which I would like your help. My lineage on my father's side is clear back to Aaron Sackett who married Phebe Hart on July 6, 1786, in Litchfield, Connecticut (Vol. 1 page 201 Litchfield Vital Records). Charles Sackett, b. May 23, 1793, (Litchfield Vital Records Vol. 1, p. 201) is my great great Grandfather. The problem is to identify the ancestry of Aaron Sackett who was his father.

A Mrs. Mamie Phillips used to function as family recorder and historian. She was active about the time that Weygant's book, "Sacketts of America" was published in 1907. She was a granddaughter of Charles Sackett, son of Aaron Sackett. Her account of family history is word for word the same as Weygant's book so obviously she had access to his data. There are several Aaron Sacketts in the index to that book so it has been a popular family name. Four of those listed were contemporaries. Mamie Phillips' account listed her great grandfather Aaron's parentage as being Benjamin Sacket and his wife, Deborah Buell Sacket. There were several things that make we want to check this out. First, Benjamin spelled his name with one 't'. Second, a distant cousin, Asher Sackett, whom I interviewed in the 1940s when he was in his eighties, was very insistent about one point in the family history; namely that of the two colonist brothers, Simon and John Sackett, we are descended from John. Benjamin Sacket traces back to Simon. Third, at the time of his marriage to Phebe Hart July 6, 1786, Aaron, son of Benjamin Sacket would have been 19 to her 23 years of age. Again, this does not rule him out but in those days, as now, it would have been an unlikely happening.

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[Page 8]

Fourth, the other contemporary Aaron Sacketts were a more appropriate age to have married Phebe Hart and also two of them lived only ten miles away from Litchfield where the marriage took place.

Fifth, the other Aaron Sackett whom Weygant lists and who must be considered was number 714 in his system of listing. He was a grandson of Captain Richard Sackett of Long Island who had, among other children not listed by Weygant, two sons, a Charles Sackett and and William Sackett. The latter's birth date is cited as September 2, 1800, the same date on which our ancestor Charles Sackett's brother William was born. Furthermore, Weygant states that this William settled in Indiana as Charles' brother is known to have done and lists Schuyler Sackett of Ligonier as among his descendents. Schuyler was a distant cousin. Frank Sackett, my father's brother, and I visited him in 1951, when he was still alive at about eighty-five years of age. He knew my great grandfather, Joel Bascom Sackett, and my grandfather, Frederick Plummer Sackett, and many of his children, so there is no doubt that Schuyler Sackett was descended from the same Aaron Sackett as my branch of the family. Schuyler said, as does Weygant, that his grandfather, William, married a distant cousin named Mercy Sleade Earle. Captain Richard Sackett's wife was a Sleade. Captain Richard Sackett had three sons. Aaron Sackett is not listed by Weygant as a son of either of the first two although the youngest, Josiah Crego Sackett, born at Dover, N.Y. Dutchess County, N.Y. resided for several years prior to his death at New Milford, Connecticut. He married about 1750, a Miss Douglass. This Mr. Sackett died, and so did his wife, several years prior to the War of the Revolution and their orphan children were distributed among their mother's people.

Also enclosed is a series of reports I got from the Latter Day Saints Genealogic Society. As you will note some twenty-five years have elapsed since I did anything on the family history. I want to get something written up now.

Why don't you work on this for a few days to see what can be found to fill out what I have related and see what further leads might be explored and advise me? Thanks for your help.

Andrew P. Sackett

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[Page 9]

POST OFFICE BOX 192
CHESHIRE. CONNECTICUT 06410
March 2, 1979

Mr. Andrew P. Sackett
Star Route 1-6
Keasau, Hawaii 96749

Dear Mr. Sackett:

At long last I am able to give you a report on work done on your genealogical problem. Illness in the household all winter seriously curtailed my capacity for research. Things are now improved, however, and I am trying to make up for lost time.

While I have found nothing to prove the parentage of your Aaron Sackett, I believe that by the process of elimination it is fairly well indicated.

As it is known that your Aaron moved to Rutland, Vermont, in 1803, it seems certain that he was not the son of Reuben. The latter's son Aaron is recorded as still living in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the eighteen twenties.

Aaron, the son of Benjamin, appears to be ruled out by evidence in Winifred Lovering Holman's work on the Sackett-Stanton families.

This leaves Weygant's belief that your Aaron was a grandson of Captain Richard. SACKETTS IN AMERICA states that the latter's youngest son, Josiah Crego Sackett and his wife died early leaving several children one of whom is unnamed. In the Boston Transcript for 5 July, 1922, item 9926, it is stated that Captain Richard settled in Dover, New York, just across the line from Litchfield County, that he married second, Mary Crego, and that their only child was Josiah Crego. It seems probable to me that the latter's unnamed child was your Aaron.

As you may know, five of the brothers of Phebe (Hart) Sackett moved to Rutland, Vermont, and this may have had to do with your ancestor's move there.

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[Page 10]

I feel that the possibilities have been pretty well exhausted both at the Connecticut state Library and the Connecticut Historical society. The manuscript collections at the latter have been carefully studied, as have the estate papers and land and church records in the Library. Since Weygant states that the children of Josiah Crego Sackett were raised by unnamed relatives, a search for them does not appear to hold much promise of success.

Regretting that more conclusive results were not forthcoming,

Sincerely,
[signature]
Percy Hamilton Goodsell, Jr.

P. S. Since writing the above I have re-read the reports from the Utah Genealogical Society, and was interested to note that the same conclusions were reached by that group. I had purposely not studied this material too closely before, preferring to approach a problem of this sort relying on known facts and without clouding my thought with the theories of others.

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[Page 11]

POST OFFICE BOX 192
CHESHIRE, CONNECTICUT 06410
March 25, 1979

Mr. Andrew P. Sackett
Star Route 1-6
Keaau, Hawaii 96749
Dear Mr. Andrews:[Sic]

Many thanks for your letter of March 7th with check enclosed. I am glad my brief report proved satisfactory.

THE HISTORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER SACKET-STANTON; by Winifred Lovering Holman, published 1954-56, devotes nineteen pages to records concerning Benjamin (1) Sacket (b. 1698) and his son, Benjamin (2) (b. 1731). The only mention of the latter's children consists of a direct quote from SACKETTS IN[sic] AMERICA, and no other Aaron is mentioned in the book.

Since Weygant indicated in another place his belief that your Aaron was a grandson of Captain Richard, and since the proximity of the latter's family to Litchfield County bears out the known connection with that area, I feel there is very little to substantiate the theory of a descent form Benjamin (2). Mrs Holman apparently made no effort to trace the latter's children beyond the quotation above mentioned.


With all good wishes,
[signature]
Sincerely, Percy Hamilton Goodsell, Jr.

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[Page 12]

A SUMMARY OF THE GENERATIONS FROM THE
COLONISTS TO FREDERICK PLUMMER SACKETT

According to this construct the Sackett line from John, the colonist, to Frederick Plummer Sackett would be as follow:

Generation I

John Sackett, colonist and founder of the New Haven branch of the Sackett family, came to New England from Bristol, England and brought with him his son, John Sackett, Jr ., who was at that time about three years of age. He became attached to Roger William's congregation and went with him first to Plymouth and later to Rhode Island. In Weygant's book he was number 2 and appears on page 14.

Generation II

John Sackett, Jr ., born about 1628, and died September 3, 1664; married Agnes Tinkham. In Weygant's book he was number 5 and appears on page 19.

Generation III

Jonathan Sackett, born June 6, 1665; died ___, married Hannah ___. In Weygant's book he was number 18 and appears on page 28.

Generation IV

Captain Richard Sackett, born 16__; died 1746; married first Margery l. Sleade on May 11, 1699; second Margery Crego. In Weygant's book he was number 75 and appears on pages 55 to 60.

Generation V

Doctor John Sackett, born ___; died ___; married Elizabeth Maston according to the Genealogical Society of Salt lake City (See comments following). In Weygant's book he was number 268 and appears on pages 59 and 60.

Generation VI

Aaron Sackett, born ___; died ___; married Phebe Hart July 6, 1786 (Litchfield Vital Records Vol. 1, page 201). In Weygant's book he was number 714 and appears on page 491.

Generation VII

Charles Sackett, born May 23, 1793, in Litchfield (Litchfield Vital Records Vol. 1, page 201); married Saloma Bascom July 3, 1814. In Weygant's book he was number 12721 and appears on page 491.

Generation VIII

Joel Bascom Sackett, born April 16, 1815, in Vermont; died February 1, 1904; married first Mary Kindman September 3, 1836, and, second, Lena A. Coble.

Generation IX

Frederick Plummer Sackett, born June 25, 1837; died October 16, 1905.

COMMENT ON THE ABOVE

The problems connected with establishing the parentage of Aaron Sackett with certainty are described in my letter of November 2, 1978, to Hamilton Percy Goodsell. His reply of March 2,1979, cites the reasons for listing him as a grandson of Captain Richard Sackett. And, of course, the information given on page 491 of Weygant's book is influential. Earlier, in the eighteen nineties, Weygant had written articles in "The Family Record" which I believe was genealogical periodical Mamie Phillips was compiling her material about that time and that would be the reason why she reached what was a logical conclusion given the data that she had. The inclusion of Aaron, the grandson of Captain Richard Sackett, as #714, was in an addendum to the 1907 book. In the summary above I left the dates of birth and death blank for Aaron for the reason that if Mamie Phillips picked the wrong Aaron she also picked the wrong dates.

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[Page 13]

Of the three sons of Captain Richard Sackett, Doctor John is the most likely to have been the father of Aaron. The oldest son, Richard, is excluded because all of his five children (four daughters and one son, Richard) are accounted for and the youngest was born in 1751, so they are in an older age bracket than Aaron.

John is known to have had nine children but the name of the eighth was not recorded and is thought to have been Aaron. Josiah Crego Sackett, the third son of Captain Richard, and the son of his second wife, Margery Crego, is excluded because William Sackett, a grandson of Aaron, married a distant cousin, Mercy Sleade Earle, thought to be a relative of Richard's first wife. Josiah Crego Sackett married a Miss Douglas; they had several children who, when their parents died, were dispersed among their mother's relatives.

Returning to Dr. John Sackett for a moment, his children were:

(Not necessarily in chronological order.)

  1. Benjamin Sackett, born 1752; married Phebe Davis in 1773.
  2. Mary Sackett
  3. Ezekial Sackett
  4. Elizabeth Sackett
  5. Lois Sackett
  6. Richard Sackett
  7. John Sackett
  8. [not named]
  9. Catherine Sackett

According to the Dutchess County Historical Society Vol. 26, 6 March 1741, John Sackett of Dover "Chirurgeon" bought land in "Upper Nine Partners" (Deeds liber A p.372). On 4 May, 1749, of "Crum Elbow Precinct" a "Chirurgeon" sold land (deeds, liber 2, p. 166)

"Captain Richard's son Richard declined to act as executor of his father's will. He purchased an improved farm at New Milford, Connecticut and was said to have been a well-to-do farmer. John Sackett, a physician, became sole executor. He sold to Moses Harris 3,497 acres of land, and about 1760, removed to Stephentown, Rensselaer County, N.Y." Newton Reed in his "Early History of America" said "No descendents of Richard Sackett were left in Amenia. The last were grandsons who went to Rensselaer County".

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.

In a report dated September 13, 1954, the Genealogical Society said "The 1790 Census Records of Connecticut give in Litchfield County a family of Aaron Sackett, with two males above sixteen years of age. Inasmuch as the oldest son of our Aaron was born 1793, the second male may have been his father, John, age about 88.

The same report said that in the "American Ancestry" Vol. 11, p.107, the following may prove to be important:
"John Sackett of Dover, N.Y., doctor of medicine, son of Richard, who married ______, who (Richard) received a grant of land from the British government in Dutchess Co., known as the Dover patent of 1704. In 1711 he had bought out the other partners and was in possession of the estate. He died in New Milford, Connecticut. John had son Benjamin of Stephentown, born 1752; died 1826; married 1773 Phebe Davis. Benjamin had son Ezra D. of Lebanon Springs, Columbia County, N.Y., born 1779; died 1858; married Chloe Patchin. Ezra D. had son Aaron D. P. of Lebanon Springs; born 1805; married Emeline Ostrander. Aaron D. P. had four sons; Aaron, Frank, Harvey, Lincoln, of Lebanon Springs". This turned out to not be relevant except that it was of interest to me in that, in 1952 and 1953, one of the most gracious responses I got from my telephone directory inquiries were from Miss Edith R. Sackett of Warren, Connecticut. Her letterhead was a beautiful etching of "Sackett Homestead" in which she lived. My inquiry had been forwarded to her by Lawrence Sackett of Caledonia, N.Y., her cousin's son. Her family bible recorded the birth in that house January 7, 1791, of Aaron Sackett, the third child of Homer Sackett born August 6, 1765, and Sarah Carter Sackett, born October 30, 1768. Aaron married Hulda Tanner and built a home in Warren which she said was still standing. She said that Aaron was the uncle of her father, Augustine Sackett, inventer of plaster board now manufactured by the U.S. Gypsum Co. She also said her branch of the family is descended from Captain Richard Sackett. Aaron was definitely a popular family name among the Sacketts eighteenth century.

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[Page 14]

Finally, according to "Families of Ancient New Haven" Vol. 30, pp 721, 722, the birthdate of Phebe Hart, wife of our ancestor, Aaron Sackett, is given as May 3, 1763. Mamie Phillips' material cited 1764, as the birth date of Phebe. In the same vein, the birthdate of Charles Sackett according to both the Litchfield Vital Records Vol. 1, page 201, and "A Genealogical Register of Litchfield", page 187 was May 23, 1793, rather than June 23, 1793, as indicated in the Mamie Phillips material. All of the versions derived from Mamie Phillips' data make the same mistakes, e.g. a genealogy I obtained from the widow of Joel Bascom Sackett, Jr. , one from Frank Sackett and one from the family bible which I saw and copied belonging to Mrs. C. T. Arthun of Bremerton, Washington. Mrs. Arthun's mother had written that her father had made the entry in the bible. Presumably he had been in touch with Mamie Phillips. It is known (according to Asher Sackett) that the Michigan branch did maintain contact with relatives in N. Y. until about that time, and Asher himself had visited his relatives there once or twice. The discrepancies are of no significance particularly except that a minor error in an original research can serve as a sort of indicator of the source of derivative material.

Lest I sound critical I hasten to state that I am not. Mamie Phillips was the only one in our branch who made a major effort to record, and without that basic work, done about eighty-five years or so ago, what I have done to bring it up to date would not have been possible. In a letter of August 16, 1952, a distant cousin, Irving D. Sackett, a great grandson of Charles Sackett, wrote "I have been to three Sackett family reunions, one in 1914, held at Doctor C. S. Sackett's home at Charlotte, Michigan. I also went again in 1916 and 1929. Mamie Phillips was historian at that time and every time she would read about the Sacketts including Aaron and Phebe Hart and always end up by finding out about all the new babies; when they were born, and who they belonged to. So it all was very interesting and kept everyone on their toes and always behind the eight ball. My grandfather Edmund and great grandfather Charles Sackett are buried in a little cemetery at the end of Sackett road at Bergen. I was born in the house Charles Sackett and Edmund, and my father Burt Alonzo Sackett owned, on February 14, 1895".

See also Aaron Sackett's Disputed Ancestry by Thurmon King.


ORGANIZATION OF THE MATERIAL

As you will note I have simply used Weygant's system for organizing by generations from the colonist brothers, Simon and John Sackett, who were generation I down through Frederick Plummer Sackett who represented generation IX. Up to that point this system is feasible because the increase in number in the main line of descent is balanced by decreases as diverging lines are lost to this record. However, after Frederick Plummer Sackett none are lost. This text includes all of his descendents. For that reason I departed from strict adherence to presentation by generation and chose instead to follow out all of the descendents of each member of generation X, the children of Frederick Plummer Sackett, before proceding on to the next one. Otherwise it would have been necessary to assign each individual a number (as Weygant did) and cross reference.

HAPPY READING!!

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[Page 15]

[Pages 15–61 are photocopies of pages from The Sacketts of America, Their Ancestors and Descendants, 1630–1907 by Charles H. Weygant]

Page 15: [Title page]
Page 16: [Publication page]
Page 17: [Weygant page 3. Introductory Statement]
Page 18: [Weygant page 4. (Continued)]
Page 19: [Weygant page 5. (Continued)]
Page 20: [Weygant page 6. (Concluded)]
Page 21: [Weygant page 7. "The Sackets, Sacketts and Sackvilles, of England]
Page 22: [Weygant page 8. (Continued)]
Page 23: [Weygant page 9. (Continued)]
Page 24: [Weygant page 10. (Continued)]
Page 25: [Weygant page 11. (Concluded)]
Page 26: [Weygant page 12. Generation 1.]
Page 27: [Weygant page 13.]
Page 28: [Weygant page 14.]
Page 29: [Weygant page 15. Generation 2.]
Page 30: [Weygant page 16.]
Page 31: [Weygant page 17.]
Page 32: [Weygant page 18.]
Page 33: [Weygant page 19. End Generation 2 and begin Generation 3.]
Page 34: [Weygant page 20.]
Page 35: [Weygant page 21.]
Page 36: [Weygant page 22.]
Page 37: [Weygant page 23.]
Page 38: [Weygant page 24.]
Page 39: [Weygant page 25.]
Page 40: [Weygant page 28.]
Page 41: [Weygant page 29. End Generation 3 and begin Generation 4.]
Page 42: [Weygant page 46.]
Page 43: [Weygant page 47.]
Page 44: [Weygant page 50.]
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THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES

VI

Aaron Sackett

Believed to be the eighth child of John Sackett, "Chirurgeon", and his wife Elizabeth Maston, who lived in Stephantown, Rensselaer County, N.Y.. He was probably born in 1760 or close to it. He married Phebe Hart July 6, 1786, (Litchfield Vital Records, Vol. 1, page 201). Phebe was born May 3, 1863, in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Timothy Hart, born March 24, 1731, in Wallingford, and his wife Phebe Fern, born February 12, 1735, in Wallingford. In 1803, Aaron removed with his family to Rutland County, Vermont. Phebe's brothers also moved to Rutland County at that time. Aaron was by occupation a farmer.

Children

  1. Hulda Sackett, born June 25, 1787. Married a Mr. Hyde and lived in Vermont.
  2. Elizabeth Sackett, born April 8, 1789. Married a Mr. Gunn and lived in Vermont.
  3. Clarrissa Sackett, born May 26, 1791. Married a Mr. Thompson and lived in New York state.
  4. Charles Sackett, born May 23, 1793.
  5. Amanda Sackett, born August 17, 1795. Married Joseph Remington and lived in Cattaraugus County, N.Y.
  6. Phebe Sackett, born May 3, 1797. Married a Mr. Nichols and lived at School Lake, Vermont.
  7. William Sackett, born September 2, 1800.
  8. Electa Sackett, born September 28, 1802. Married a Mr. Hammond and lived in Cattaraugus County, N.Y.
  9. Nancy Sackett, born January 4, 1805. Married Joel Hart. Lived in Byron, N.Y., later in Batavia, N. Y.
  10. Malinda Sackett, born October 29, 1807. Married Albert Williams. Lived in Cattaraugus County, N.Y.

