Augustus Sacket

Augustus Sacket, lawyer, soldier, businessman, founder of the village of Sackets Harbor, son of Samuel Sackett and Mary Betts, was born in New York City on 10 November 1769.¹ He died in Albany, New York, on 22 April 1827.^1,2 He married in Catskill, New York, on 19 January 1795, Minerva Camp.¹ She was born in 1780.³ She died in 1837.³
     Augustus Sacket, a New York lawyer and businessman, achieved fame when he acquired substantial tracts of unimproved land on the south-east shore of the inland sea of Lake Ontario and founded what was to become the flourishing and strategically-important village of Sackets Harbor.
     In the years after the Revolution, New England Yankees viewed the forests and waterways of western New York state with a keen eye for settlement. In 1801, New York City land speculator Augustus Sacket travelled to Lake Ontario to verify reports of a naturally sheltered harbor on Black River Bay. Upon seeing the harbor, he became enthused with its potential: “There a harbor is found which is sheltered from the winds and surges of the Lake. A peninsula of limestone rock perfectly protects a sheet of water covering about ten acres.” The harbor was deep enough to accommodate boats of any size and close enough to the busy St Lawrence and Black Rivers to make it a convenient port of trade. He purchased all the surrounding land and began to build a new community. “The flourishing state of Mr Sacket’s village, its advantages of water carriage, and its valuable fishery, render it one of the most inviting objects to an industrious settler.” For his own family, Augustus built a splendid Palladian-style villa.
     In 1805, Augustus became first Collector when the portion of the State bordering Lake Ontario became a US Revenue District and, in 1806, was elected the first Supervisor of the town of Houndsville which embraced the village and port of Sackets Harbor. He became the first County Judge when Jefferson County was organized in 1807. He was also Captain of State troops.
     The strategic importance of Sackets Harbor was to become apparent during the War of 1812, when it was made the Headquarters of the Northern Army and Fleet. The town was successfully defended twice against attacks by English fleets.
     But Augustus Sacket had, in 1809, sold his holdings in Jefferson County and moved to Jamaica, Long Island. He moved again, in 1812, to Meadville, Pennyslvania, returning shortly after to his birthplace, New York City. He returned to Sackets Harbor sometime after 1820 when he became interested in the islands of the St Lawrence. His last home was Newburgh, Orange County, New York, and it was while traveling from there to Sackets Harbor that he died on 22 April 1827.

Sacketts of America: biography