Simon Sackett the colonist

Simon Sackett, son of Thomas Sackett the younger and Martha Strowde, was born in St Peter in Thanet, Kent, in 1595. He was baptized at St Peter's Church on 23 November 1595.¹ He died in Newtown (later Cambridge), Massachusetts, between 5 and 10 Oct 1635.² He married first at St Peter's Church on 2 November 1618, Elizabeth Boyman.³ She died after only seven years' marriage and was buried at St John's Church, Margate, Kent, on 27 February 1625/26.⁴ He married second at St John's Church on 6 August 1627, Isabel Pearce.^5,6
     Simon and Isabel emigrated from Thanet, Kent, to Boston, Massachusetts, between 1630 and 1631.⁷ They were amongst the first settlers of Newtown, sometime before 1632, and remained there until Simon's death just a few years later in 1635. On 5 August 1633, Simon was granted half an acre for a cowyard in Cambridge.⁸ On 20 August 1635, he was also granted a one-acre share of meadow land.⁹ Administration of Simon's estate was granted by the General Court to his widow Isabel on 3 November 1635.¹⁰
     After Simon's death, Isabel removed with her young sons Simon and John to Hartford, Connecticut, travelling with the hundred-strong Hooker congregation. There she married, as his second wife, William Bloomfield.
[Reverend Thomas Hooker's company arriving at the Connecticut River].¹¹
     Despite a short life—he had probably not reached forty when he died in 1635—Simon Sackett the colonist enjoys a pivotal position in the history of the Sacketts, being regarded as the progenitor of a major part of the American branch of the family.
     Early migrants from England to the New World had various motivations for seeking a new life in a virtually unknown country and for undertaking the hazardous journey. Many fled religious persecution, but others removed in hopes of a better, more prosperous future. England had entered on a half-century of chronic trade depression. Propagandists for the Massachusetts Bay Company, which had been founded in 1629, were active in the recruitment of settlers. And there was the promise of boundless fertile lands. Some were escapees from threatening plague or famine. Survival in the new land would depend crucially upon the application of essential practical skills; thus, many were farmers or were engaged in allied trades. Well-placed migrants took with them their servants and these, too, were to become founding fathers of America.
     Simon's reasons for embarking on his American adventure are not known. Nor do we know his occupation. Given the documentation of the time, it would seem likely that, had Simon emigrated for reasons of religious conviction, there would remain recorded evidence of the fact. But it is dangerous to speculate as to his reasons; it is to be hoped that further information will come to light. It is worth, however, considering Simon's family circumstances at the time.
     Simon Sackett was born, probably in November 1595 (he was baptised on 23 November 1595), in the small rural parish of St Peter in the Isle of Thanet on the north-east coast of Kent. He was the sixth of nine children, and third of five sons, born to Thomas Sackett and his wife, Martha (nee Strowde). Simon's father, Thomas, who had died when Simon was 20, was a yeoman farmer in Birchington, a parish some five miles west of St Peter. Thomas had evidently established a farm at Birchington some time after the birth of his youngest child, Elizabeth, in 1604.
     The description of Thomas, in his will made in 1615, as a 'yeoman' implies that he owned at least some of his land. However, the term does not necessarily imply significant wealth and it is clear from his will that his house and land at St Peter's were mortgaged and that his house and land at Birchington were rented. His will directed that the St Peter's property be sold to pay his debts and legacies. Thomas had inherited lands and a tenement at St Peter's from his father, also Thomas. Thomas the elder, although possessed of property, described himself in his will as a 'labourer'; again, that will does not suggest significant wealth.
     Simon was about 35 years old when he made his fateful decision to emigrate. Two of his brothers had died, older brother Thomas some eleven years earlier, and younger brother William about fifteen years earlier. Although there is no direct confirmatory evidence, it is possible that they were victims of plague or other epidemic which occurred frequently in Birchington in the early part of the 17th century¹². His eldest brother John and youngest brother Henry survived and, although it had not been specified in their father's will, it would seem possible that John continued to farm the family lands in Birchington.
     Simon had by then been married twice; first in 1618 to Elizabeth Boyman, and following her death in 1625/26, secondly to Isabel Pearce in 1627. Elizabeth had borne him three daughters, Christianna in 1620, Elizabeth in 1623, and Martha in 1625. Of these, only Christianna is known to have survived to adulthood, marrying Thomas Tanner in 1641. No death or burial records for Elizabeth or Martha have been found but it is reasonable to assume that they died in infancy or childhood, perhaps the victims of plague. In any event, when he emigrated, Simon left at least one young, motherless, daughter behind, presumably in the care of one of his brothers or sisters.
     Although Weygant gives specific details of the dates and method of Simon's journey to Boston, Mass., on the ship Lyon from Bristol on England's west coast, it has not yet proved possible to verify from primary sources that he was a passenger on this particular voyage. Weygant's version is probable but is known to be inaccurate in the important particular of Simon's origin, Weygant stating this to be the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire instead of the Isle of Thanet, Kent. Other writers have proposed various dates for Simon's migration (Riker, "about the year 1628 or '29"; Savage and Anderson, 1632). The earlier dates would seem less likely as there were relatively few settlers before the sailing of the Winthrop fleet of eleven ships in 1630. If Simon was indeed on this Lyon voyage then he would certainly have met John Winthrop as the latter boarded the ship on 8 February 1631 as it rode at anchor off Long Island.
     Weygant records Simon as being engaged, with others, in building dwellings in Newtown, Mass., in 1631. Confirmation of this date would be of help in determining Simon's date of migration. Although it is likely that Simon was there in 1631, it has not been possible to confirm this. The first record of Simon found in Newtown (Cambridge) is in the undated list (almost certainly of 1632) in the Cambridge Town Records. The Cambridge Historical Commission have placed a plaque in Winthrop Park stating that Dudley, Bradstreet, Lockwood, Poole, Patrick, Spencer, Kirman, and Sackett had completed and occupied houses in Newtown by 26 July 1631. However, study of the Commission's source (Lucius Paige's History of Cambridge) suggests that this rather stretches the evidence. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that Dudley and Bradstreet had built houses in Newtown by 1631 and it is likely that the others had also done so.¹³
     Weygant relates the family tradition as told to him by his father-in-law, Samuel Bailey Sackett, that Simon with his brother, John, travelled on the Lyon in company with Roger Williams. The existence of this brother has since been challenged (by Anderson) and our further researches have revealed that Weygant's primary evidence in support of the family tradition, that John Sackett, Simon's alleged brother, filed an inventory of his own son's estate (in 1684) was mistaken. With the removal of Simon's brother, John, the question is opened of the relationship between Simon and John of New Haven (claimed by Weygant to have been the son of Simon's brother)—and, indeed, the migration of this John Sackett.