VII

Charles Sackett

He was the fourth of Aaron Sackett and his wife, Phebe Hart Sackett. He was born May 23, 1793, at Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1803 he moved to Vermont. He married Saloma Bascom July 3, 1814, who was born at Cambridge, Vermont, on May 3, 1795. She was the daughter of Joel Bascom and his wife, Rebecca Westcott. Joel made the trip to Attica, N.Y. from Rutland, Vermont in 1818, and at the last minute his son-in-law, Charles and his daughter, Saloma Bascom Sackett, decided to go with him, and with them went their infant son, Joel Bascom Sackett. An anecdotal account of this midwinter trip was provided by Asher Sackett in a letter to me dated March 13, 1952, which is reproduced herein. The same year (1818) Charles moved to Byron, N.Y. In 1834, he moved to Bergen, N.Y. He died August 7, 1879. His wife had died September 6, 1869. "He was a man of sterling Christian integrity, expanded views, and large experience, temperate in all things and exemplary in his social relationships". His occupation was that of a farmer.

The following is a letter from Asher Sackett in which he relates some family history but in which he also tells an anecdote about the trip which his grandfather, Charles Sackett, had made in 1818, from Rutland, Vermont to Attica, N.Y. in company with his father-in-law, Joel Bascom:

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Charles Sackett Home
A house thought to be the home of Charles Sackett
and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett.
[Note: Sign under eve of house says "C. Sacket"—T. King]

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Charles Sackett

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Saloma Bascom Sackett

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p66 letter

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Children

  1. Joel Bascom Sackett, born April 16, 1815.
  2. Alonzo Sackett, born June 9, 1818.
  3. William Sackett, born May 16, 1821.
  4. Melissa Sackett, born June 9, 1823; married Charles Jones; died in 1855.
  5. Gilbert Sackett, born November 26, 1825.
  6. Charlotte Sackett, born March 6, 1828; died young.
  7. Edmund Sackett, born June 28,1830.
  8. Charlotte Sackett, 2nd, born August 17, 1832; married Thomas Mckenzie.
  9. Noble Sackett, born October 28, 1833.
  10. Stephen Sackett, born November 29, 1834.
  11. Sarah Sackett, born October 18, 1837; married Henry Phillips.

VII

Amanda Sackett

Sister of Charles Sackett. She was born August 17, 1795, and died January 28, 1871. She married Joseph Remington who was born November 15, 1792. They were married on March 9, 1817.

Children

  1. Lydia Remington, born December 17, 1818; no descendents.
  2. Patty Remington, born April 13, 1820; two children.
  3. Aurora Remington, born February 6, 1822; no descendents.
  4. Copeland Remington, born October 3, 1824; three children named Abie, Elmer, and Asher.
  5. Bela Remington, born May 28, 1828, four children, named Edith, May, Clara and Arthur.
  6. Melinda Remington, born December 18, 1829.
  7. Eunice Remington, born April 30, 1831.
  8. Joseph Remington, born April 18, 1833.
  9. Persis Remington, born October 6, 1835.

VII

William Sackett

Brother of Charles Sackett and son of Aaron Sackett and his wife, Phebe Hart Sackett. He was born at Litchfield, Connecticut on September 2, 1800. He was married September 3, 1828, to Mercy Sleade Earle, 1808–1867, a distant relative. In 1839, he removed to Rochester, N.Y. and the following year from thence to Eden Township, La Grange County, Indiana, where he settled permanently on what has since become known as the Sackett Homestead Farm. According to his grandson, Schuyler Sackett of Ligonier, Indiana, family lore has it that his wife was quite well-to-do whereas he inherited no money or property at all. He judges that this is true because of the fact that she left a quantity of excellent old furniture and so on which could only have been owned by someone who had means in those pioneer days. Apparently this led to some friction in the family. There was nothing overt but one day William, when he was in his forties, quietly walked out of the house and his family never saw him again. They did learn that he died at Logansport, Indiana in 1864.

Children

  1. John Sackett, born May 14, 1834; died in the Civil War.
  2. George Sackett, born September 23, 1836.
  3. Stephen H. Sackett, born May 30, 1842.
  4. Eliza M. Sackett Bailey, born January 23, 1844.
  5. Mercy Rosette Sackett, born December 20, 1848.

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VII

Nancy Sackett

Sister of Charles Sackett and daughter of Aaron Sackett and his wife, Phebe Hart Sackett. She was born January 4, 1805, and married Joel Hart. They lived in Byron, N.Y. and later in Batavia, N.Y.

Children

  1. William Hart
  2. Lydia Hart Farmer
  3. Eliza Hart
  4. Lional Hart
  5. Helen Hart Rosenberg

VII

Malinda Sackett

She was the tenth child of Aaron Sackett and his wife, Phebe Hart Sackett, and a sister of Charles Sackett. She was born October 29, 1807. She married Albert Williams and they lived in Cattaraugus County, N.Y.

Children

  1. Nancy Williams Porter
  2. Richard Williams
  3. Harvey Williams
  4. Isaac Williams
  5. Eliza Williams
  6. Peter Williams

VIII

Joel Bascom Sackett

He was the eldest child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. He was born April 17, 1815, in Vermont. He moved with his parents to New York State in 1818, eventually settling in Bergen, N.Y. He married Mary Kindman September 3, 1836. There were three children born of this marriage. Her birth date, parentage, and the date of her death are not known. She was a very energetic bustling woman who had the habit of starting several things at once and going on to something else almost before she was well started. Her daughter-in-law, Susan Earl Sackett, lived with here[sic] for a time. The latter was very thorough in everything she did and they got along fine because Susan went along behind Mary and finished everything Mary started. It is said that Mary couldn't even walk across a field without gathering up stray stalks of grain and tieing them together with some thought of using them in the future but she would never get around to it. She was divorced by Joel. In later years she earned a living as a practical nurse.

Later, Joel Bascom Sackett married Lena A. Coble who was born on January 22, 1838. There were seven children of this latter marriage. Joel was a Christian minister of the Camelite sect. At times he also functioned as a doctor. As Schuyler Sackett of Ligonier, Indiana, a cousin, said, "He would tackle anything from preaching to building a house to quack doctoring". Frank Sackett, a grandson, tells of a time when Joel was an old man of his coming to their house much agitated after a quarrel with his wife, Lena. He said, "The Lord told me to leave Mary and now I think He wants me to leave Lena": He went back in a couple of days, however, and all was well between them thereafter. Joel died February 1, 1904, at a place called Little Prairie Round just west of Marcellus, Michigan and he was buried at the Little Prairie Round Cemetery.

Children

  1. Frederick Plummer Sackett, born June 25, 1837; died October 16, 1905.
  2. Pluma Alsafine Sackett, born May 12,1838; died April 27, 1894, at South Haven, Michigan.
  3. Charles Sackett who was abducted as a child and was never recovered.
  4. Saloma Sackett, born August 13,1862. She married July 4, 1881, to Eli Touchatt at Cassapolis, Michigan.
  5. Mercy P. Sackett, born September 28,1864. She-married Ezekiel High who was born September 10,1863.
  6. Alonzo Sackett, born June 15,1869.
  7. Noble Sackett, born May 5,1873.
  8. Joel Bascom Sackett, Jr., born June 29,1874.
  9. Hattie P. Sackett, born January 7, 1877. She married a Mr. Walter.
  10. Odessa Sackett, born August 3.1879.

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Carl Sackett

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VIII

Alonzo Sackett

He was the second child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. He was born June 9, 1818. He married, first, Ann Barr on August 30, 1840. She died March 15, 1863. In 1885 he married Eliza Williams, and lived at Torpy Hill, N.Y. He died at Bergen, N.Y. in 1891.

Children

  1. Sarah Sackett, born May 14, 1847. She was married at Torpy Hill to Jerome Feezler. A daughter of Sarah Sackett was the mother of Mrs. C. T. Arthun of Bremerton, Washington who is referred to earlier in the COMMENTS section following the INTRODUCTIONS. Mrs. Arthun allowed me to copy a letter from her mother dated May 17, 1931, which reads as follows:
    "Dear Girls,
    To make it a little easier for you, and to tell you what little I know about the ancestors of our family and to explain some of these records. To begin with, Joel Bascom married Rebecca Wescott July 31, 1794. Saloma, born May 3, 1795, was the first child, and, by the way let me tell you that Joel and Rebecca Bascom died at my grandfather Sackett's home on Torpy Hill, and he, Alonzo Sackett, was their grandson. You will see further down on this same sheet where Saloma Bascom married Charles Sackett July 3, 1814. The recording is in my father's hand writing. Then in the births in the Bible you will see where. Alonzo Sackett (their second child) was born June 9, 1818; that was my grandfather on my mother's side. And in the long red plush album you will find pictures of Joel and Rebecca Bascom, my great great grandfather and grandmother. Also pictures of Charles and Saloma Sackett, my great grandfather and grandmother. Alonzo Sackett and Ann Barr were married August 30, 1842, and they were my mother's parents." This letter was in the red plush album she mentioned and was in the nature of an explanation as she passed these documents on to her children. I borrowed the pictures of Charles and Saloma from Mrs. Arthun and only regret that I did not have copies made of the photographs of Joel Bascom and Rebecca.

VIII

William Sackett

He was the third child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. He was born May 16, 1821, at Bergen, N.Y. He married Mercy Canfield in 1847. She was born on February 15, 1825. In 1851, they moved to Sunfield, Michigan. William died March 6, 1902. His wife had died January 21, 1891.

Children

  1. Angerona Sackett, born December 27, 1850.
  2. Eva Sackett
  3. Carrie Sackett
    (First three all died in Oct. & Nov. 1855.)
  4. Cassius Samuel Sackett, born June 7, 1857.
  5. Caroline Naomi Sackett, born February 4, 1859. She married Frederick Sprague on September 18, 1878.
  6. Mary Malissa Sackett, born January 30, 1862. She married Alfred Stephens, June 20,1889.
  7. Charles Asher Sackett, born January 2, 1869. This is the "Cousin Asher" whom I interviewed in 1952, and who wrote the letter which is reproduced earlier in this text.

VIII

Melissa Sackett

She was the fourth child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. She was born June 9,1823. She married Charles Jones. She died in 1855.

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VIII

Gilbert Sackett

He was the fifth child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. He was born November 26, 1825. He moved to Lenawee County, Michigan. He married, first, a Mrs. Page. He married a second time to Jane Cook. He died about 1865.

Children

  1. Charles Sackett
  2. Ada Sackett Caster
  3. X. Sackett
  4. Bert Sackett
    (All four are deceased and left no descendents.)

VIII

Charlotte Sackett

She was the sixth child of Charles Sackett and his wife Saloma Bascom Sackett. She was born March 6, 1828. She "died young".

VIII

Edmund Sackett

He was the seventh child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. He was born June 28,1830. He married Perscilla Watson who was born January, 1830, and died December 24, 1908. Edmund Sackett had died March 4,1897.

Children

  1. George W. Sackett, born April 17, 1856. He married Mary E. Field on February 4, 1886.
  2. Lily M. Sackett, born December 4, 1863; died April 24, 1884.
  3. Burt A. Sackett, born August 25, 1866; married first to Jennie Collins November 28, 1890; and married, second, to Mary E. Clark Vincent.

VIII

Charlotte Sackett, 2nd.

She was the eighth child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. She was born August 17, 1832, at Bergen, N.Y. She married on January 1, 1853, to Thomas McKenzie of Bergen, N.Y. Late[r] they moved to Rochester, N.Y., Leroy, N.Y. and in 1874, moved to Concord, Michigan. She died November 17, 1888. Thomas McKenzie was born August 15, 1833 and he died June 30, 1895.

Children

  1. Frank William McKenzie, born September 7, 1855.
  2. Eva Malissa McKenzie, born March 16, 1858; married George L. Keeler, April 14, 1887.
  3. Carrie Anna McKenzie, born December 25, 1859.
  4. David McKenzie, born September 23, 1866; died March 14, 1869.
  5. Charles Thomas McKenzie, born July 16, 1870, at Bergen, N.Y.

VIII

Noble Sackett

He was the ninth child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. He was born October 28, 1833, at Byron, N.Y. He married Phoebe Jane Tunison on February 14, 1858. He died September 26, 1911. His wife was born February 5, 1837; died January 19, 1917.

Children

  1. Henry B. Sackett, born February 21, 1861; married Lillie H. Bentley who died. Later married Maude Rhuberry. Had one son also named Noble Sackett.
  2. Susie R. Sackett, born July 29, 1876. Married September 18, 1901, to William Ernest Wonser who was born September 10, 1877. Their children were Floyd Ernest Wonser, born August 2, 1902; Cash Henry Wonser, born October 24, 1905; Roy Noble Wonser, born May 7, 1907; Susie Ruth Wonser, born May 7, 1907; Esther Ellen Wonser, born April 18, 1912; Lee William Wonser, born June 5, 1919.

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VIII

Stephen Sackett

He was the tenth child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. He was born November 29, 1834, at Bergen, N.Y. He married Clara Estelle King on January 20 1864. He died March 12, 1907.

Children

  1. Myra Sackett, born July 1, 1865; married Thomas W. Davis on September 4, 1881; died September 18, 1888.
  2. Charles Mark Sackett, born June 24, 1873.
  3. William Herbert Sackett, born June 20,1880; died September 25, 1880.
  4. Gertrude Sackett, born December 14, 1876. Married a Mr. Murphy from whom she was later divorced. Her son, Carl G. Sackett, was raised by his uncle, Noble Sackett and took the family name of Sackett. Carl G. became a publisher in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Gertrude and her son, Carl, were visited by the author in 1952. She was in very ill health at the time, having sustained a stroke.
  5. Carl Sackett, born February 1, 1888; died April 6, 1894.

VIII

Sarah S. Sackett

She was the eleventh child of Charles Sackett and his wife, Saloma Bascom Sackett. She was born October 18, 1837, at Bergen, N.Y. She married Henry Phillips on December 23,1857. He was born November 3, 1833, at Bergen, N.Y. They moved to Aurelius, Ingham County, Michigan in 1866. Henry Phillips died February 15, 1903, and his wife died at Mason on June 4, 1921.

Children

  1. Lottie E. Phillips, born July 16, 1864, at Bergen, N.Y.; died at Aurelius, Michigan February 1, 1914; buried at Mason, Michigan.
  2. Mamie B. Phillips, born February 22, 1866, at Aurelius, Michigan. She was a public school teacher nearly all of her life. She died at Eaton Rapids, Michigan on September 12, 1921. She was buried at Mason, Michigan. She was the family historian for much of the latter part of her life and without her efforts it would not have been possible to assemble the material presented in this text. Her work is referred to earlier herein.
  3. Hattie Phillips, born September 8, 1874, at Aurelius, Michigan; married Floyd E. Cady, January 2, 1901, at Aurelius, Michigan.
  4. Hettie Phillips, born September 8, 1874, at Aurelius, Michigan; married Manzo C. Cady, Jr. December 30, 1897, at Aurelius, Michigan.

VIII

George Sackett

He was the second son of William Sackett (brother of Charles Sackett) and his wife, Mercy Sleade Earle Sackett. He was born September 23, 1836, in Bergen, N.Y. He died in August, 1904, at Topeha, Indiana.

Children

  1. Schuyler C. Sackett, born November 9, 1868, in Ligonier, Indiana. He was still alive in 1953, when last visited by the author, but I have heard that he later signed over all of his property to a church-operated retirement home in return for guaranteed lifetime care. He died soon after. It was said that he had owned a good part of downtown Ligonier. No children.
  2. Sharon Sackett, born April 2, 1872; died December, 1929. Not married.
  3. John L. Sackett, born August 6, 1874; lived in Lincoln, Nebraska.
  4. Henry E. Sackett, born January 22, 1882; lived in Des Moines, Iowa.

VIII

Stephen Hyde Sackett

He was the third child of William Sackett and his wife Mercy Sleade Earle Sackett. He was born May 30, 1842. According to Schuyler Sackett, he had eight children of whom five (Fletcher, Frank, Ledger, Lillian and William) were "deaf mutes". The others consisted of two daughters and one son, Duane Sackett, of Albion, Michigan who was head of the Farmer's Cooperative there.

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VIII

Eliza M. Sackett

She was the fourth child of William Sackett and his wife, Mercy Sleade Earle Sackett. She was born January 23, 1844; and she married a Mr. Bailey.

Children

  1. Lillie Bailey
  2. Earl Bailey
  3. Minnie Bailey

IX

Frederick Plummer Sackett

He was the eldest child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his wife, Mary Kindman Sackett. He was born June 25, 1837, in Indiana. Little is known of his early years, except that he grew up in pioneer times and, having availed himself of every opportunity to acquire knowledge, he became a teacher in the public schools of the county. He was a musician, a fife player, in Company H, 20th. Indiana Volunteer Infantry in which he had enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil War according to a document obtained from the General Services Administration, Washington, D.C. (File No. WC 606 205). According to family legend he was captured early in the war and was confined in Libby prison and at Andersonville for seven months. The family account of his capture has it that his Company was camped in southern Ohio and was eating lunch when a scout galloped into camp with a warning of the approach of Southern Raiders. Everyone mounted and rode off as fast as possible excepting Frederick who said he wasn't going to miss his beans for anyone. He continued with his lunch and was captured. While in prison he, like everyone else there, was fed very poorly—on the entrails of animals butchered for the Southern garrison and mostly on raw squash. He developed scurvy and lost all of his teeth. When released he was honorably discharged. When his health improved he again enlisted, according to "A History of Van Buren County, Michigan" by Captain O.W. Rowland, Vol. 11, in an Iowa regiment for 100 days but stayed in until the close when he was again honorably discharged.

He attended Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan for a time, probably after the war, and later taught school at the "Brown School", a country school near Kalamazoo, from the fall of 1866 until the spring of 1867. (The building was still standing when I last checked, about twenty years ago). Susan Earl was one of his pupils, an eighth grade student. He married Susan Earl on June 11, 1867, in Pine Grove, Michigan. He then turned to farming for a livelihood, and his farm was located at Gobles, Michigan.

He was six foot tall, rather lean and "rawboned"; "a man of good disposition, honest and never was involved in serious difficulties with anyone" according to his son, Frank Sackett. He was blue eyed and had dark brown hair. During his later years he lived on a Civil War Veteran's pension. He died October 16, 1905, at Gobles, Michigan and was buried at the Earl Family Cemetery, Pine Grove, Michigan.

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scanned document from GSA

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Susan Earl Sackett was the daughter of James Earl and his wife, Delilah Waite Earl. She was born October 16, 1843. She married Frederick Plummer Sackett on June 11,1867, at Pine Grove, Michigan. The rest of her life was spent as a housewife and cottage industry worker. She had thirteen children including three sets of twins. In addition to the usual chores of housewife with such a large family in those times, she also had to be the family manager and to supplement the family income which she did for years by weaving eight yards of carpet a day at a

Frederick and Alsafine

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shilling a yard. Mrs. Bronson, her sister, once came and cared for her when she was sick and claimed that her family consumed twenty-two large loaves of bread in a week's time besides three meals of biscuits and pancakes for breakfast. Susan was a woman of excellent character and a pillar of strength, according to many sources. She died May 10, 1916, at Gobles, Michigan and was buried at Earl Cemetery. During her later years her son, Frank, stayed home with her and supported her and saw to it that in her old age she was comfortable and happy.

