History of St Clair County, Illinois
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Sackett, Reuben Family
Reuben Sackett born in Vermont around 1780, arrived in Illinois, along with his wife Elizabeth and children, shortly before 1820. Reuben died around 1845. Elizabeth Sackett lived with her children and died sometime after 1870. Reuben and Elizabeth had several children but only two sons, Myron and Henry, are definitely known at this time.
Myron, born 3 September 1809 in Livingston, New York, married Elizabeth Hill in 1833. Elizabeth, born in 1813 in St. Clair County, was the daughter of William Hill. Myron and Elizabeth had at least six children: Sarah Ann (1834-1860) married Hiram E. Dixon; Mary Catherine (1835-1914) married George W. Tyree-Tery; Elizabeth Harriett (1838- ); Jonathon Hill (1841-1865); Katherine Zady (1843-1921) married William Francis Miller; and John Henry (1848-1924) married #1. Lydia Jane Scarbrough and #2. Julia Cordelia Lee. In 1852, shortly after the family moved to McLean County, Illinois, Elizabeth Hill Sackett died. Myron returned to St. Clair County to marry Drucilla Browning (1819-1904) in 1853. This couple had at least three children: two daughters who died in infancy and Phebe Elinor (1854-1882) who married John C. Brown. During the Civil War, Myron Sackett's oldest son, Jonathon Hill Sackett enlisted in the 12th Regiment Volunteers and died in Humpstead, Texas. Myron Sackett died in 1903 and Drucilla Sackett died in 1904. They are buried in Shiloh Cemetery in McLean County, Illinois.
Henry, born in St. Clair County around 1821, married Jane Ellsworth on 31 December 1840. Jane was the daughter of John and Phoebe Spencer Ellsworth and a sketch of that family appeared in St. Clair County History, Volume I, page 231. Henry and Jane made their home in St. Clair County and on 15 August 1846, Henry was elected a Second Lieutenant for the Illinois State Militia, 1st Regiment (St. Clair County), 1st Brigade, of the 1st Division. This couple had at least seven children: Mary A., born in 1842 (may have married a man named Brown and had one daughter, Jane, around 1860); Oreenatha S. (1844); William C. (1847-1936); Robert C. (1849); Diana Margarette (see Elijah V. Cannady Sr. sketch in this volume); Edward (1861); and Joseph Gormon (1868). In 1850 Henry and Jane joined several of Jane's sisters and brothers-in-law in DeKalb County, Missouri, where Henry made his living as a blacksmith. By 1860, the family had moved back to Illinois to Okaw Township in Washington County where Henry farmed and the family ran a boarding house for railroad workers. During the 1870's Henry moved his family to Grassy Precinct in Williamson County, Illinois, where he again took up farming. Around this time, Henry and Jane added a young orphan, Charles A. Shaw, to the family. It is unknown what happened to the family after 1880 and Henry and Jane's burial places have yet to be found. Although Henry and Jane Sackett did not spend too many years in this area, some of their children returned to this area and their descendants still live in St. Clair County.
During the Civil War, William C., the first born son of Henry Sackett, volunteered and was mustered in at Camp Butler as a private in Co. I of the 154th Illinois Infantry. After the war, William returned to his parents' home in Washington County and worked as a hack driver. On 16 May 1871, he married Mary Ann Weaver, daughter of John Weaver. William and Mary made their home in Barton County, Missouri, and then in Gosper County, Nebraska. They had six children: Joseph Sanford (1872), Emma Elva (1878), Effie Lavinia (1870), Ida Clarice (1883), Helena Cecil (1887) and William Clarence (1890). Mary Weaver Sackett died in 1930. In 1932, William married Mrs. Louisa Awe Schult, daughter of John and Frederica Dahn Awe. William Sackett died in 1936 in Nebraska.
Four other Sacketts who lived in St. Clair County during the first part of the 19th century are believed to be members of the Reuben Sackett family: 1. In 1834, Harriet Sackett married William Gray, a carpenter from Tennessee. They had at least two children: Thomas and Elizabeth. 2. Sarah Ann Sackett, born in Kentucky, married Henry Hill in 1842 (a sketch of that family can be found in St. Clair County History, Volume I, page 305). 3. William Sackett married Elizabeth Talbot in 1838 in St. Clair County. 4. Ira Sackett, born around 1805 in New York, married Jane Scott on 20 Oct 1829. They had at least six children: John (1831), Elizabeth (1834), Reuben (1836), Nancy (1839), Edward (1840), and Hannah (1845). In 1845, Jane Scott Sackett died and is buried in Hill Cemetery in Prairie du Long Township. Ira married Eliza Davis in 1851 and they had at least three children. Frank H., born in 1855, and one other son and one daughter. The family moved to Okaw Township in Washington County for a brief time but by 1870 were back in St. Clair County in the Mascoutah area.
by Martha Ellsworth and Audrey Cannady Massingill
Source:
History of St. Clair County, Illinois, Vol. II, compiled by St. Clair County Genealogical Society, Curtis Media Corporation (1992), researched by Myra Roper, May 2026.