Sacketts of America: biography
Great Migration: extract.¹⁴
Biographical sketch: Simon's brother John Sackett (the fisherman).

Sackett Family Association descendants of Simon Sackett the colonist & Isabel Pearce:
Fred Sackett, Thurmon King, Darlene Sackett, Patty Sackett Chrisman, Glenna Hertzler, Alyce Beggs, Ray J Sackett, Jeanette Boden, Tom Smith, Marie Reid, Donn Patrick Cutler, Sharon Allen, Cindy Torres Owens, Jack Hume, Carroll M Lawson, Ruth Rawlings, Patty Bohler, Pam Schuster Offerdahl, Steve & Debbie Barbee, Bob Schuster, Charles L Sackett, Karen Gerke, Don Robinson, Diane Francis, Don Hertzler, Wayne Sacket, Lynette Sackett Wilkerson, Ted Smith, Barbara Bell, S Howard Dreelan, Eugene Venne, Debra Leffler Streeter, Kari Roehl, Charles Crain, John L Sackett, Catrina Kohl, Barbara Barbarow, Karen Pritchett, Kathleen Giusti, Floyd Oster, Brian Williams, Rachel Stella, Theresa Cotton, Jane Kirkendall, Kathy James, James R Klim, Lynn Tinsley, Sheila Partington, Steven W Frank, Jean Carpenter, Louella Sexsmith, Terry Sackett, Martha Thayer Evans, Grace Keir, Jan Roberts, Michelle Pearce, Becky Moncrief, Marlene Bekey, Irene Grissom, Carol Sackett, Christina Sackett, Eva Adams, Donna Spink, Sharon Powalka, Albert M Sackett, Pat Stempski, Michael E Gray, Glenn Glaus, Daniel Scott Sackett, Cathy Schraeder, Rita E Sackett, Joe Sparks, Elizabeth Hoening, Michelle Morris, Beverley Service, Michelle Marolis, Mike Fisher, Dennis Gottier, Kay Prindle Corwin, Ron Ruberstell, Alvin Oglesby, Wanda Phillips and Michael Trickey.