Susan Earl

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Children

  1. James Earl Sackett, born March 31, 1868; died December 6, 1920.
  2. Andy Sackett, born November 3, 1869; died February 14, 1945.
  3. Grace Sackett, born March 23, 1873; died in the nineteen twenties.
  4. Sherman Stanley Sackett, born April 11, 1875; died April 29, 1943. He had a still-born twin. (5)
  5. Harry Sackett, born June 7, 1877; died January 4, 1949.
  6. Howard Sackett, born June 12, 1880; died at age eighteen months.
  7. Fred Sackett, born February 5, 1882; died January 3, 1956.
  8. Frank Sackett, born February 5, 1882; died January 7,1966.
  9. A set of twins who died at birth.
  10. Logan E. Sackett, born December 21, 1885; died November 8, 1952.
  11. Elizabeth Pearl, born May 6,1887; died July, 1918.

Family

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When my father, James Earl Sackett, decided to move to the "Big Red Apple State" of Washington, he moved my mother, 'Nettie" into the Sackett household with her three small children, and she spent about a year there until her husband sent for her to come west. She said that the Sackett lifestyle was quite a contrast to that of her family, the Halls, who were quite reserved and sedate. There was a great deal of loud conversation, joking and laughing at mealtimes; everyone had a musical instrument and there was a great deal of activity. She became very fond of her father-in-law, Frederick, because, when everyone was ready to go somewhere and yelling for her to hurry up and she was frantically trying to get her three kids dressed, he would say, "Take your time, Nettie, We'll wait. No need to hurry".

The Sackett Boys

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The Sackett home

I interviewed the family physician, a Doctor Bennett, who was then retired and living in Kalamazoo, shortly before he died. Anyhow, both he and my mother commented on Frederick's habit, at least in later years, of making announcements and comments in little rhymes he composed whenever he could think of one which was more often than not. Toward the end of his life the crowded and hectic Sackett household became a bit much for him apparently because he built a shack for himself in the woods in the back of the place and slept and spent time there, appearing at the main place often, however, for meals and for special occasions.

My mother also recalled on occasion shortly after she was married when by happenstance both Frederick and her father, Jotham Hall, were visiting with them. The two visitors were helping them to lay in firewood for the winter and they worked together, each on an end of the crosscut saw. As a team they were totally mismatched. Jotham tried to set a slow steady rhythm which he could keep up all day long. Frederick's inclination was to tear into it at a frantic pace until exhausted, then stop and pant a while and then plunge in again. At the end of the day each came to my mother and said the same thing, "I just can't work with that guy. The way he goes at it will kill me".

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Susan Earl Sackett's father, James Earl, was born on April 7, 1808. He was a son of Henry and Isabella McLain Earl. He was born in Cattagraugus County, New York. He married Delilah Waite whose father is reported to have come from Scotland. She is buried at Earl Cemetery, Pine Grove Township, Van Buren County, Michigan. James Earl was a farmer and also worked in the lumber woods. He died in Pine Grove Township, Michigan, and also is buried in the Earl Cemetery there. He had donated the land for the Cemetery to the Township so they named in the Arl Cemetery. The above account of James Earl is from "A History of Van Buren County, Michigan" by Captain O.W. Rowland, Vol. 11, published by the Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York, 1912.

Children

  1. Laura Earl Bronson, born June 17, 1832.
  2. Lucinda Earl, born October 11, 1833.
  3. Sarah Earl, born September 21, 1835.
  4. David Earl, born February 1, 1839.
  5. James Earl, Jr., born January 29, 1841.
  6. Susan Earl, born October 16, 1843.
  7. Evelyn Earl, born March 2, 1846.
  8. Mary Earl, born January 4, 1848.
  9. Newton Earl, born January 24, 1853.

*Note: Because, to this point we are still using a horizontal system by generations we must proceed to Frederick Plummer Sackett's cousins, the other members of the IX generation:

IX

Sarah Sackett

Daughter of Alonzo Sackett and his wife, Ann Barr Sackett. She was born May 14, 1847. She was married at Torpy Hill, N.Y. to Jerome Feezler.

Children

  1. Jerome Feezler; drowned in Black Creek, Bergen, N.Y. when a young man.
  2. Jennie Feezler; married Nathan Hogg. Had two daughters; lived in Washington State. She was the mother of Mrs. C.T. Arthun of Bremerton, Washington from whom I got so much useful information and she was the author of the letter to her daughters which is quoted earlier.

IX

Cassius Samuel Sackett

He was the son of William Sackett and his wife, Mercy Canfield Sackett. He was born June y, 1857. He married Leonora Canfield on April 25, 1883, who was born May 7, 1857. He was a physician who practiced in Charlotte, Michigan.

Children

  1. Lena Margaret Sackett; born August 1, 1895. She was an adopted daughter who married April 29, 1922, to Harry H. Birkett who was born June 18, 1890.

IX

Caroline Naomi Sackett

She was a daughter of William Sackett. She was born February 4, 1859 and she married Frederick O. Sprague on September 18, 1878. He was a Congregational minister. They lived in Vermontville, Michigan in retirement.

Children

  1. Mary August Sprague, born September 24, 1879; married March 11, 1916, to George E. King.
  2. Leila Amanda Sprague, born May 18, 1881; married November 16, 1901, to Claude O. Hatfield.
  3. Rollin Orgolus Sprague, born December 13, 1882; married June 30, 1908, to Harriet L. Burmingham.
  4. Roberta Mercy Caroline Sprague, born January 1, 1893; died May 16, 1915.

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IX

Mary Melissa Sackett

She was a daughter of William Sackett and his wife, Mercy Canfield Sackett. She was born January 30, 1862. She married Alfred A. Stephens, June 20,1889. He was a Methodist Episcopal minister and they lived "in thirteen different places".

Children

  1. Bernard A. Stephens, born May 11, 1891; married Ollie Van Auceberg, August, 1912.
  2. Howard C. Stephens, born May21, 1932, at Summit, Mason County, Michigan.

IX

Charles Asher Sackett

He was the son of William Sackett and his wife, Mercy Canfield Sackett. He was born January 2, 1869; married Bertha Frith on September 16, 1891, at Sunfield, Michigan. He took over the farm which his father had settled in 1851, and was still living on it when the author visited them in December, 1952. He was at that time still active and hale although not actively farming any more. His wife likewise was still active and well. He later wrote the letter which is reproduced earlier herein.

Children

  1. G. Louise Sackett, born April 26, 1896; married Benjamin Richard Donaldson, June 16, 1916. Asher was very proud of her son, Donald Donaldson, who was a physician in EENT residency training at the time I visited.
  2. Heber E. Sackett (adopted); born December 15, 1902.
  3. Mary C. Sackett, born November 18, 1905.

IX

George Sackett

He was a son of Edmund Sackett, born April 17,1856. He married Mary E. Field, born September 25, 1857, on February 4, 1886.

Children

  1. Grace L. Sackett, born November 22, 1886. She was married on April 5, 1917, to Walter Parlem. They had no children.
  2. Mary E. Sackett, born May 9, 1991. She married Ira J. Keller on February 14, 1922. It was she who in 1952, responded to a "telephone book" inquiry and put me in touch with her cousin, Mrs. C.T. Arthun of Bremerton, Washington.

IX

Burt A. Sackett

He was a son of Edmund Sackett. He was born August 25, 1866. He married, first, Jennie Collins on November 28, 1903. He married, second, Mary E. Clark Vincent, born February 23, 1883.

Children

  1. Irving D. Sackett, born February 14, 1895; married February 14, 1922, to Elizabeth Peters. This is the Irving D. Sackett who wrote to me in 1952, and told of Mamie Phillips, the family recorder, and of the family reunions. Part of his letter is quoted earlier in this text.
  2. Dewey Sackett, born April 29, 1896; died November 4, 1918. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in the spring of 1918, and served in France with Co. B 304, Machine Gun U.S.N.A. On November 4, 1918, he died of wounds. His remains were transported to Bergin, N.Y. in the summer of 1921, and interred in Mt. Rest Cemetery.
  3. George L. Sackett, born February 9, 1903. He married September 30, 1924, to Avildah Simpson.

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Children (second marriage)

  1. Burton Sackett, born January 10, 1910.
  2. Clark W. Sackett, born June 16, 1912.
  3. Homer J. Sackett, born April 2, 1913.
  4. Ira Sackett, born September 21, 1915.
  5. Hilda Sackett, born October 22, 1916.
  6. Edmund Sackett, born July 18, 1920.
  7. Jennie E. Sackett, born September 5, 1922.
  8. Dewey Sackett, born November 17, 1923.
  9. Ralph E. Sackett, born September 27, 1925.

IX

Frank McKenzie

He was a son of Charlotte Sackett. He was born September 7, 1855, at Bergen N.Y. He married Kate E. Pettee on May 26, 1880, at Belding, Michigan. They lived at Concord, Michigan. For years he was editor of the Concord Independent. He was a member of the State Legislature.

Children

  1. Minnie Eva McKenzie, born July 7, 1883, at Jamestown, North Dakota; married Delbert Raser, May 8, 1908.
  2. Thomas Willard McKenzie, born September 1, 1886, at Concord, Michigan; married Winafred Martin on June 17, 1914, at Oklahoma City.
  3. Charlotte McKenzie, born October 20, 1886, at Concord, Michigan; married to Jay King April 25, 1914.

IX

Eva Melissa McKenzie

She was a daughter of Charlotte Sackett, born March 16, 1858, at Bergen, N.Y., She married George L. Keeler on April 14, 1887, at Concord, Michigan.

Children

  1. Kenneth Blake Keeler, born December 5, 1892.
  2. Blance Eva Keeler, born February 23, 1895; died June 11, 1895.
  3. Howard Lewis Keeler, born December 22, 1899.

IX

Carrie Anna McKenzie

She was a daughter of Charlotte Sackett. She was born December 25, 1859, at Bergen, N.Y.. She married Byron D. Malcolm on December 1, 1880, at Concord, Michigan. They lived in Los Angeles, California.

Children

  1. George Arthur Malcolm, born November 5, 1881, at Concord, Michigan. Lived in Mainly, P.I.

IX

Charles Thomas McKenzie

He was a son of Charlotte Sackett. He was born on July 16, 1870, at Bergen, N.Y. He married Clara Hanph on June 5, 1895, at Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Children

  1. Byron McKenzie, born March 11, 1896, at Green Bay, Wisconsin; died May 17, 1902, at Green Bay.
  2. Miriam E. McKenzie, born February 26, 1898.
  3. Marjorie C. McKenzie, born August 5, 1900, at Atchison, Wisconsin.
  4. Emmet E. McKenzie, born February 3, 1903, at Green Bay, Wisconsin.
  5. Charlotte McKenzie, born December 18, 1909, at Green Bay.
  6. Carol Clare McKenzie, born September 9, 1915, at Green Bay.

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IX

Henry Sackett

He was a son of Noble Sackett. He was born February 21, 1861. He married Lillie H. Bentley who died. He later married his second wife, Maude Rhuberry.

Children

  1. Noble Sackett

IX

Susie R. Sackett

Daughter of Noble Sackett. She was born July 29, 1876. She was married September 18, 1901, to William Wonser who was born September 10, 1877.

Children

  1. Floyd Ernest Wonser, born August 2, 1902.
  2. Cash Henry Wonser, born October 24, 1905.
  3. Roy Noble Wonser, born May 7, 1907.
  4. Susie Ruth Wonser, born May 7, 1907.
  5. Esther Ellen Wonser, born April 18, 1912.
  6. Mary Elma Wonser, born April 18, 1912.
  7. Lee William Wonser, born June 5, 1919.

IX

Myra Sackett

She was a daughter of Stephen Sackett, born July 1, 1865. She married Thomas W. Davis September 4, 1861. She died September 18, 1888.

IX

Gertrude Sackett

She was a daughter of Stephen Sackett. She was born December 14, 1876.

IX

Hattie Phillips

She was a daughter of Sarah Sackett, born September 8, 1874, at Aurelius, Michigan. She married Floyd E. Cady on January 2, 1901, at Aurelius, Michigan.

Children

  1. Phillips R. Cady, born March 24, 1903, in Vevay, Michigan; married Esther Cunningham August 26, 1927.
  2. Frances E. Cady, born May 19, 1908, at Aurelius, Michigan.

IX

Hettie Phillips

She was a daughter of Sarah Sackett. She was born September 8, 1874, at Aurelius, Michigan. She married Manzo C. Cady, Jr. December 30, 1897, at Aurelius, Michigan.

Children

  1. Henry Carleton Cady, born July 30, 1900, at Aurelius, Michigan; married Jean Marie Jay on September 1, 1928, at Lansing, Michigan.
  2. Agnes Euleen Cady, born January 14, 1905, in Vevay, Michigan; married William Earle Cassidy on November 5,1927, at Lansing, Michigan.
  3. Marion Lucile Cady, born November 14, 1906, in Vevay, Michigan.
  4. Myra Alberta Cady, born December 29, 1908; died January 2, 1909.

IX

Pluma Alsafine Sackett

She was the second child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his wife, Mary Kindman Sackett. She was born May 12, 1838. She died April 27, 1894, at South Haven, Michigan. Nothing more is known of her life experience. She appears in this text in a photograph with Frederick Plummer Sackett as a couple of young people.

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IX

Charles Sackett

As a small child, Charles was left with a neighbor while his father, Joel Bascom Sackett, was away traveling, acting as a circuit minister, taking his wife and the older children with him. When they returned they found that the neighbor had moved to California taking their son with them. They were never able to locate them and recover Charles.

IX

Saloma Sackett

She was the first child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his second wife, Lena Coble Sackett. She was born August 13, 1862. She married Eli Touchatt on July 4, 1881, at Cassopolis, Michigan.

Children

  1. Lloyd Touchatt, born August 21, 1883; died October 5, 1926; married but no children.
  2. Pearl Touchatt, born November 6, 1886; one daughter, Loma.
  3. Vaughn Touchatt, born November 21, 1891. Did not marry.

IX

Mercy P. Sackett

She was the second child of Joel Bascom Sackett and bis second wife, Lena Coble Sackett. She was born September 28, 1865. She died November 13, 1919. She married Ezekiel High.

Children

  1. Fred High; did not marry.
  2. Maybelle High; married a Mr. Myers and had three children; Bessie, Leon and Gertrude.
  3. Maggie High; married a Mr. Wells and had one child, Donald.
  4. Burrell High; married and had two children, Robert and Catharine.

IX

Alonzo Sackett

He was the third child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his second wife, Lena Coble Sackett. He was born June 15, 1869. He married Margaret Coble. They lived at Ellensburg, Washington.

Children

  1. Ray Sackett
  2. Earl Sackett
  3. Asa Sackett, born May, 1897.

IX

Noble Sackett

He was the fourth child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his second wife, Lena Coble Sackett. He was born May 5, 1873.

IX

Joel Bascom Sackett, Jr.

He was the fifth child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his wife, Lena Coble Sackett. He was born June 29, 1874. He lived in California. He married twice. His widow, Winifred Sackett responded very graciously to my inquiry and sent me a copy of the family genealogy which Joel had kept and which was the material which Mamie Phillips had compiled. She also sent me clippings of the obituaries of Lena Coble Sackett and of Joel Bascom Sackett. She also included a copy of the program at Joel Bascom Sackett Jr.'s funeral.

Children

  1. Ross Sackett, born June 29, 1874; lived in Chicago.
  2. Joe Sackett
  3. Winifred Sackett; did not marry.

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IX

Hattie Sackett

She was the sixth child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his second wife, Lena Coble Sackett. She was born January 7, 1877. She lived in Michigan. She married twice. I do not have the name of her husbands.

Children

  1. Ward R. __________, born April 13,1892; no children.
  2. Myrtle V. __________, born May-9, 1901, married but no children.
  3. Orra Noble __________, born October 2, 1896; married three times; two children, Ralph and Geraldine.
  4. Marjorie R. __________, born May 9, 1901; married to Albert E. Hatfield; there were two sons, Earl and Ward Dennis Hatfield.
  5. Mamie L. __________, born March 6, 1907; married Thomas J. Hatfield; no children.

IX

Odessa Sackett

She was the seventh child of Joel Bascom Sackett and his wife, Lena Coble Sackett. She was born August 3, 1879. She married twice.

Children

  1. Willard __________, born August 20, 1898; died February, 1921.
  2. Myra __________, born August 7,1900; married; no children.
  3. Lonnie __________, born September 1, 1905; died July 30, 1928; married; no children.
  4. Nettie __________, born July 6, 1909; married; no children.
  5. Wilbur __________, born June 19, 1911; did not marry.

X

James Earl Sackett

He was the eldest child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. He was born March 31, 1868, on his father's farm about four miles from Gobles, Van Buren County, Michigan. He grew up as a 'handsome normal boy who worked and played and enjoyed life." In later years he told of how hungry he would get when working in the fields as a boy, and about ten o'clock in the morning he would start looking toward the house. His father did not believe much in eating meat but he provided plenty of apples and took wheat to the mill and had it ground into graham flour so that they had graham gems (which his mother was expert in making) and apple sauce at home.

He went to school to the little Brown schoolhouse where his father had taught school and where his mother had gone to school (as a pupil at the time when her future husband was teacher). He worked on neighboring farms some during vacation and tended the younger children so his mother could weave carpet (which she did on a piece-work basis to help provide for her family). He loved to read and would not notice, if the baby was crying or doing something that it shouldn't. He was a very studious boy. He had a habit of walking fast and seldom wasted time. On the long way home from school he would be a long distance ahead of the other boys, never stopping to scuffle or fool along. But if any of the others wanted to fight he could give a good account of himself which he had to do often when he started high school in Gobles.

When he was seventeen he went to work for a man who lived on the other side of Gobles by the name of Van Winkle. This farmer was a Christian man who had been a minister. Earl was paid fifteen dollars a month for this work. With his first pay he bought a suit of clothes for himself and one for Andy, his brother, who was a year and a half younger than himself. From that tirne until he married he was an important contributor to the support of his family.

He went to church with the Van Winkles. He had never before attended Sunday School or church or heard anyone pray. He said he wondered at first who they were talking to. He worked for Van Winkle for two years with the exception of some time at home in mid-winter. In describing the early days his brother, Frank, said, "I was about four years old when Earl went to work on a farm for a man by the name of Van Winkle, south and west of Gobles, and when I was five years old we moved from the twenty acres to where we all grew up and Earl went north to work in the woods. From that time on he was away from home except for short intervals. No boy was ever loved more by his brothers and sisters than he was and we looked with as much joy to his coming home at Christmas as most people could to the coming of Christ.".

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Account Book

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Account Book

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When Earl was nineteen he went to northern Michigan to work in a sawmill, first at Park City where Charles Bronson, his cousin, was engineer. Later they were transferred to Woodville to the West Michigan Saw Mill, one of the largest in the state. It was there that he met his future wife, Antoinette Hall, who was then fifteen and who worked in the boarding house. Earl was twenty-two at the time. He thought that she was quite a wonderful girl to be doing all the things she was doing at her age. He had been converted in a revival at the Methodist Church before going up north and now he was class leader at the Woodinville Methodist Church. He was, on one occasion, asked to deliver the sermon. He asked about how to prepare for such an undertaking. At that time the use of prepared sermons was deemed unnecessary, the idea being that when the preacher stood up the Lord would inspire him and put words in his mouth. Earl was advised to follow this technique. In the case of professional ministers, of course, previous conditioning and experience had something to do with making this method workable but in Earl's case the method failed. After saying the opening prayer and reading the scripture for a few verses, he stopped and waited for the words to come. After a few minutes of agonized waiting it became apparent to all that they were not coming; so he hurriedly concluded the service. In later years he said, "It was unquestionably the shortest formal church service on record".

Antoinette Hall was a good Christian girl who belonged to the Free Methodist Church. She attended prayer meetings regularly and all the church services that she could. Later, her brother, Ambrose, came up to visit her and became a great admirer of Earl, who told Ambrose all about his family and found out from Ambrose all about his people; so when Earl and Nettiel[sic] met they already knew a great deal about each other. They were married November 1, 1893, at Big Rapids at the Free Methodist church which still stands in the Third Ward in the northern part of the city. Reverend Ingalls officiated and Nettie was approaching her eighteenth birthday and Earl was twenty-five.

They spent the winter with Earl's mother. In the spring they moved to a forty acre-farm, the Aldrich House, which he had acquired and they planted five acres of potatoes out of which they ultimately realized $50.00. Most of the crop could not be sold. It was the second year of the great depression of '93, the Cleveland depression, which reached its peak that year. Their first born, Calista, arrived on November 5, 1894. Just before Christmas they moved to Big Rapids where Earl had gotten a job as firer in Byer's mill and Nettie helped in the boarding house. They let their pay accumulate so that they would have a "stake" in the spring. Nettie forbore even to get cloth to make a dress for the baby at the company store for that reason. In the spring, however, Byer's went through bankruptcy. Earl attached a load of lumber and finally settled for $20.00. He bought seed potatoes with that and he and Nettie and the baby moved down with Nettie's parents who had bought a new farm about a mile west of their old home. (Nettie's father had had a $1000.00 mortgage on the original place for years and had had the money to pay it off almost any time—until the depression hit when cash became unobtainable even if it belonged to one and was in a bank. So a foreclosure had taken place).

Earl went down to his parent's farm and got a gray mare and a Clydesdale stallion which had never been broken to work, and a wagon and some tools. When Nettie's father saw "Old Pete", the stallion, he said, "I've never seen such j'ints on a horse in my life"!. With this set-up they broke five acres of new ground and put it to potatoes. Old Pete didn't know how to handle himself and when they struck a root and it would give way he'd fall on his nose. They had quite a time pounding the old horse around and Earl later said that if he met Old Pete in Heaven he'd ask his forgiveness. Later that year Pete fell through a bridge and killed himself. The crop of potatoes was dug and put into a storage pit but was never taken out because the market price for potatoes had fallen to almost nothing.

Then Earl and Ambrose went over to Stanwood and started cutting four foot wood for the coal kilns. Nettie and Calista went along and cooked for them in an old log building. They worked there until Ambrose came down with typhoid fever and they were forced to give up that job. They earned about ninety cents a day there. They next returned to Jotham Hall's and in January moved to their tax title homestead. There was an old log house on it and Nettie and Earl cleared fifteen acres of ground and put in corn and got a good crop. Nettie says that in recent years she was driven by there and found that the fifteen acres has now been planted to pine timber by the State.

William was born that fall. They lived there through the following year when Earl decided to go to Spring Arbor to school. They had gone to the church conference near Stanwood and Reverend Olmstead, the district elder, pursuaded Earl to go to the Free Methodist Seminary (now a Teacher's College). He had a chance to put a student in the railroad station as ticket agent in exchange for quarters. So they decided to make the change. They left the corn crop in Mr. Hall's hands. He traded it for some lumber to build with, expecting to pay Earl for the crop but he didn't have any money so he gave Earl a colt worth $50.00 and that's all they got for the crop and their year's work. (While they were living on the homestead, Earl sold the forty acres to Andy for a mule team, a wagon, a cow and some tools).

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James Earl Sackett

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Antoinette Hall Sackett

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At Spring Arbor, Earl went to school for one term. Nettie served as ticket agent. Clella was born that winter on September 22, 1898. The next spring they found that the family was too big for the small station house. For one thing, they couldn't keep the kids off the tracks. Earl then bought forty acres near Spring Arbor on contract. The family lived there for three years hut Earl did not continue school. Mildred was born on March 1, 1900. Earl wanted to name her Clara so that the names of all of the girls would start with "C", but Nettie wanted to name her Mildred. Mary, Andy Sackett's wife, stayed with her during that time and a doctor from Horton attended during the delivery. Shortly after the baby was born the census-taker came. When he asked for the baby's name Nettie told him that they hadn't decided yet—that her father wanted her called Clara and she wanted to name the baby Mildred. Earl came in the house while this conversation was going on and the census-taker said, "Well, we've just named the baby Mildred". Earl never did call her Mildred but gave her the nickname of "Tootsie".

Earl worked on threshing crews, running the engine in the woods, in the grain elevator in Jackson, and so forth. On the latter job he got $9.00 a week and paid his board out of that. Nettie used to drive him down there Monday morning with the team and went after him Saturday taking Clella and "Tootsie" with her.

Earl was not well satisfied with the conditions under which they were living and was interested in making a change. He received literature in the mail promoting emigration to the West, probably from the railroads, in which the opportunities in the West were described in glowing terms, e.g. "the State of the Big Red Apples"; so he began to make plans for moving there. In the spring of 1901 he sold his team and some tools to finance a ticket to Portland, which in those days cost about $30.00. Nettie and the children went back to Mother Sackett's and lived In the Aldrich House again that summer. In the fall, after visiting her sister Flaudie and her Aunt Nett, she went to spend the winter with her mother.

Meanwhile, Earl had stopped at Spokane (he'd probably met someone who had told him about the country around northern Washington). A new railroad was being built up to Orient, Washington from Spokane, so he went there and got a job making ties. He looked for a homestead site and first found a place on the Orient side of the river in Ferry County. He cut ties there the first winter but later decided that the land was poor so he changed his homestead to Kelly Hill about twelve miles east of Orient where the pasture looked more luxuriant.

He sent for Nettie the next spring. She left Michigan in the latter part of April in 1902 with the four children. The train took five days to reach Spokane where they stayed overnight and then took the train to Bosburg where Earl met them. He took them to Louie Toulou's where they spent the night. On the next day, Sunday, May 5, 1902, they went up to the homestead. It was fourteen years before Nettie went anyplace again other than rarely to Orient or even got back as far as Spokane.

They lived in a tent there for three weeks while Earl built a cabin. Nettle didn't like the country at all and couldn't see any future in it. She was worried because there was no school or other community facilities. After the cabin was built, Earl went back to work at the Easter Sunday Mine, a silver mine, for $2.00 a day, a high wage at that time. No ore was ever shipped out, however, and the mine eventually was abandoned. Nettie raised a garden and tended the children.

The next year Earl did a little farming; had ten acres of wheat which he harvested for hay. Since there was no modern machinery available up there at that time he cut the wheat with an old fashioned cradle and tied it up in bundles with stalks of the wheat. On September 1, 1903, Manley was born. A neighbor woman, a Mrs. Tom Smith, helped out, The delivery took place before Mrs. Smith arrived as it turned out but she was useful anyhow. The children, Calista and Bill started school that winter to the "Larsen School" which had been started that year. The schoolhouse was three miles away toward Orient, and they all went on the horse.

The next year Earl rented land (his 160 acre homestead was mostly mountainside and not suitable for tilling), and got started farming. He raised wheat on the "Ward Ranch" which he farmed for ten years. During that time they lived in the log shack that he had built. Fred was born on June 24, 1905. On March 24, 1908, Ruth Elizabeth was born. She apparently had a meningocoele and she died after two weeks. Jotham Hall Sackett was born September 9, 1909.

Earl sawed lumber from his land, made ties and sold telegraph poles. He acquired a little sawmill and a threshing machine as well as a big steam engine which was actually a big tractor which was used for pulling the threshing machine around and to furnish power for its operation. During those years they made a living and got ahead a little. They had a number of milk cows also. They had a separator for taking off some of the cream which they sold. They raised some pigs to which the skim milk and some of the grain was fed. In 1976, a book entitled "Kettle River Country" by Ruth Lakin was published. It described the early days along the Kettle River. It describes the settling of that part of the country and mentions the Earl Sacketts in several places and also has pictures which include Sackett family members. News briefs in the Kettle River Journal for 1904 and 1905, included, "Earl Sackett, the energetic rancher on the southern slope of Jumbo Mountain, was in town Tuesday and marketed a load of hogs. He butchered 23 nice porkers last Saturday".

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Family Picture

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In 1911 they moved to Hungry Mill. They sold the Kelly Hill place for $2500.00. The land on Hungry Hill looked good at that time with a luxuriant growth of grass. Earl bought eighty acres there and leased one hundred and sixty acres of "school land". That land was prairie land and did not have to be cleared although some of it was quite steep. One hundred acres were put under cultivation and planted to wheat. Earl enjoyed plowing and working his fields while barefoot, enjoying the feel of the warm earth under his feet. This unconventional habit caused considerable interest and comment in the community at first. It was startling for the neighbors to find a set of large bare footprints going down the road, and it was some time before they found out whence they came. Frank Hall visited there for several months during their early years in the West and says that, at that time, there was plenty of rain and crops were extremely good, and the prospects there were encouraging.

Nina Lillian was born that fall on October 16, 1911. She was named Nina in consideration of the fact that she was the ninth. The family lived in a log house down in the gulch called the Billings place after the man who had homestead there. The second year they lived on Hungry Hill, Earl built a shack on the hill with three rooms; and the family moved into this house. The long center room served as living room and the other rooms as bedrooms. A cabin was built near the house for the boys to sleep in. Earl also built a large barn there. These buildings have all since been torn down. The house on Kelly Hill was still standing in 1937. At that time the table of cedar planks hewed by hand by Earl was removed and is reported to have been placed on display in the museum of the State College of Washington (now Washington State University) in Pullman.

Nettie's sister, Flaudie, her husband, Frank Cronawert, and their family had come west and had settled on a homestead on Hungry Hill before Nettie and Earl and family moved there. They lived about two miles away down and across the gulch. The other neighbors were the La Mar family, the Mears family, the Gourley's, the Smiths, and the Balls who all lived on Hungry Hill in various cleared sections. There were several other families who moved in and out of that area at various times; so that there was quite a large community there at that time. Now most of these families have moved out and there are not enough people to support any sort of community life.

Earl had a sawmill down in the gulch and lumbered off the Billings place which he had bought on contract. Earl was the sawyer; Bill was the engineer; Clella and Tootsie were the offbearers and Manley carried the edgings away. Of such was the crew comprised. Nettie cooked for them and says that they had wonderful appetites.

Calista started the eighth grade in the Larsen School. In 1912, she was sent east to her Grandmother Sackett's in Gobles where she finished the eighth grade and entered high school.

On February, 27, 1914, a son, James Earl Sackett, Jr. was born at the house on Hungry Hill. Also, Pearl Sackett Coldsnow and her husband, Alva Coldsnow, who had homesteaded in Canada, came down to find work and lived with Nettie and her family during the winter with their six year old daughter, Mildred. Eleven days after Jimmy was born, Pearl was delivered of twins, Stanley and Stella. Nettie fed them at breast along with her own baby and also fed them with a medicine dropper when they wouldn't nurse, until they were well under way.

On August 8, 1917, a son, Andy Paul, was born at the hospital in Colville, Washington.

In 1913, Earl went to Michigan and bought twenty-seven head of Jersey cattle part of which were registered and part were "grades". A registered Jersey bull was included in the shipment. The cattle were unloaded in Orient and an auction was held where most of the producers were sold to help pay for the venture. The registered heifers and the bull were retained. After a year or so the cattle produced well, and about $300.00 worth of cream was sold monthly.

However, in 1918 and 1919, there was a severe drought. Grain crops did not even sprout until August and there was not enough feed for the cattle. The winter of 1918–1919 was unusually long and severe. They were forced to sell horses and farm machinery to buy hay for the cattle. In the summer of 1919, in consideration of these and other factors, Earl decided to move. He went to the Yakima valley shortly after the Fourth of July in that year. He met a Mr. Minneha at a sale who told Earl of a farm he had which was known as the Morgan Place and Earl bought it under contract without much in the way of down payment. The land was quite alkaline and only about forty acres were suitable for cultivation. Earl wrote home and got Bill to drive Nettie and Manley down to see the place and he kept Manley there to batch with him while Nettie and bill[sic] went home to take care of things there. Earl was not able to work much but Manley went out working in the hay fields and got a man's wages, $5.00 a day at the age of fourteen. Wages were good just after World War I. Later, before school began, Clella and Mildred went down there and took Nina with them on the train. Bill and Nettie took care of the dairy on Hungry Hill. During September Earl came back home to prepare to ship the cattle down and sell off the horses and tools. He had Bill drive down with the 1914 Ford and take Nettie, Fred, Joe, Jimmy and Andy to the new place. Much of the proceeds of the sale of property were used to repay Frank Sackett money that Earl had borrowed for his medical care—which will be described later. Mildred and Clella started school at Sunnyside their last year of high school. Joe and Nina and

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Billings Gulch

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Kelly Hill

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Fred went to the country (Belma) school. Manley did not go to school that winter. Earl shipped the cattle down in November and went back up north to finish up business. He was up there a good share of the winter getting the furniture crated and shipped and so on. Bill was back up there too, boarding at his Aunt Flaudie's and taking care of the horses in stock that were left there. It was a terribly cold winter. All of the family had influenza and the children all had all of the childhood diseases that they had never been exposed to before; namely, measles, chickenpox and scarlet fever, all of which added greatly to the difficulties. Nevertheless, they did get moved and settled in by spring.

Earl's lack of ability to work much at this time was alluded to above. He was suffering from a malignancy. In 1908, he was injured when a horse, "Darline", fell and rolled on him when they were going through a wire gate on the side hill. This was the same horse which threw Clella off so that she landed on a rock and split her lower lip open leaving a scar which she bore through the rest of her life. Frank Hall had originally bought the horse from the Italian neighbor, Mr. Grandinetti. Earl was not seriously injured at the time but some time thereafter noted a new growth the size of a hickory nut on a rib on the right side of his chest. He saw Doctor Goss in Marcus who called it a cartilage growth. In 1914, he attempted to chip it off. He found it to be filled with a jelly-like substance and not of the consistency which he had expected. (Some time before this attempt at removal Earl had been in Spokane to buy a new threshing machine. While there he went to see a doctor who told him the lesion was malignant and who advised excision. Earl, however, had faith in Doctor Goss' diagnosis and felt that the Spokane doctor was just drumming up business; so he went back and had Doctor Goss attempt local removal as described above).

The next spring, 1915, Nettie rode horseback to Orient and took the train to Marcus to see Doctor Goss because the tumor had increased in size rapidly after the abortive attempt at surgery. Doctor Goss told her that he had bought a set of books especially to learn more about tumors after his experience with Earl and that in his opinion the tumor was malignant and that he wouldn't consider doing another operation himself but suggest that Earl go to the Mayo Clinic. At that time the growth had increased in size to the proportions of an alarm clock. In the summer, Earl did go to the Mayo Clinic where a wide resection of the tumor was done. This operation unexpectedly had to be a two stage one because his heart stopped beating in the middle of the operation and was revived only with difficulty. On the third day the remainder of the procedure was carried out. After recovering Earl went to Michigan to see his mother and to convalesce and then returned to Washington

The following winter, 1916, a recurrence of the tumor was noted and in January he returned to the Mayo Clinic. He had "flu" about that time so surgery was postponed and he went on to Michigan. Nettie was there with Nina, Joe and Jimmie. Her father had died in November. She arrived at his house about ten minutes after he died from a "blood clot". Nettie was at Andy Sackett's place near Gobles, Michigan when Earl arrived. While there Earl suffered an attack of appendicitis complicated by rupture of the same and the development of a paralytic ileus (probably). Doctor Bennett and another doctor from Kalamazoo operated in Andy Sackett's house in Mary's bedroom in the latter part of February. After his recovery Earl returned to the Mayo Clinic where another attempt at excision of the tumor was made in April. Doctor Robinson performed the operation as he had the preceding ones. After recovery, Earl worked for a time on the Mayo farm at Rochester and then another operation was done. He then returned home to Washington.

A recurrence developed and he again returned to the Mayo Clinic. Following his return home another recurrence developed. He decided to not have any further surgery. But as the tumor grew he decided that he "could not just sit at home and die by inches", so he went to Santa Barbara, California, to which location Doctor Robinson had moved. There a final attempt at surgical cure was performed. By that time the growth had invaded the pericardium. Radium implants were made into the open wound. He was very weak after the operation and said to the doctor, "I guess someone else will have to milk the cows from now on". He died on December 6, 1920, about twenty-four hours after the operation. He was buried in Mabton, Washington on December 13, 1920. His wife, "Nettie" survived until September 30, 1957. She was buried in the Spring Arbor Cemetery, Spring Arbor, Michigan.

I suppose the above recital of the lives of Nettie and Earl Sackett will strike most readers as a pretty grim set of experiences. Actually it wasn't quite that way according to several contemporaries with whom I talked. They all said that Nettie and Earl enjoyed life and had a lot of fun—at least until the end. Earl lived his life with considerable zest and thought himself to be pretty well off. Their lives were not atypical of most country people at that time and were a far cry from the "orderly lives of quiet desperation" one hears about today. Earl had musical talent and was an accomplished fiddler. He played violin regularly for community dances and social events. In a way there was a great deal more in the way of a shared community life then than there is in most communities today. And their children had a very rich experience, a life of high adventure so to speak compared to children growing up in urban settings or even in suburbia now.

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Children

  1. Calista Marie Sackett, born November 5, 1894.
  2. William Sackett, born October 23, 1896.
  3. Clella Fern Sackett, born September 22, 1898.
  4. Mildred Sackett, born March 1, 1900.
  5. Manley Ray Sackeft, born September 1,1903.
  6. Frederick Sackett, born June 24, 1905.
  7. Ruth Elizabeth Sackett, born March 24,1908.
  8. Jotham Hall Sackett, born September 9,1909.
  9. Nina Lillian Sackett, born October 16,1911.
  10. James Earl Sackett, Jr., born February 27, 1914.
  11. Andy Paul Sackett, born August 8, 1917. (Later changed the first name to Andrew). [Author of this book].

XI

Calista Marie Sackett

She was the eldest child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. She was born November 5, 1894, at the "Aldrich House" on her father's farm in Pine Grove Township, Michigan. She went to the State of Washington with her family as a child where she attended country school through the seventh grade and had started the eighth grade. She was then sent to Gobles, Michigan to the home of her paternal grandmother where she finished the eighth grade and went to high school until she had attained ten and one-half credits at the Goblesville High School. Instead of continuing with her education she went to Montana in September, 1915, where her uncle, Logan Sackett, was living. She staked out a homestead there in May, 1916. She married Frank Milliman, native of southern Michigan, on December 19, 1919, at Plentywood, Montana. Frank Milliman was born Frank Palmer in Three Rivers, Michigan, on June 29,1891, to Frank Palmer and Clara Weger Palmer. His father died before Frank was born and he later took the name of his mother's second husband, Frank Milliman.

Frank and Calista farmed their land which was located about thirty miles north of Wolf Point, Montana. All of their children were born during that time. Robert, the youngest, was delivered at the home of Calista's mother in Chinook, Montana. In the early nineteen thirties they sold their land and moved to Michigan. In the words of their son Glen, "We left Montana in the night driving a 1923 Chevrolet. When we arrived in Kalamazoo we moved into a house on Catherine Street across from where the Hunt family lived and where Aunt Gail Hunt Sackett had grown up. Her husband, our uncle Frank Sackett, helped Dad get a job in the Kalamazoo Stove Works. We lived on Catherine Street for a year or two and then moved to Kendall near Dad's folks. There we lived on what was called the Banks place. Those years were difficult although we always seemed to have enough to eat but not a great abundance of the necessities and few luxuries. After two or three years there we went to Mattawan, Michigan to a farm that was owned by Frank Sackett. At that time he was President of the bank there. We lived on this farm until 1936 or 1937, when Uncle Frank sold his interest in the bank at Mattawan and bought a farm near Litchfield, Michigan where we again farmed on a halves arrangement. We lived there until about 1943. We had been operating a dairy herd and had accumulated considerable equipment and a fairly large herd of cattle. Frank Sackett decided that would be a good time to have a sale and we sold all the cattle, crops on hand and the equipment. This time Frank Sackett bought a farm at Jerome, Michigan and again my folks moved to that farm to operate it on a share basis as before. This was a two hundred and forty acre farm. We farmed there for a period of years when Uncle Frank decided that it was again time for sale. On this occasion my father got a deed to ninety-six acres of the farm as his share of the proceeds. My parents lived there the rest of their working days. In 1966, they sold this farm and moved into a mobile home on my brother Robert's place near Constantine, Michigan. By that time both of my parents were elderly and in poor health. Both suffered from diabetes. They lived there until Dad passed away on January 17, 1971, and was buried in the cemetery in Constantine, Michigan. Following that my mother moved to a nursing home but she also passed away on August 2, 1972. She also was buried in the cemetery in Constantine, Michigan.

We three boys thought a great deal of our parents. They were kind and patient with us always. We feel that without their encouragement, guidance and help we certainly never would have been able to accomplish the things that we have done. Because of our mother we have an especially high regard for all our Sackett relatives".

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Children and Grandchildren

  1. Earl Mage Milliman, born November 3, 1921, at Scobey, Montana. In September, 1944, he married Eunice Martz at Caledonia, Michigan.
  2. Glen Stephen Milliman, born May 23, 1925, at Scobey, Montana. he married his first wife, Vada Foster, on May 21, 1944, at Litchfield, Michigan. Following a divorce he married his second wife, Etfie May Ellis, on March 7, 1949. They had one child:
    1. Christian Dean Milliman, born December 4,.1949, at Jackson, Michigan. He married Karen Lynn Olson on September 19, 1970, at Vero Beach, Florida. They had three children; Jessie Lee Milliman, born July 24, 1971, at Vero Beach, Florida; Joel Glen Milliman, born January 8, 1973, at Vero Beach Florida; and Justin Dean Milliman, born October 6, 1975, at Vero Beach, Florida.
  3. Robert Sackett Milliman, born April 16, 1926, at Chinook, Montana. He married Helen Elaine Horn on June 18, 1950, at Somerset Center, Michigan. They had three children:
    1. Patricia Elaine Milliman, born July 22, 1951, at Hillsdale, Michigan. She married Stephen Lyle Huhn on August 31,1974, at Constantine, Michigan. They have had two children; Nathan Peter Huhn, born April 19, 1979, and Andrew Steven Huhn, born in May, 1982.
    2. Cheryl Lynn Milliman; born August 7, 1952, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She married Gary Lee Haskins on June 12, 1970, at Constantine, Michigan. They had three children: Jenifer Lynn Haskins, born November 5,1970, at Three Rivers, Michigan; Sadie Lynn Haskins, born August 24,1973, at Three Rivers, Michigan; and Robert Matthew Haskins, born May 21, 1977, at Sturgis, Michigan.
    3. Gina Laraine Milliman, born April 3, 1958. She married Bruce Leroy Leister on October 9, 1976, at Constantine, Michigan. They have had two children; Zachary Owen Leister, born July 13, 1978, at Sturgis, Michigan; and Jana Marie Leister, born November 21, 1980, at Sturgis, Michigan.

XI

William Earl Sackett

He was the second child born to James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. He was born October 23, 1896, in northern Michigan on a small farm not far from the Jotham Hall residence. According to his uncle Ambrose Hall, he was a beautiful child, blond and blue eyed and resembling his grandfather, Jotham Hall in looks and temperament. He was six years old when the family went west to Washington. The train trip took five days and he spent most of that time asking questions, his mother said. He and Calista went to school that fall on the same horse. It was a three mile trip. School ran from September to Christmas. He was a good student but he was kept home to help with farm work so much that he never even finished the eighth grade. He worked with his father on all the farm work like cultivating, threshing, running the saw mill engine, rounding up the milk cows and so on. Another handicap was a fall in which he sustained severe injuries. On an Easter Sunday the five children went on a picnic. They climbed up the mountain with a lunch with William in the lead. Part of the trail was a ledge across the face of a cliff. When they got to the top William was not there. On the way down they noticed blood on the bushes by the trail and they found William by an old house bleeding from head injuries, mostly on the face. He eventually lost his teeth as a result of this. He had fallen off the ledge.

When World War I started he went to Seattle where he found work in the shipyards at Bremerton where he remained until his draft call came and it came the same day the armistice was announced. Later he traveled about and worked in various places at farm work, in the woods and so on. In World War II he worked at a chain-making factory in Portland, Oregon. In his later years he drove a truck for Goodwill Industries. He died of a heart attack on the way to the hospital in June, 1963. He was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Walla Walla, Washington. He never married.

XI

Clella Fern Sackett

The third child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. She was born September 22, 1891, at Spring Arbor, Michigan. She went to the state of Washington with the family in 1902. She attended the country school known as the Larsen School through the fourth grade, and then the Hungry Hill School through the eighth grade. She attended High School in Orient for one year, Colville High School for two years, and the Sunnyside High School for one year, graduating in 1920. She then worked at the Sunnyside Hospital as the institution cook during 1920-22. She then attended the Councilman Business School in Spokane for one year, 1922-23. She married Bert Edgar Edwards of Mabton, Washington September 8, 1923.

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She worked as bookkeeper for local businesses for some time after her marriage. In 1930, Bert Edwards was transferred to Toppenish by the Northern Pacific Railroad by which company Bert was employed. In July of 1932 they moved to Pendleton, Oregon and in April of 1939, to Walla Walla, Washington where Bert was the Station Agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad.

Bert Edwards, generally known as "Shorty", began work for the Northern Pacific in 1908, and had a record of continuous employment until his retirement. He had started as a telegrapher and was advanced to Station Agent. His home state was Iowa. Seldom seen without a pipe, he died of cancer of the base of the tongue in 1961, and was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery, Walla Walla, Washington.

Clella lived on in their home until 1964, when she moved to Woodburn Senior Citizens Estates in Woodburn, Oregon. She had joined the Methodist Church in 1920, and she remained active for the rest of her life. During her retired years her principal interests were her family, oil painting, taking courses in local clubs and schools and traveling. She had some form of rheumatic heart disease from childhood but was well compensated until the final year or so. She died June 14, 1975, in Salem, Oregon Hospital and was buried at the Bell Cemetery, Woodburn, Oregon.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Genevieve May Edwards (adopted), born December 21, 1928. She married Fred L. Pugliese of Walla Walla, Washington on January 31, 1948. They had two children:
    1. Laura Anne Pugliese, born December 26, 1948, in Walla Walla, Washington; married RiChard Parker Ellingsen on August 23,1969. They have had two children: Elizabeth Mary Ellingsen, born April 8,1970, and Matthew Thomas Ellingsen, born April 3, 1973.
    2. Rebecca Mary Pugliese, born December 8, 1952, in Walla Walla, Washington; married Gerald Olson on June 30, 1978. They have had one child, Christopher Arthur Olson, born May 28, 1981.
    Fred Pugliese died of a cancer of the large bowel about 1960. Genevieve suffered a severe and sudden stroke due to a rupture of an aneurysm of the Circle of Willis and died two days later about 1964.

IX

Mildred Sackett

She was the fourth child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. She was born March 1, 1900, in Jackson County, Michigan. In 1902, she went to the state of Washington with her family. She attended the Larsen school while the family lived in Sackett's Gulch and the Hungry Hill School after the family moved to Hungry Hill. She completed the eighth grade there and then attended the Orient High School for one year and then the Colville High School for two and a half years, and finished High school at the Sunnyside High School in 1920.

She worked in the kitchen at the Sunnyside Hospital for a year and in July, 1922, entered training as a student nurse at the Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, from which she was graduated in 1925 as a Registered Nurse. She did private duty nursing until December, 1928, when she and a classmate, Dell Simpson, decided to take a tour of the United States in a car they had bought. They stopped in San Francisco to work for a while and liked it so much they forgot their plans for continuing the tour. From 1929 until 1952, she continued to do private duty nursing in that city with intervals of staff duty nursing at St. Francis Hospital.

She married William Herndon Nix, son of William H. Nix and his wife, Irma Herndon Nix of Okolona, Mississippi, on June 2, 1947, at Reno, Nevada. Bill Nix, Jr. was an electrician who worked for the Otis Elevator Company. He died of a myocardial infarction February 1, 1950.

In 1952 Mildred bought a house in Carmel, California, and did staff duty in the Salinas Hospital until October, 1954, when she went to Sherwood, Michigan to visit her mother. She stayed with her mother and took care of her until her mother's death in September, 1957. Soon thereafter she returned to Carmel and resumed work at Salinas Hospital until 1962, when she retired. During the succeeding years she lived at Walla Walla, Washington and at Woodburn Estates with her sister, Clella and in Salem, Oregon. In December, 1976, she became a resident of the Keiser Retirement Home in Salem, Oregon. She and her husband had no children.

XI

Manley Ray Sackett

He was the fifth child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. He was born September 1, 1903, at the homestead in Sackett Gulch in Stevens County near the town of Bossburg, Washington. He attended the Larsen school and later, when the family moved to Hungry Hill, the Hungry Hill School which was built with

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lumber donated from the Sackett Mill. Because their father was ill and was away for long periods getting treatment, all of the children including Manley probably had more work and responsibility thrust on them than was good for them. However, things held together until a drought set in during 1916 and continued. There was not enough feed for the livestock and it became necessary to move and this happened in 1918. The family settled near Mabton, Washington, in the Yakima Valley. Manley entered the eighth grade in Sunnyside, Washington in 1920. When he graduated from the eighth grade he was eighteen years old. He went on through high school earning his keep by working and doing chores for farmers and retired people in the area. In 1924, he transferred to Walla Walla High School from which he was graduated the following year. In 1925, he entered the Washington State College at Pullman, Washington and was graduated in June, 1930. He was granted a fellowship which enabled him to do a year of graduate work in the Sociology Department and was awarded a Master of Arts degree the following year.

In June, 1931, he married Mabel Thomas. From that year until June, 1934, he taught in the Monroe, Washington High School where he coached football, basketball and track and taught Chemistry, Physics and Social Studies. In September, 1934, he became Executive Secretary of the College YMCA in Pullman, Washington. Because the depression had made it very difficult for many young people to attend college even though they wanted to very badly, Manley took the initiative in establishing a cooperative enterprise which became the Student Cooperative Boarding and Housing Association. This organization acquired several houses in which groups of students could be housed at low cost. Eventually the National Youth Administration was pursuaded to build a large structure on the campus and rent it to the Cooperative. He also ran an employment agency for students.

In September, 1940, he resigned and enrolled in the College of Education at Stanford University for two quarters and continued on through the summer in the Graduate School at the Washington State College. In August, 1941, he was hired by a private firm for a period of one year to set up occupational guidance procedures for the Commercial Section of the California State Employment Service in Los Angeles, California. Then he was employed by the Consolidated Steel Company to recruit and employ workers for their expanded World War II production effort.

After the war he did a variety of things such as operating a machine shop, manufacturing household furniture, and teaching in high school. From 1941, until his retirement in 1968, he worked for the Harris Manufacturing Company of Stockton, California as Service Manager and Field Engineer and Salesman. For much of the time during their married life until her retirement in 1976, his wife, Mabel, continued with her vocation of teaching in elementary school. She had a distinguished career, especially in the sense that she made a lasting impression on her students. A surprising number have kept in touch through the years. One evidence of this was the naming of the playfield at Pasadena Elementary School, Walla Walla School District No. 363, Spokane County, Washington. It was dedicated as the MABEL SACKETT PLAYGROUND on May 8, 1981, by popular acclaim of students and former students, and this took place some years after she had retired.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Thomas Earl Sackett, born August 18, 1932, at Monroe General Hospital, Monroe, Washington. He has had a career with the Bell Telephone Company in Spokane, Washington. He married Carol Koll on June 29, 1957. They have four children:
    1. Scott Joseph Sackett (adopted), born May 31, 1962, in Spokane Washington.
    2. Kelli Marie Sackett (adopted), born September 30, 1964, in Spokane, Washington.
    3. Michael Joseph Sackett., born March 18, 1966, in Spokane, Washington.
    4. Kasi Ann Sackett, born January 20, 1969, in Spokane, Washington.
  2. Beverly Ann Sackett, horn January 15, 1935, at St. Manes Hospital, Colfax, Washington. She married Frank August Treibel on June 18, 1954. Frank has been a career staff member of the management of Chevron Chemical Company and Beverly was a leader in the Girl Scouts. They have two children:
    1. Karen Joy Treibel, born September 4, 1955, at Fort Ord, California. She married Robert Wayne Hughes on February 28, 1977. A child, Thomas Robert Hughes was born July 31, 1982.
    2. Donna Kay Treibel, born March 10, 1959, at Spokane, Washington.
  3. Manley Ray Sackett, Jr., born July 17, 1942, at Queen of the Angles Hospital, Los Angeles, California. He is a manufacturing engineer in Los Angeles.
  4. Frederick Hyde Sackett, born April 14, 1944, in Los Angeles, California. He is a Physical Therapist by profession in Springfield, Oregon. He married Sharon Louise Mills on July 10, 1965. The have had three children:
    1. Kamila Dawn Sackett, born May 26, 1969, at Eugene, Oregon.
    2. Kendra Danette Sackett, born May 1, 1971, at Eugene, Oregon.
    3. Kara Danielle Sackett, born August 7, 1972, at Eugene, Oregon.

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Frederic Burns Sackett

He was the sixth child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. He was born June 24, 1905, at the family home in Stevens County, Washington. He attended country schools in the county through the eighth grade. He attended the Sunnyside High School from which he was graduated in 1924. In 1928, he farmed for one year near Chinook, Montana in partnership with his brother, Joe, on a farm being bought from his stepfather. This venture did not succeed due to a sharp drop in wheat prices that fall. He then moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, and he attended the Ferris Institute at Big Rapids for one term. He then became a member of the police force in Kalamazoo, Michigan at which employment he continued except for the time spent in the U.S. Army in World War II, until 1952, when he moved to Moses Lake, Washington where he had won an opportunity to buy a tract of newly irrigated land in the Columbia Valley Development following the building of the Grand Coulee Dam.

He married Marvel Hunt Sackett in April, 1930, and was divorced in 1939. There were no children from this marriage. During his service with the Kalamazoo Police Force, first as a patrolman and later as a detective, he received numerous letters of commendation from Federal, State and Local authorities. His hobby was side arm shooting at which he attained national recognition. While in the Armed Forces he set a new record with the Gerand Rifle. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in February, 1942, and served with the 98th. Field-Artillery, 6th. Ranger Batallion which played an important role throughout the South Pacific Campaign. On his return from the Pacific Theatre he was honorably discharged. He then rejoined the Kalamazoo Police Force as a Detective. In June, 1946, he married Mary Santek Clapp.

Children

  1. Marilyn Jean Sackett, born November 9, 1949. She married William Glen Kelly on December 18, 1971, in the Lady of Lourdes Church in Great Falls, Montana. William Glen Kelly was born September 23, 1946, in Great Falls, Montana.

XI

Ruth Elizabeth Sackett

She was the seventh child of James Earl Sackett and his wife Antoinette Hall Sackett. She was born March 24, 1908, at the Sackett homestead in Sackett's Gulch, Stevens County, near the town of Bossburg. She died at the age of two weeks of a meningocoele, and was buried on the homestead at the north end of the orchard in a small grove of pine trees. Her grave is marked by a mound of native stone topped with a slab of concrete bearing her name.

XI

Jotham Hall Sackett

He was the eighth child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. He was born in Stevens County, Washington, near Bossburg, on September 9, 1909. He attended the rural school near the family farm on Hungry Hill sporadically from age six to nine when the family moved to a farm near Mabton, Washington in Yakima County in 1918. He attended Belma School, a rural school near the farm, for one year. Following his father's death in 1920, his mother moved into Mabton with Jotham and his sister, Nina, and brother, Andy. The older children were on their own. Jotham was enrolled in the fifth grade in Mabton but he failed to pass and (horrible thing) had to take it over along with his very bright sister, Nina, who had been promoted into it.

Joe's interests lay mostly in games and being generally carefree. He did not attend the eighth grade but, after a summer working on a farm near Walla Walla, went to Chinook, Montana to be with his mother who had married a farmer named Edward Hottenstein. That was in the fall of 1925, and he was sixteen years old. In the following spring, after spending the winter on the farm, he was encouraged to take the Montana State examination for the eighth grade which he passed. He enrolled in the Chinook High School in the fall of 1926, and graduated in the spring of 1930, along with his sister, Nina, who was Valedictorian and his wife to be, Evelyn Westbrook, who was Salutatorian. Joe was President of the class, however. He had played on some good high school ball teams, being "All State" end in football and guard on the State championship basketball team. The team played in the National High School Basketball tournament in Chicago in the spring of 1930.

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Joe enrolled in Washington State College at Pullman, Washington in the fall of 1930, and, being an out of state student, had to take an entrance examination which, to his surprise, he passed. The first semester he majored in Physical Education, but then switched to his natural interest, Agriculture (Agronomy). He did graduate work in Soils but left this in the spring of 1936 to take a job with the Soil Conservation Service at Moscow, Idaho. He left the Service in March, 1938, to take a job as Farm Manager and Appraiser with Commerce Mortgage Company in Portland, Oregon. This company was a financial correspondent for the Travelers Insurance Company; so that he was thereafter an employee of Travelers. He was employed by Travelers until October 1, 1974. The last twenty two years were as the Northwest Branch Manager with offices located in Portland, Oregon.

Travelers gave him a leave of absence to serve in the Army from December, 1943, to February, 1946. He served as an enlisted man with the highest rank being Platoon Sergeant. Most of the time was spent as training cadre at the infantry base at Camp Roberts, California.

Following his retirement in the fall of 1974, he and his wife had lived in a retirement community at Woodburn, Oregon, where he "wastes time playing golf and tennis and puttering around". He has been one of the Directors of Senior Estates and is interested in its operation.

He had the good fortune to marry Evelyn Anis Westbrook on June 9,1937, at Albion, Washington. She was the only child of Tom and Lula Westbrook and was born at Buffalo, Wyoming on October 24, 1912. She attended Chinook High School and the Normal School at Dillon, Montana and taught in grade schools in Montana several years before marrying. During those years she attended numerous summer sessions at various places including Washington State at Pullman and the Normal School at Bellingham, Washington.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Nina Evelyn Sackett, born March 28, 1939, in Portland, Oregon. She married Robert O'Neal Johnson on January 26, 1965. They were divorced about April, 1980. They had two children:
    1. Sarah Evelyn Johnson, born November 2, 1967, in Syracuse, N.Y.
    2. Glenna Marie Johnson, born July 25,1969, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  2. Eleanor Mae Sackett, born January 5, 1942, in Walla Walla, Washington. She died November 1, 1946 of a malignant brain tumor in Walla Walla, Washington.
  3. Harold Westbrook Sackett, born December 7, 1942, in Walla Walla, Washington. He married Judith Caldwell Hunt on August 26, 1973, he for the first time, she for the third. She had three children by a previous marriage; Michelle, aged 13, Laura aged 9 and Bret aged 5, all of whom go by the name of Sackett.

XI

Nina Lillian Sackett

She was the ninth child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. She was born October 16, 1911, at the family home in Billings Gulch near Orient in Stevens County, Washington. She entered the Belma country school near Mabton, Washington and later entered the Mabton Grade School where she completed her Junior High School studies. She attended the Chinook High School in Chinook, Montana and was graduated in 1930. She was the Valedictorian of her class. She then attended Intermountain Union College in Helena, Montana for four years and she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education in 1934, magna cum laude. She was a teacher at the Chinook High School until 1938, when she resigned because of poor health. In 1943, she entered the School of Nursing at the Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington. She became interested in administrative work and transferred to the U.S. Marine Hospital in Seattle where she graduated in the class of 1946, with a Master's degree. She was interested in the clinical field of Pediatrics and became the evening supervisor at Children's Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

On December 12, 1952, she married Sheldon Dunks of Union City, Michigan. Since that time she has worked with him in the management and operation of a large dairy farm.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Jonathan Sheldon Dunks (adopted), born August 25, 1951, in Saginaw, Michigan. He married Delores Arlene Watson on July 3,1971. She was born April 14, 1952, the daughter of Robert and Geneva Watson. They have had two children:
    1. Matthew Sheldon Dunks, born May 13, 1972, in Coldwater, Michigan.
    2. Daniel Robert Dunks, born December 6, 1975, in Goldwater, Michigan.
  2. Bonnie Jean Dunks (adopted), born January 1, 1952, in Belleville, Michigan. She married Jerry George Mocko on December 23, 1972. They have had one child:
    1. Joseph Sheldon Mocko, born June 21, 1974, in Goldwater, Michigan.

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XI

James Earl Sackett, Jr.

He was the tenth child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. He was born February 27, 1914, at the family home on Hungry Hill near Orient in Stevens County, Washington. In May, 1920, he developed an infection in his left foot and this led to acute osteomyelitis in the region of the left hip. He eventually developed septicemia and died on August 8, 1920, at Children's Orthopedic Hospital, Seattle, Washington.

XI

Andrew Paul Sackett

He was the eleventh child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. He was born August 8, 1917, in the hospital in Colville, Washington. (The name on his birth certificate is Andy Sackett after his father's brother of that name. However, his school and other records over the years were in the name of Andrew and he did not learn of the discrepancy until a birth certificate was needed in World War II.) He started school in Mabton, Washington; the second grade at Elk, Washington; attended country schools in Montana for the third and fifth grades, skipping the fourth. He entered the sixth grade in the Chinook Grade School and attended continuously there until he was graduated from the Chinook High School in 1934. He then enrolled at Washington State College, Pullman, Washington, in Premedicine. He completed three years there and then was accepted at the University of Michigan Medical School at Ann Arbor, Michigan where he enrolled in the fall of 1937. He was graduated from that institution in 1941, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His internship was taken in 1941–1942 at the U.S. Marine Hospital, San Francisco, California. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service and became a member of the regular corps in 1945. On March 14, 1942, he married Zillah Elizabeth Larson, daughter of Daniel O. Larson and Zillah Elizabeth Faux Larson of Salt Lake City, Utah.

His work in the U.S. Public Health Service was principally in the field of Infectious Diseases and focused on venereal diseases and later on leprosy. In 1948, he began a three year period of residency training in Dermatology and Syphilology at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital and at the Vanderbilt Clinic in New York City. In June of 1951, he successfully passed the examination and was certified as a specialist in that field by the American Board of Dermatology and Syphilology. He served four years at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Seattle in clinical medicine, and in 1955, was transferred to Washington, D.C. where he served in administrative positions, variously as Deputy Chief of the Hospitals Division, Chief of the Division of Foreign Quarantine, Chief of the Community Health Division and Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Medical Services. He retired from active duty in the U.S. Public Health Service in April, 1967, with the rank of Assistant Surgeon General (Rear Admiral).

He was appointed to the position of Commissioner of Health and Hospitals of the City of Boston, Massachusetts by the then Mayor of Boston, John F. Collins. He served in that capacity until June 30, 1971. At that time he and his family moved to Oahu, Hawaii where was, first, the Medical Administrator at the Hale Mohalu Hospital at Pearl City, and Acting Medical Administrator of the Kalaupapa Settlement on the Island of Molokai. In January, 1975, he became Chief of the Division of Communicable Diseases of the Hawaii State Department of Health, but in May, 1975, he transferred to the Island of Hawaii where he was District Health Officer until August 18,1981, when he retired.

[Andrew P. Sackett died March 4, 2006, Yellow Springs, Greene Co., Ohio. —T E King.]

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Antoinette Paula Sackett, born December 3, 1945, at the U.S. Marine Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana. She became a Doctor of Clinical Psychology whose practice is in the field of child psychology. On September 27, 1971, she married Carl Hershel Cordell, Jr., born September 26, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. An employee of the General Motors Corporation, he was the son of Carl Hershel Cordell, Sr. and his wife, Janice Scott Cordell. They have had two children:
    1. Cary Andrew Cordell, born November 5, 1973, in Springfield, Ohio.
    2. Christopher Scott Cordell, born August 6, 1979, in Springfield, Ohio.
  2. Clarice Elizabeth Sackett, born April 26, 1949, at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Stapleton, N.Y. She became a physician whose specialty is Internal Medicine. On September 22, 1980, in Hilo, Hawaii, she married Doctor Charles Jackson, a specialist in Pediatrics. He was born March 24, 1945, in Erie, Pennsylvania, the son of Casimir Charles Jackson (nee Jacubowski) and his wife, Josephine Stephanie Jackson (nee Olzewski).
  3. Christine Denise Sackett, born December 16, 1951, in Seattle, Washington at the Fort Lawton Hospital. She became a Registered Nurse.
  4. Joel Larson Sackett, born June 29, 1957, in Washington, D.C. at Gallinger Hospital.

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X

Andy Sackett

He was the second child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. He was born November 3, 1869, in Michigan. He grew up on the family farm northeast of Gobles, Michigan. When about seventeen he went north with his brother, Earl, and worked in a saw mill. At the age of twenty-two he married Mary F. Dorgan on October 23, 1892. For a short time he worked as a barber and then moved on to the farm which he purchased and lived on until he died on February 17, 1945. He was a good farmer and a good man. Mary Dorgan Sackett was born November 27, 1873, and she died July 18, 1958.

Children

  1. Iva Laura Sackett, born June 18, 1895.
  2. Susie Dorothy Sackett, born July 12, 1897.
  3. Russell Andy Sackett, born February 22, 1901.
  4. Howard Pardy Sackett, born September 11, 1903.
  5. A daughter who died in infancy.
  6. Greta Marie Sackett, born August 9, 1909.
  7. Horace Earl Sackett, born May 17, 1914.

XI

Iva Laura Sackett

She was the eldest child of Andy Sackett and his wife, Mary Dorgan Sackett. She was born June 18, 1895. She married Horace B. Sheppard February 28, 1917. They had one child. He and his father both died in Jackson, Michigan in October, 1918, of influenza. She married Robert Short on September 7, 1947. He died November 23, 1958.

Children

  1. Robert A. Sheppard, born December 24, 1917; died in October, 1918.

XI

Susie Dorothy Sackett

She was the second child of Andy Sackett and his wife, Mary Dorgan Sackett. She was born July 12, 1897. She married Ralph Champion on September 12, 1920. He died November 9, 1961.

Children

  1. Kenneth R. Champion, born November 12, 1922; married Shirley Myers on June 13, 1941. They had two children:
    1. Kenneth H. Champion, born November 12, 1922; married Shirley Myers on June 13, 1941. They had two children: Judy L. Champion, born September 18, 1942; married James G. Ulbrey on April 14, 1961 and they have had two children, Jeffery C. Ulbrey, born January 6, 1963, and Jamie L. Ulbrey, born April 26, 1966. Judy married a second time to Larry Graff on June 7, 1969. They have had one child, Cory J. Graff, born April 12, 1970.
    2. Randy K. Champion, born October 29, 1953. He married Cindy L. Black on May 4, 1979.
  2. Douglas A. Champion, born May 27, 1924; married Francis Wesseling on June 29, 1947, They had two children:
    1. Robert D. Champion, born November 4, 1949: married Marilyn Johnson on July 24, 1969. They have had two children; Donna J. Champion, born May 28, 1970 and Penny A. Champion, born March 26, 1972.
    2. Diane S. Champion, born July 16, 1959; married Dennis Saye on August 25, 1979.
  3. Joseph W. Champion, born November 5, 1925; married Violet Adams on February 1, 1948. They have had three children:
    1. Larry J. Champion, born February 13, 1950; married Marsha Petlinski on June 16, 1979.
    2. Barbara A. Champion, born May 25, 1954; married Gerald-Dundum on May 11, 1974. They have had two-children, Shawn M. Dundum, born April 1, 1975, and Matthew R. Dundum, born October 10, 1976.
    3. Brian R. Champion, born June 16, 1958.

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Andy and Mary

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XI

Russell Andy Sackett

He was the third child of Andy Sackett and his wife, Mary Dorgan Sackett. He was born February 22,1901. He married Ruth E. Jewell on November 3, 1923.

Children

  1. Mary Ellen Sackett, born June 5, 1934. She married Arthur L. Moore on March 6, 1953. They had six children:
    1. Michael A. Moore, born February 26, 1954; married Linda M. Sergent on September 15, 1973. They have had two children, Lisa M. Moore, born August 10, 1978, and Scott Michael Moore, born May 19, 1980.
    2. Larry A. Moore, born February 9, 1956; married Robbin M. Pathic on April 1, 1978. They have had two children, Larry A. Moore, Jr., born July 28, 1978, and Kelley Marie Moore, born January 30, 1982.
    3. Keith H. Moore, born March 4, 1958.
    4. Daniel D. Moore, born December 3, 1961.
    5. Kristine L. Moore, born July 9, 1963.
    6. Dennis L. Moore, born November 28, 1966.
  2. David Russell Sackett, born April 17, 1937; married Sandra L. Kauffman on September 15, 1961. They have had two children:
    1. Constance M. Sackett (adopted), born February 17, 1968.
    2. Michael D. Sackett (adopted), born January 24, 1971.

XI

Howard Pardy Sackett

He was the fourth child of Andy Sackett and his wife, Mary Dorgan Sackett. He was born September 11, 1903. He married Pauline Gotham on June 1, 1930. He died June 21, 1979.

Children

1.  Jerome Sackett (adopted), born August 26, 1937; married, first, Margaret Slender on August 21, 1959, They had one child:
  a) Kathy Sackett (adopted), born February 4, 1962.
He married, second, Elsie Marie Collins on January 29, 1966. They have had four children:
  a) Clarence Wayne Sackett (adopted), born November 1, 1953.
  b) Jeanette Marie Sackett (adopted), born June 9, 1955.
  c) Amy Diane Sackett (adopted), born August 20, 1958.
  d) Cindy Louise Sackett (adopted), born March 23, 1960.

XI

A baby girl who died

She was the fifth child of Andy Sackett and his wife, Mary Dorgan Sackett.

XI

Greta Marie Sackett

She was the sixth child of Andy Sackett and his wife, Mary Dorgan Sackett. She was born on August 9, 1909. She married Andy Lamberson on November 3, 1946.

XI

Horace Earl Sackett

He was the seventh child of Andy Sackett and his wife, Mary Dorgan Sackett. He was born May 17, 1914. He married Jean Jakus on May 26, 1951.

Children

  1. James Jakus Sackett, born February 1, 1949; married Florence Bournazos on August 23, 1975.

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X

Grace Sackett

She was the third child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. She was born March 23, 1873, in Michigan. She grew up on the family farm about two and a quarter miles northwest of Gobles. In the spring when she was fourteen she was "taken with a stroke, practically losing the use of her right hand and right leg". She lived with her parents until she was about twenty-five when she married Judson Pulver, a farmer, in 1898, who was much her senior. He died April 5, 1915, leaving her with seven children to raise. About 1922, she married Jay Edden of Kalamazoo but did not live long thereafter. She died in April, 1924. She had many trials and tribulations but was inclined to look on the bright side of things and was quite jovial. The greatest part of her pleasure in life came from playing the organ and singing.

Children

  1. Harry Pulver, born September 22, 1898.
  2. Archie Pulver, born June 27, 1900.
  3. Shirley Pulver, born August 6, 1902.
  4. Josephine Ruth Pulver, born April 5, 1904.
  5. Delilah Pulver, born April 15, 1908.
  6. Frank J. Pulver, born February 25, 1910.
  7. Lyle Homer Pulver, born May 18, 1913.

XI


Harry Pulver

He was the eldest child of Grace Sackett Pulver and her husband, Judson Pulver. He was born September 22, 1898, in Van Buren County, Michigan, and he died in July, 1965. He married Doris Pierce.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Freda Pulver, born May 16, 1922, in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. She married Robert Hotton on August 19, 1942. They had two children:
    1. Sandra Kay Hotton, born March 26, 1944, in Calhoun County, Michigan; married Tom Brown on November 26, 1966 and they have two children, Rusty Brown, born January 28, 1970, and Christopher Brown, born April 28, 1971.
    2. Patra Christine Hotton, born January 7, 1948, in Calhoun County,. Michigan; married Joe W. Smith on June 25,1964. They had one child, Robert Cory Smith, born February 2, 1965. Patra Hotton Smith married a second time to Stanley D. Chartier on September 11, 1971. They have two children, Nicole Christine Chartier, born August 2, 1973, and Cody Charles Charher, born January 20, 1978.
  2. Faye Pulver, born April 22, 1925, in St. Joseph County, Michigan. She married Emar B. Tundevold on September 30, 1942. They had four children:
    1. Harry Elnar Tundevold, born December 29, 1943; married Judith Ann Hubler on September 7, 1968. They have had one child, Carrie Lynn Tundevoid, born May 1, 1974.
    2. Carole Ann Tundevold, born March 3, 1945; married Paul D. Storvick on June 16, 1974. They have had one child, Cynthia Marie Storvick, born September 30, 1976.
    3. Linda Faye Tundevold, born August 28, 1948; married Billy McAvoy on August 28, 1965. Their first child, Tracey Lin McAvoy was born April 5, 1968. Linda and Billy were divorced in 1969, and remarried August 28, 1970. Their second child, Christi Lyn McAvoy was born December 16, 1970. Linda was again divorced in 1978. She next married Robert E. Michael on March 30, 1979. They have had one child, Kimberly Faye Michael, born September 9.
    4. Janet Lynn Tundevold, born April 13, 1953; married Franklin R. Dillon on March 29, 1974.

XI

Archie Pulver

He was the second child of Grace Sackett Pulver and her husband, Judson Pulver. He was born June 27, 1900, in Van Buren County, Michigan. He married Vilo Geoque. He was killed in his car on a railroad crossing in Kalamazoo, Michigan on September 4, 1943.

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XI

Shirley Pulver

He was the third child of Grace Sackett Pulver and her husband, Judson Pulver. He was born August 6, 1902 in Van Buren County, Michigan. He died in March, 1961. He married Viola Edna Rogers on December 17, 1924.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Robert Eugene Pulver, born February 25, 1927; married Dolores Marietta Carrothers on December 15, 1950. They had five children:
    1. Penny Kay Pulver, born August 26, 1951; married Russell Browning on March 18, 1972. They have had three children, Audrey Joseph Browning, born November 15, 1972; Amy Vi Browning, born June 6, 1974; Adam Seth Browning, born December 6, 1977.
    2. Craig Allan Pulver, born February 10, 1953; married Karen Jouise Nolton on December 21,1971. They have had one child, Chad Allan Pulver, born June 7, 1974.
    3. Mark Aaron Pulver, born February 26, 1955; married Barbara Jean Lingbeck on May 18, 1979.
    4. Michele Ann Pulver, born June 6, 1957; married David Nudget on November 3,1978.
    5. Robert Dixon Pulver, born July 16, 1964.

XI


Josephine Ruth Pulver

She was the fourth child of Grace Sackett Pulver and her husband, Judson Pulver. She was born April 5, 1904. She married, first, Cleland E. Thompson.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Carl Walther Thompson, born March 13, 1922; married Betty Ilene Claxton. They had four children:
    1. James Lee Thompson, born December 24, 1947; married Georgia Endsley on September 29, 1973, and they have had two children,.Jeffery Thompson (adopted), born September 24, 1972, and Jody Lynn Thompson, born October 10, 1975.
    2. Shirley Ann Thompson, born August 1, 1949; married Paul William Fergusen, born June 9, 1976, and Melannie Lynn Marie Fergusen, born September 2, 1979.
    3. Harold Albert Thompson, born August 13, 1950; married Clare Buller on May 5, 1972. They have two children; Rachel Christine Thompson, born November 2, 1977, and Don Cory Michael Thompson, born September 14, 1979.
    4. Thomas Raymond Thompson, born July 7, 1954; married Deborah Ann Yoho on September 24, 1976.. They have two children; Vallerie Lynn Thompson, born February 25, 1977, and Melissa Sue Thompson, born April 20, 1978.

On April 20, 1929, Josephine Ruth Pulver Thompson married her second husband, Carl Manning.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. David George Manning, born December 3, 1940. He married Phyllis Kay Mikolagczyk on April 27, 1962. They have two children:
    1. Mark Mikologczyk, born June 30, 1963.
    2. Karen Leslie Mikolagczyk, born September 20, 1965.

XI

Delilah Pulver

She was the fifth child of Grace Sackett Pulver and her husband, Judson Pulver. She was born April 15, 1908. She married Reuben Fred Martin on December 31, 1935. There were no children. Delilah died March 26, 1977.

XI

Frank J. Pulver

He was the sixth child of Grace Sackett Pulver and her husband, Judson Pulver. He was born February 25, 1910. He died in 1927.

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XI

Lyle Homer Pulver

He was the seventh child of Grace Sackett Pulver and her husband, Judson Pulver. He was born May 18, 1913; and he died in May, 1961. He married Louise Bevins.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Gary Lee Pulver, born April 21, 1940. He married Patricia Sexton in November, 1960. They had three children:
    1. Greg B. Pulver, born July 12, 1961.
    2. Mike B. Pulver, born August 3, 1965.
    3. Chris. B. Pulver, born December 18, 1968.
  2. Douglas Arch Pulver, born March 14, 1947. He married Debbie Downing on May 6, 1978.

X

Sherman Stanley Sackett

He was the fourth child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. He was born April 11, 1875. He was raised on the family farm and walked four miles to and from High School. Just before he graduated he got a job at the Goblesville Exchange Bank when he was eighteen years old. After several years of faithful work he became manager and owner. In the spring of 1913, the bank closed. From that time on he worked in real estate and was a salesman. In the early nineteen thirties he owned and managed a grocery store on East Main Street in Kalamazoo.

When young he was considered to be a good violin player. He played for dances when so small that, when sitting on a dining room chair, his feet would not touch the floor. He married, first, Lena Crosby in March, 1904, to which marriage three children were born. His second marriage was to Marvel Hunt Budrow on September 8, 1917, and there were two children born to this marriage. He died on April 29, 1943, and was buried at Robinson Cemetery, Gobles, Michigan.

Children

  1. Florence Mae Sackett, born 1906.
  2. Nellie Elaine Sackett, born December 10, 1908.
  3. Helen Esda Sackett, born January 21, 1912.
  4. Sherman Stanley Sackett, Jr., born December 31, 1918.
  5. Cornelia Lizzie Sackett, born February 17, 1921.

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Sherman Stanley Sackett

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XI

Florence Mae Sackett

She was the firstborn child of Sherman Stanley Sackett and his first wife, Lena Crosby Sackett. She was born November 14, 1906, and died in June, 1907.

XI

Nellie Elaine Sackett

She was the second child of Sherman Stanley Sackett and his wife, Lena Crosby Sackett. She was born December 10, 1908. She married DeForest King on March 23, 1928.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Gloria Elaine King, born April 11, 1929; married, first, Raymond Spencer on September 3, 1949. They had two children:
    1. Denise Lee Spencer, born July 23, 1950; married Don Sherman on May 27, 1978; they have one child, Allen Douglas Sherman.
    2. Allen Douglas Spencer, born January 14, 1953.
    Gloria Elaine King Spencer married again on March 17, 1974, to John LaBudda.
  2. Dennis Arthur King, born January 27, 1934; married Jo Ann Marchildon on April 27, 1957. They have had two children:
    1. Kevin Barry Marchildon, born April 13, 1968.
    2. David Arthur Marchildon, born June 10, 1973.
  3. Susan Geraldine King, born on July 5, 1936; married first John Simons on June 1, 1953. They had one child:
    1. Lee Ann Simons, born August 3, 1955; married Ralph Neal in 1976, and they had one child, Michael Ryan Neal, born June 14, 1977.
    Following the death of her first husband, Susan Geraldine King married William Shaw in 1969. They have had one child:
    1. Kathleen Elaine Shaw, born April 5, 1970.

XI

Helen Esda Sackett

She was the third child of Sherman Stanley Sackett and his first wife, Lena Crosby Sackett. She was born January 21,1912. She married Allen M. Seward on January 2, 1932.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Suzanne Virginia Seward, born April 11, 1934; married Robert Lee Howard, Jr. on December 20, 1952. They have had three children:
    1. Julie Ann Howard, born December 3, 1955.
    2. Robert Lee Howard III, born July 24, 1959.
    3. John Allen Howard, born December 24, 1960.
    Suzanne Virginia Seward married Martin Engelbrecht on March 15, 1968.
  2. Matthew Allen Seward, born June 4, 1935; married Suzanne Lynn Kirkman on August 30, 1958. They have had three children:
    1. Tracy Lynn Seward, born March 17, 1960.
    2. Elizabeth Ann Seward, born April 9, 1963.
    3. Michael Allen Seward, born December 9, 1966.

XI

Sherman Stanley Sackett, Jr.

He was the first child of Sherman Stanley Sackett, Sr. and his second wife, Marvel Hunt Budrow Sackett. He was born December 31, 1918. He married Stella May Pappa Smith on July 13, 1944.

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Children and Grandchildren

  1. Sharon Ann Sackett, born March 25, 1946; married William Eugene Curl, Jr. on July 8, 1967. They have had five children:
    1. Kymberley Ann Curl, born April 19, 1968.
    2. Natalie Marie Curl, born October 30, 1972.
    3. Christine Dawn Curl, born October 30, 1972.
    4. William Eugene Curl Ill, born March 23, 1974.
    5. Timothy Eugene Curl, born October 22, 1976.
  2. Suzanne Marvel Sackett, born January 4, 1948; married Ted Gale Hansen on December 22, 1967. They have had six children:
    1. Gayle Ann Hansen, born June 10, 1969.
    2. Tom Wesley Hansen, born September 19, 1970.
    3. Paul Alan Hansen, born September 25, 1971.
    4. Stephen James Hansen, born February 22, 1974.
    5. Sara Star Hansen, born April 8, 1976.
    6. Jon Benjamin Hansen, born December 1, 1978.
  3. Sherman Stanley Sackett III, born September 30, 1951.
  4. Scott David Sackett, born November 11, 1959.

XI

Cornelia Lizzie Sackett

She was the second child born to Sherman Stanley Sackett, Sr. and his wife, Marvel Hunt Budrow Sackett. She was born February 17, 1921. She married Frederick Harry Brown on December 31, 1944.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Stephen Frederick Brown, born November 25, 1954; married Janet Marjorie Florence on March 23, 1974. They have had one child:
    1. Christopher Stephen Brown, born August 3, 1976.
  2. Pamela Jill Brown, born January 25, 1954.

X

Harry Sackett

He was the fifth child of Frederick Plummer Sacket and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. He was born June 7, 1877, on the family farm northeast of Gobles, Michigan. He was raised there and was always very dependable and seemed to take a man's place in the work on the farm from the time he was twelve years old. He worked at home until he was about twenty-four years of age. Then for about four years he worked on a farm at farm labor. Then he worked in a hardware store for a time. After he married he ran a dray in Gobles for about a year and then went on to a farm and later purchased a farm of his own. At about the age of fifty he moved to Battle Creek, Michigan where he worked in the Kellogg Food Factory until a short time before his death. He was a religious man (Seventh Day Adventist), and, in the words of his brother, Frank, was a wonderful man. He married Nettie Holmes on December 24, 1906. He died January 4, 1949, and was buried at Bedford Cemetery, Calhoun County, Michigan.

Children

  1. Mabel Sackett, born October 21, 1907.
  2. Noble William Sackett, born August 15, 1910.
  3. Bertha Sackett, born June 11, 1914.

XI

Mabel Sackett

She was the eldest child of Harry Sackett and his wife, Nettie Holmes Sackett. She was born October 21, 1907. She married William Taylor on August 30, 1941. There have been no children.

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Harry and Nettie Holmes Sackett

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XI

Noble William Sackett

He was the second child of Harry Sackett and his wife, Nettie Holmes Sackett. He was born on August 15, 1910. He married, first, Edith Sherman of Pekin, Illinois on September 15, 1930.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Barbara June Sackett, born January 2, 1932; married Jack Roush on June 15, 1950. They had one child:
    1. Debra Lynn Roush, born March 2, 1959; married Mark Watkins on June 10, 1979.
  2. Harry Lee Sackett, born April 14, 1933; married Jeannine M. Perschell on April 17, 1954. They had two children:
    1. Joel Maurice Sackett, born July 29, 1957.
    2. Jeffrey William Sackeit, born October 22, 1960.

Noble William Sackett married his second wife, Flora Overton, on October 17, 1941.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Frederick Allan Sackett, born August 29, 1943; married, first, Julie Ann Krenzler in 1962. They had one child:
    1. Karma Michele Sackett, born December 28, 1962.
    He married his second wife, Muriel A. Burns, on January 1, 1970. They have had three children:
    1. Jami Beth Sackett (adopted), born December 15, 1967.
    2. Matthew Logan Sackett, born August 16, 1970.
    3. Benjamin William Sackett, born April 25, 1974.

XI

Bertha Sackett

She was the third child of Harry Sackett and his wife, Nettie Holmes Sackett. She was born June 11, 1914. She married Clinton Deal on December 24, 1941.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Kathleen Jean Deal (adopted), born May 23, 1954; married Clyde Kurzinski on June 1, 1973. They have had three children:
    1. Clifford Anthony Kurzinski, born December 4, 1976.
    2. Casey Burton Kurzinski, born November 26, 1978.
    3. Karen Marsha Kurzinski, born February 27, 1980.

X

Howard Sackctt

He was the sixth child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. He was born June 12, 1880. He died at the age of about eighteen months of "bowel trouble" and was buried at Earl Cemetery, Pine Grove Township, Michigan.

X

Fred Sackett

He was the seventh child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. He was born, the first of twins, on February 5, 1882, on the family farm northeast of Gobles, Michigan. At the age of five as he was playing with the other children he ran into the barn. At that moment the hay rope broke and the hay rack fell on him crushing his head. His mother reshaped his head, bound it with gauze and massaged his body continuously for two days. As a result of the injury Fred was like an infant again and had to learn to eat, walk and talk all over again. The injury caused ridges the size of a little finger around the sides of his head.

At the age of eighteen he worked one season for a farmer, George Haight, for $18.00 a month. From that time on he was never at home for any length of time. He worked for J.G. Clark in a grocery store, also for Orley Graham in the hardware store. While Fred was working for the grocery firm a customer came in for a can of oil. Fred inadvertently ran the can over and made a mess of it. When he haded[sic] it to the customer he said, "Mr. Miller, our measure runs everybody's can over". The storekeeper liked to tell about this incident as illustrating the fact that Fred had a way about him that kept anyone from getting irritated with him.

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Fred and Bessie Olmstead Sackett

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He married Bessie Maud Olmstead on May 9, 1906. She was born August 8, 1886. For a time Fred ran a general store in Bradley, Michigan and then they went on to a farm. The year 1912 found Bessie and Fred with three children on a homestead near Wolf Point, Montana in a house twenty foot square where they lived comfortably while the family grew to include eight children during eleven years while the farm prospered. However, there were two successive years of extreme drought. In 1924, Fred borrowed money to buy hay for his livestock and hauled it twenty miles on a sleigh but found it impossible to keep up. He and Bessie became discouraged and were forced to leave the homestead in the fall of 1925. With the heIp of the Gorton family who were their neighbors, Wayne, Beatrice, Kenneth, Frank, Ida and Vivian stayed in Montana to dispose of the remaining livestock and other possessions. They used the money to get back to Michigan.

With the family together again they lived on Alama Avenue in Kalamazoo. Bessie, with the help of the children, took in laundry and cleaned apartments to pay for dental care for her family which had grown to include eleven children. In 1940, they moved to a farm seventeen miles west of Kalamazoo. At the time of this move there were nine children living at home. He paid $5,000.00 for the farm and borrowed $500.00 on his note to make the first payment. With a farm of two hundred and forty acres and with about one hundred acres of work land badly run, with no farm livestock except two cows and no money, he started to work to make himself and his family a home. The house was a large two-story farm house, with a finished apartment on the east side where Frank and Wanda lived. This arrangement gave the family transportation to and from Kalamazoo for work and to shop. Herbert and Polly moved into the apartment in 1943. Jean moved into the apartment in 1962. When Herbert or Frank would take Fred to work in Kalamazoo he would work from 7:00 to 4:30 and then he would walk to the corner of Portage Street and Main Street where he would wait for Frank or Herbert whomever came first for a ride home and he would then start on his chores. At the age of sixty-five he decided to have a sale and with this he was able to pay the mortgage down to $2,200.00.

Fred bought his first and only vehicle in 1948, a Studebaker pick-up truck. He worked for the City of Kalamazoo until 1951, when he retired at the age of sixty-nine. He then had twelve cows and twenty-four head of young stock, plenty of feed, a good home and enough money to get along. It goes without saying that he was a hard worker, honest, and that his home was always a good place to have a good time. Fred died on January 3, 1956. His wife, Bessie, died March 2, 1972. Both are buried in Covey Hill Cemetery south of Gobles, Michigan.

Children

  1. Wayne Bell Sackett, born July 16, 1907.
  2. Beatrice Marie Sackett, born June 4, 1909.
  3. Kenneth LaRue Sackett, born June 10, 1911.
  4. Frank Glenn Sackett, born April 2, 1913.
  5. Ida Lucille Sackett, born November 27, 1914.
  6. Vivian Irene Sackett, born July 19, 1916.
  7. Herbert Gordon Sackett, born November 27, 1919.
  8. LaVern Fred Sackett, born August 12, 1922.
  9. Richard Milton Sackett, born September 12, 1926.
  10. Bernard Paul Sackett, born May 10, 1929.
  11. Jean Arlean Sackett, born November 15, 1931.

XI

Wayne Bell Sackett

He was the eldest child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. He was born July 16, 1907, in Gobles, Michigan. He married Zelma Irene Robertson July 29, 1933. From ages four to fourteen he lived with his parents on their homestead near Wolf Point, Montana and returned with them to Kalamazoo. He was a decorating contractor for twenty-seven years, retiring from this business when elected as representative in the Michigan State Legislature where he served for eight years. He retired and serves on the Senior Citizens Advisory Board in Portage, Michigan where he and his wife reside.

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Children and Grandchildren

  1. Nancy Gay Sackett, born October 4, 1939; married David Kaiser on April 18, 1961. They have had two children:
    1. Kathryn Mary Kaiser, born June 7, 1962.
    2. David Kaiser, born May 29, 1966.
  2. Diane Jeanne Sackett, born July 15, 1945; married Phillip Bumpus on February 25, 1967. They have had two children:
    1. Careen Bumpus, born July 22, 1968.
    2. Adrianne Bumpus, born March 16, 1972.
  3. Ruthann Sackett, born October 19, 1948; married Kenneth Solomon on May 24, 1969. They have had one child:
    1. Heather Rene Solomon, born May 10, 1971.

XI

Beatrice Marie Sackett

She was the second child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. She was born on June 4, 1909. She married Harold Francis McNeil on May 14, 1930.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Keith Lavern McNeil, born March 30, 1931; married Marie Gould on August 7, 1960. They had three children:
    1. Steve Could, born March 12, 1963.
    2. Debbie Gould, born October 25, 1965.
    3. John Gould, born August 29, 1967.
  2. Joyce Elaine McNeil, born August 21, 1933; married William Hendersen who died September, 1956. They had one child:
    1. Larry Dean Hendersen, born October 28, 1955.
    Joyce Elaine married Bruce E. Pyles on May 29, 1957. They had five children:
    1. Lori Jean Pyles, born October 10, 1958; married Monty Rinehard in January, 1973. They have had two children: Mandy Rinehart, born December 25,1975 and Arnie Rinehart, born June 4, 1978.
    2. Russel Eugene Pyles, born September 28, 1960. He died the day after Thanksgiving in 1981.
    3. Carol Marie Pyles, born December 29, 1962.
    4. Marie Elaina Pyles, born June 22, 1965.
  3. Carol Francis McNeil, born February 16, 1936; married first to F. Doyle Brown in February, 1963. They were divorced in the spring of 1964. They had one child:
    1. Bryan Keith Brown, born May 27, 1964.
    Carol next married Lloyd O. Williams on December 23, 1970. They had one son:
    1. Daniel Owen Williams, born March 19, 1973.
  4. Donna Marie McNeil, born August 18, 1944; married Homer Rail in September, 1964. They have had one child:
    1. Holly Kathleen Rail, born July 7, 1967.

XI

Kenneth LaRue Sackett

He was the third child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. He was born on June 10, 1911. He married Maxine Ferguson on January 12, 1935.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Ronald Lee Sackett, born January 18, 1937. He married Ruth Cramer on January 29, 1960. They had four children:
    1. Kevin Douglas Sackett, born August 19, 1962.
    2. Rene Lee Sackett, born May 11, 1964.
    3. Rexford Allen Sackett, born April 14, 1966.
    4. Daniel Ryan Sackett, born July 13, 1969.

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  1. Linda Rose Sackett, born May 17, 1941. She married Arien White on March 18,1961. They had four children [only three listed]:
    1. Randall Jeffrey White, born May 21, 1963.
    2. Melissa Kim White, born November 6, 1965.
    3. Jonathon Alphonse White, born June 30, 1970.
  2. Shirley Jean Sackett, born May 21, 1944. She married Joseph Buckallew on March 12, 1965. They had two children:
    1. Alexander Joseph Buckallew, born March 2, 1971.
    2. Amy Jo Buckallew, born February 28, 1972.
    Shirley Jean Sackett Buckallew married Dale Durnaw on November 7, 1981.
  3. Suzanne Sackett, born March 16, 1949. She married Ken Andres on July 22, 1966. They have one child:
    1. Patricia Lynn Andres, born December 23, 1966.
  4. Kenneth James Sackett, born September 9, 1953. He married Sue Kuilema on March 19, 1971. They have had two children:
    1. Adam James Sackett, born October 19, 1971.
    2. Nathan Joel Sackett, born April 16, 1977.

XI

Frank Glenn Sackett

He was the fourth child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. He was born April 2, 1913. He married Wanda Ann Rekel on February 17, 1939. He died in an accident February 28, 1961.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Janis Lyn Sackett, born October 26, 1941. She married Roy L. Teter on August 7, 1959. They had two children:
    1. Dan Robert Teter, born February 3, 1960.
    2. Dana Lyn Teter, born August 8,1961.
  2. Robert Frank Sackett, born May 2, 1943; married Judith K. Foreman on July 24, 1964. They had three children:
    1. Jamie Lyn Sackett, born December 17, 1964.
    2. Kathleen Elizabeth Sackett, born December 27, 1968.
    3. Frank Robert Sackett, born November 17, 1970.
  3. Gail Elizabeth Sackett, born October 15, 1944; married Daniel S. Grable on June 19, 1965. They have two children:
    1. Jennifer Ann Grable, born November 2, 1968.
    2. Thomas Vincent Grable, born January 23, 1971.
  4. Gary LaVern Sackett, born October 15, 1946; married Rosemary Rowe on September 5, 1970. They have had two children:
    1. Charr Janis Sackett, born November 13, 1974.
    2. Kristi Marie Sackett, born October 30, 1976.
  5. Jon Franklin Sackett, born September 7, 1952; married Pamela Smith on December 28, 1979.

XI

Ida Lucille Sackett

She was the fifth child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead. She was born November 27, 1914. She married Roy Repovich on November, 1942. Ida died September 15, 1954, and her husband, Roy died about five years later. They had lived in California.

Children

  1. Barbara Jean Repovich, born September, 1949.

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XI

Vivian Irene Sackett

She was the sixth child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. She was born July 19, 1916. She married Clayton Eddie Heineman on October 22, 1934.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Gloria Ann Heinernan, born February 25, 1936. She married Richard Crabtree, her first husband, on April 18, 1953. They had two children:
    1. Richard Dalton Crabtree, Jr., born July 30, 1955.
    2. Darwin Lee Crabtree, born August 24, 1958. He married Katherine Oliver on December 10, 1977. They had one child, Abyjak David Crabtree, born January 6, 1979.
    Gloria Ann Heineman Crabtree, after her first husband, Richard, died, married her second husband, Howard Eugene Foote, Sr. on January 28, 1966. They had one child:
    1. Howard F. Foote, Jr. born June 15, 1967.
  2. Clayton Eddie Heineman, born November 30, 1940. He married Virginia Lee Forbes on April 12, 1960. They had five children:
    1. Vivian Marie Heineman, born October 10, 1960.
    2. Deanna Lyn Heineman, born June 14, 1963.
    3. Michelle Elain Heineman, born February 21, 1966.
    4. Susan Gail Heineman, born July 9, 1967.
    5. Clayton Eddie Heineman III, born September 2, 1968.

XI

Herbert Gordon Sackett

He was the seventh child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. He was born November 27, 1919, at Sank Creek, Montana where he lived until six years old. Herbert, Lavern and mother, Bessie, went to Kalamazoo early in the fall of 1925. Herbert was enrolled at Vine Street School and lived with his mother's brother, E.B. Olmstead. He rejoined the family after their return from Montana in the spring of 1926. They lived on Jackson Street, later moving to Alamo Avenue where they lived until 1940. Herbert was in business with Frank from 1937 to 1941, going from farm to farm grinding feed with a portable hammermill. Herb worked for Montgomery Ward as shipping-receiving clerk, making $15.00 a week. After getting married, moved to the family farm near Gobles and lived there for ten years. Herb worked for Kalamazoo Rendering Works as a fireman, for a contractor as a carpenter, plumber and electrician and for a builder as a brick tender. In 1949, he went to work for Thayer Brick Company learning the business and finally coming to operate the company. This educated him for his first business venture. In 1962, he established a building materials supply store, "Sackett Brick". By the year of 1980, gross sales had reached almost two million dollars. He and Polly feel the success of the business is directly due to the fact that they dedicated it to the Lord before they opened the doors. At the end of 1981, Herb semi-retired, leaving son Michael in command.

Herb married Pauline Anna Newbury, daughter of Clarence D. and Margaret F. Allbritton Newbury, on September 6, 1941.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Sharon Arlean Sackett, born August 12, 1942. She married. James Steven Williams, son of Frank R. and Francis Engel Williams, on November 25, 1960. They had four children:
    1. Peter Raymond Williams, born October 18, 1961.
    2. Linda Marie Williams, born February 16, 1963.
    3. Joseph Gordon Williams,-born August 21, 1968.
    4. Charles Steven Williams, born April 9, 1970.
  2. Thomas Gordon Sackett, born November 13, 1943. He married Carol Maxine Williams on September 21, 1962. She is the daughter of Reed and Maxine Williams. They have three children:
    1. Bradley Thomas Sackett, born April 3, 1963.
    2. Wendi Sue Sackett, born February 5, 1967.
    3. Cheryl Lynn Sackett, born June 19, 1970.

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  1. Louis Clarence Sackett, born October 15, 1946. He married Marcia Louise Ballenger, daughter of Edward and Gail Ballinger, on July 19, 1966. They had three children:
    1. Jamie Lynn Sackett, born February 13, 1968.
    2. Robin Ann Sackett, born October 14, 1969.
    3. Candelyn Kay Sackett, born September 6, 1976.
  2. Timothy Fred Sac kett, born March 24, 1949. He married Kathy Berner, daughter of Thomas and Nancy Berner, on November 6, 1971. They have had five children:
    1. Becky Lynn Sackett, born April 26, 1972.
    2. Terrie Lynn Sackeft, born July 9, 1973.
    3. Traci Rene Sackett, born January 11, 1975.
    4. Michell Marie Sackett, born July 20, 1979.
    5. Beth Ann Sackett, born July 13, 1981.
  3. Michael Dean Sackett, born December 3, 1950. He married Madelena Chapman, daughter of William M. and Angelena Mary Chapman, on May 4, 1974. They have two children:
    1. Troy Michael Sackett, born September 14, 1976.
    2. Jessica Ann Marie Sackett, born June 26, 1978.
  4. Wesley Franklin Sackett, born March 21, 1952. He married Suzanne Scouller, daughter of Stuart L. and Mary A. Scouller, on April 1, 1979. They have had one child:
    1. John Wesley Sackett, born April 3, 1982.
  5. Stanley Joe Sackett, Born March 29, 1958.

XI

LaVern Fred Sackett

He was the eighth child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. He was born August 12, 1922. He married Mildred Marie Kimble on September 6, 1942. He died December 8, 1944, in combat as a Sergeant in the American Expeditionary Force in Germany.

The Kalamazoo Gazette issue of Thursday, January 25, 1945, published a dispatch by war correspondent Jack Bell who had spent the day on which LaVern was killed with the 115th Battalion. In that unit Sergeant Sackett was leader of the combat platoon which successfully spearheaded the assignment of that day, December 8, 1944, to smash all German resistance on the west bank of the Roer River just beyond the City of Koslar in West Germany. The writer pieced together a detailed account of LaVern's accomplishments, topped by the headline, "Heroic Last Day and Death of Sgt. LaVern Sackett, Local Soldier, Described by War Correspondent".

Children and Grandchildren

  1. LaVern Fred Sackett, Jr., born April 22, 1943. He married Patricia Ann Molnar on July 31, 1966. They had two children:
    1. Scott Thomas Sackett, born September 8, 1968.
    2. Robert Steven Sackett, born February 14, 1872.

XI

Richard Milton Sackett

He was the ninth child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. He was born September 12, 1926. He married Shirley Ann Sprengsteen on September 7, 1948.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Ann Louise Sackett, born July 25, 1949. She married her first husband, Michael Aaron Scott, March 2, 1968. They were divorced on December 18, 1978. They had two children:
    1. Robert Michael Scott, born July 1, 1969.
    2. Peggy Ann Scott, born July 26, 1971.
    Ann Louise married her second husband, Richard Alan Kob on May 19, 1979.
  2. Jerry Louis Sackett, born on March 28, 1951. He married Shirley A. Davidson on January 8, 1970. They were divorced and Shirley A..Davidson Sackett married again to a Mr. Frankhauser who adopted the son of Jerry Louis Sackett, William Frankhauser, born February 9, 1972.

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  1. Dale Richard Sackett, born July 2, 1953.
  2. Helen Kay Sackett, born December 27, 1955. She married Mark Alan Clark on October 23, 1976.
  3. Judy Lynn Sackett, born September 14, 1959.
  4. Bruce Allen Sackett, born July 9, 1961.

XI

Bernard Paul Sackett

He was the tenth child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. He was born May 10, 1929. He married his first wife, Betty June Pacillo, on July 26, 1948.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Steven Paul Sackett, born October 12, 1949. He married Yvonne M. Bressonon July 13, 1977. They had two children:
    1. Melissa M. Sackett, born December 12, 1977.
    2. Shawn Paul Sackett, born March 8, 1979.
  2. Sandra Lynn Sackett, born September 28, 1950. She married Jerry Boljuis [sic] on December 19, 1968. They had one child:
    1. Robert Allen Bolhuis [sic] born August 3, 1970.

Bernard Paul Sackett married his second wife, Donna Lee Demarrow, on July 20, 1963.

XI

Jean Arlean Sackett

She was the eleventh child of Fred Sackett and his wife, Bessie M. Olmstead Sackett. She was born November 15, 1931. She married her first husband, James Merrill Boyne, on September 21, 1953. He was killed in an automobile accident on August 13, 1955.

Children

  1. Deborah Lynne Boyne, born April 26, 1953. She married Vincent Paulin January 12, 1980.
  2. James Merrill Boyne, Jr., born January 19, 1956. He married Margaret Hutchinson on April 1, 1978.

Jean Arlean married her second husband, Jack Curtis Rutty, on February 7, 1959. She was divorced from him in 1962.

Children

  1. Michelle Sue Rutty, born October 3, 1959. She married Robert Bauman on May 2, 1979.
  2. Angela Hope Rutty, born December 25, 1961.

Jean Arlean married her third husband, Robert Edgar Hewitt, on April 7, 1969. He adopted Michelle and Angela Rutty in 1973.

XI

Frank Sackett

Eighth child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett, he was born the twin of Fred Sackett on February 5, 1882, at Pine Grove Township, Michigan, and grew up on the family farm four miles north and east of Gobles. He lived there until he was twenty-four years of age. He started working for his mother when he was twenty-one for a yearly salary of $100.00 and expenses. He worked for her for three years. During this time his expenses were less than $25.00. In March, 1906, he started work in the bank at Gobles, then known as the Goblesville Exchange Bank, at a weekly salary of $4.00, and he paid $3.00 per week for his board and room. After working seven years, by which time his wages had advanced to $11.00 per week, he lost his job. Two months later he was hired back in a new bank that was organized known as Bush and Company Bankers, a private bank, at $9.00 per week. After three years and a half this bank was incorporated into a state bank. The second year after this

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Picture of Frank and Gail

his salary was up to $12.00 a week. The third year it was $18.00 and then he was raised to $1,100.00 a year. He resigned in June, 1918, and was hired by the Lee Brothers State Bank, Dowagiac, Michigan at an annual salary of $1,500.00. After two years he resigned and moved to Mattawan, Michigan. He organized in Mattawan a new bank known as the Mattawan State Bank and opened up for business on November 1, 1920. At that time grapes were the main crop and sold at $125.00 a ton. It was believed that a bank in that locality would prosper. It did for a while but then came the depression and the price of grapes fell to $15.00 a ton. It soon became clear that there was not enough money in the community to support a bank and on the last day of December, 1932, the Directors voted to close the bank and liquidate it. This job was done by Frank Sackett who had been the Cashier.

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Having completed the job, he took a position with the Litchfield State Savings Bank on December 14, 1935, as President. After having been successful, the assets of the bank having risen from $150,000.00 to $1,500,000.00, in the fifteen years of his management, but with failing health he sold out his interest in this bank on August 11, 1951. His business competence was sorely missed at the bank and the Directors soon hired him back as President. Frank Sackett married Gail O. Hunt on May 18, 1919. He died on January 7, 1966, and his wife, Gail, died on January 1, 1977.

Children

  1. John Sackett, born January 4, 1921.
  2. Susan Sackett, born January 12, 1922.
  3. Charles Sackett, born January 26, 1923.
  4. Marvel Sackett, born April 29, 1925.
  5. Mary Jean Sackett, born July 21, 1928.

XI

John Sackett

He was the eldest child of Frank Sackett and his wife, Gail Hunt Sackett. He was born January 4, 1921; lived in Mattawan, Van Buren County, Michigan until 1936, when the family moved to Litchfield, Michigan. He graduated from the Litchfield, Michigan High School in 1938, and immediately enrolled in the International Business College in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He finished the curriculum there and worked at the Centerville, Michigan Bank for two years and then moved to Monroe to work in the bank there. In 1942, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was sent to the Medical Corps School in Groton, Connecticut. Most of his service duty was in the Aleutian Islands of the North Pacific. He served in the Medical Corps attached to the 13th. Fleet and worked mostly with surgical teams. He was discharged in 1946, and returned to Litchfield where he managed a grain elevator for about a year.

He returned to college at Western Michigan University in the fall of 1947. He was graduated in 1951, with BS and AB degrees.

On September 3, 1949, he married Reta Lou Norman, daughter of Leonard and Dora Marie Anson Norman. In the fall of 1951, he enrolled in the University of Michigan Dental School. He was graduated in 1955. He has been engaged in the private practice of dentistry in Kalamazoo, Michigan until the present.

Children

  1. Gregory John Sackett, born August 16, 1956. He now works for a large grocery chain.
  2. David Charles Sackett, born March 10, 1961. He married Cinda Lee Rustenholtz on July 10, 1982. They reside in East Lansing, Michigan.

XI

Susan Sackett

She was the second child of Frank Sackett and his wife, Gail Hunt Sackett. She was born January 12, 1922. She married Samuel D. Lambright, son of Harvey Lambright and Helen Strubb Lambright of Litchfield, Michigan, on September 9, 1947.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Sarah J. Lambright, born November 30, 1947. She married John B. Coolman on March 28, 1969. They have two children:
    1. Jason B. Coolman, born March 28, 1970.
    2. Gaye M. Coolman, born July 1, 1971.
  2. Donald L. Lambright, born January 4, 1949. He married Gloria A. Goodman on January 19, 1974. They have had two children:
    1. Julia G. Lambright, born January 11, 1979.
    2. Adam L. Lambright, born December 26, 1980.

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XI

Charles Sackett

He was the third child of Frank Sackett and his wife, Gail Hunt Sackett. He was born January 26, 1923. His early years were spent in Mattawan, Michigan. He moved to Litchfield with the family in 1936. In 1939 he graduated from the Litchfield High School. He was drafted in 1942 and was assigned to the U.S. Air Force. He participated in bombing missions over the Marshall Islands as a tail gunner. He was badly injured by an exploding shell in the tail compartment. His plane was shot down over the South Pacific. He was rescued by a U.S. Destroyer during a severe naval engagement with the Japanese.

Charles was returned to the mainland of the United States where he was retrained and was then sent back to the South Pacific with the U.S. Army. There he participated in many invasions and in the eventual occupation of the Philippines.

He was discharged from the Service in 1945, and returned home to Litchfield. He married Rebecca Finch, daughter of Lillian and Earl Finch on July 22, 1944. His occupation through most of his life was concerned with efficiency in production. For the most part he worked in the manufacturing of articles related to mobile homes in the states of Michigan, Indiana, Georgia and Texas.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Scott Hunt Sackett, born January 25, 1947.
  2. Charles Randy Sackett, born October 2, 1949.
  3. Rebecca Grey Sackett, born April 5, 1954. She married Richard Steven Underwood on July 19, 1974. They have two children:
    1. Chad Steven Underwood, born April 21, 1976.
    2. Michael Josh Underwood, born July 3, 1978.
  4. Kelly Jo Sackett, born August 6, 1964.

XI

Marvel Sackett

She was the fourth child of Frank Sackett and his wife, Gail Hunt Sackett. She was born on April 29, 1925, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She spent her early years in Mattawan, Michigan and moved to Litchfield with the family in 1936. She graduated from the Litchfield High School in 1943. She had some further education at Michigan State University and at the University of Michigan. She has been employed at the Slauson Intermediate School Library for move than ten years and has lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan since 1948. She married Harold F. Reiher on May 16, 1953, a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Engineering and who has been employed as an Acoustical Engineer in Ann Arbor.

Children

  1. Linda Gail Reiher, born September 12, 1958, in Ann Arbor. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1981, as a Computer Engineer.
  2. Laura Marie Reiher, born June 20, 1960. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1982, with a B.A. in Spanish and English and certification to teach both languages.
  3. Lisa Maureen Reiher, born October 22, 1964. She graduated from Pioneer High School in 1982, and enrolled in the University of Michigan.

XI

Mary Jean Sackett

She was the fifth child of Frank Sackett and his wife, Gail Hunt Sackett. She was born on July 21, 1928. She married Robert A. Brummitt on August 14, 1953.

Children

  1. Mark Franklin Brummitt (adopted), horn July 30, 1956.
  2. Robyn Mary Brummitt (adopted), born November 8, 1958.
  3. Michael Arthur Brummitt (adopted), born August 29, 1960.
  4. Renee Sue Brummitt (adopted) born August 9, 1962. She married Raymond Phillips on August 24, 1981. They have had one child:
    1. Christine Gail Phillips, born October 28, 1982.

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Logan Sackett

XI

Logan Sackett

He was the eighth child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. He was born on December 21, 1885. He stayed home until he was about eighteen years of age when he went west. For about twenty-five years he maintained a home in Montana near Wolf Point. On March 8, 1932, he married Inga Friborg of Bagley, Minnesota, a widow. From that time on he lived on their farm near Bagley. He had no children. He was killed in an auto accident in Detroit, Michigan on November 8, 1952. He is buried at Bagley, Minnesota.

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X

Elizabeth Pearl Sackett

She was the ninth child of Frederick Plummer Sackett and his wife, Susan Earl Sackett. She was born May 6, 1887. She was raised on the family farm near Gobles, Michigan. She attended the community school where she was a very good student and demonstrated outstanding musical ability, playing the violin and the accordion. She also was an expert horsewoman.  In later years she continued to ride and participated in the women's relay races in the Calgary Stampede, for example.

She married Alva Adina Coldsnow on December 24, 1906. He was the son of Frank Elmer Coldsnow and his wife, Eliza Jane Gilbert Coldsnow. He was born in Williams County, N.W. Township, Ohio. He was a steam engineer and also farmed. "Lizzy" Pearl and Alva settled on a homestead in Western Canada about 1910 near the town of Coutts. Between 1910 and 1918 this was their home. Due to drought conditions they prospered only intermittently. They built a house and outbuildings and they proved up on the homestead. Alva's trade as a steam engineer made it possible for him to obtain work on neighboring farms that used large steam units for power. He also worked in the smelter at Trail and in lumber mills in the Nelson area. Thus his family had a good standard of living even through the worst drought in memory. However, he did have to spend long periods away from home and worried about leaving his family on the prairie even though they had good neighbors, and Pearl was fretful and lonely at times. So from time to time Alva sent the family back to Michigan where they could visit the Sacketts and the Coldsnows. Their daughter Mildred really did not like leaving the farm on those occasions and remembers crying every time they boarded the train. In 1914, the whole family came south to visit the Earl Sacketts near the town of Orient, Washington. Earl, at that time, had a sawmill, a grain threshing outfit and a dairy farm so Alva found plenty to do there. Mildred attended local school with the Sackett children. Twins, Stanley and Stella, were born to Pearl during that 1914, winter. The next spring they returned to their home at Coutts, Canada, where their affairs moved on as usual.

In the spring of 1918, the family was on the farm and Alva was working away from home. There were four children in the family now. Pearl was pregnant again and was not feeling well. She wrote to Alva to come home. They were preparing to meet him at the train depot when Pearl became desperately ill. She died in July, 1918. After the funeral Frank Sackett had her body sent to Michigan where it was buried in the Earl Cemetery in Pine Grove Township. Logan Sackett, who had homesteaded near Wolfpoint, Montana, drove to Coutts and took the children home with him where they remained for nearly a year. Later, because of the severe Montana winters, they were sent to Alva's parents in Michigan.

Alva, of course, was discouraged and decided to leave Canada. He found another steam engineering job at the lumber mill in Elk, Washington. In 1920, Alva married a Gusta Muehier. With a home established in Elk, Alva brought his children west to live with them. Alva and Gusta had five children: Orville, Ethel, Yvonne, Millicent and Jack Coldsnow.

Alva died on January 31, 1935, of a long-standing lung ailment and was buried in the Riverside Cemetery, Spokane, Washington.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Mildren Geneva Coldsnow, born January 15, 1908.
  2. Stanley Fred Coldsnow, born March 11,1914.
  3. Stella Coldsnow, born March 11,1914.
  4. Susie Elizabeth Coldsnow, born August 13,1916.

XI

Mildred Geneva Coldsnow

She was the eldest child of Alva Adina Coldsnow and his wife, Elizabeth Pearl Sackett Coldsnow. She was born on January 15, 1908, at Pine Grove Township, Michigan. She married Bernard Randall and raised his two children, Tom and Donna. There are two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

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Alva and Elizabeth Coldsnow

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XI

Stanley Fred Coldsnow

He was the second child of Alva Adina Coldsnow and his wife Elizabeth Pearl Sackett Coldsnow. He was born a twin on March 11, 1914, at the home of the James Earl Sacketts near Orient, Washington. He married Hazel Nelson on July 17,1937. He was skilled in the use of heavy machinery and was employed for years by the Morrison-Knudson Company.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Richard Coldsnow, born June 3, 1938. He married Maria Concepcion. They have had four children:
    1. Freddie Coldsnow, born February 16, 1972.
    2. Adele Coldsnow, born January 2, 1973.
    3. Oscar Coldsnow, born March 16, 1974.
    4. Albert Coldsnow, born September, 1978.
  2. Leanard William Coldsnow, born June 28, 1939. He married Alice Woolsey. They have had three children:
    1. Tim Coldsnow, born July 8, 1959.
    2. Chriss Coldsnow, born October 22, 1962.
    3. Connie Coldsnow, born September 12, 1966.

XI

Stella Coldsnow

She was third child of Alva Adina Coldsnow and his wife, Elizabeth Pearl Sackett Coldsnow. She was born a twin on March 11, 1914, at the James Earl Sackett home near Orient, Washington. She died at the age of five of typhoid fever.

XI

Susan Elizabeth Coldsnow

She was the fourth child of Alva Adina Coldsnow and his wife, Elizabeth Pearl Sackett. She was born August 13, 1916, at Coutts, Canada. She married Ronald Stanley Dunbar on June 22, 1935, at Elk, Washington.

Children and Grandchildren

  1. Carolee Dunbar, born September 22, 1940, at Spokane, Washington. She married Harvey L. Griffith on November 10, 1956. They have two children:
    1. Julie Ann Griffith, born May 30, 1958. She is a classical musician and has given vocal concerts in the United States and in Europe.
    2. Janet Gwen Griffith, born October 7, 1960.

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Source:
Andrew P Sackett. Ancestors and Descendants of Frederick Plummer Sackett. Privately published by the author (1983). (Transcribed by Thurmon King, 2011).