Early Boston Jail Keeper — Richard Brackett

B. before 16 Sep 1610 in Sudbury, England¹
M. 6 Jan 1634 in London, England²
Wife: Alice Blower
D. 3 Mar 1690 in Braintree, Massachusetts³

Some men who joined the Great Migration to New England in the 1630s seemed destined to take on special roles in their communities, perhaps even doing jobs that no one else wanted. Richard Brackett seems to fit this description.

Richard was born in Sudbury, England to Peter Brackett and Rachel (possibly) Wheatley, one of four children, and baptized on September 16, 1610.¹ Richard’s father died when he was 6-years-old;⁴ his mother then married a man named Martin Saunders and had four more children with him.⁵

The town of Sudbury, located in Suffolk, was a “hotbed of Puritan sentiment” at the time Richard lived there, and this likely had an influence on him. At the age of 19, Richard sailed to New England with the Winthrop Fleet; his name is on the covenant to establish the first church in Boston dated August 27, 1630.⁵ After a couple of years in the colony, it seems that Richard returned to England for a short time. On January 6, 1634, he married Alice Blower in London,² then he brought her back to Massachusetts. Their first child, Hannah, was born within a year.⁶ They went on to have seven more children, with the youngest born in about 1655.⁷

Boston's meetinghouse in 1630s.

At first, Richard and his family made their home in Boston near what is the present-day corner of Court and Washington Streets on property he acquired in 1636.⁵ The following year, he was appointed to be “keeper of the prison” with a salary of £13 6s 8d;⁵ on June 6, 1639, his salary was raised to £20.⁵ For a time, he moved into the house at the jail. In colonial New England, a prison wasn’t a place for long-term confinement; it was used to keep those who had been accused of a crime until they were tried in a court. The usual sentence handed to the guilty involved immediate punishments, such as public whippings, and afterwards the person was released, but it isn’t known what specific cases Richard played a role in.

Another community task that Richard took on was indicated in a curious note from a town meeting in February 1639. In that month, authorities granted him permission to “mow” the marsh at the new settlement of Braintree in time for that summer. The record implied that he had routinely done this each year.⁵ In the years that followed, Richard seems to have aspired to be a farmer, and it motivated him to leave Boston in 1642 for Braintree.⁵ Richard’s mother and step-father, who had migrated to New England in 1635, also moved to Braintree.⁵ From then on, this would be his family’s home.

On July 21, 1642, Richard was appointed first deacon of the church at Braintree.⁵ It’s thought that Boston's church had some authority over the new church in Braintree, and that they hand-picked Richard to be Braintree’s deacon. During his time as deacon, there was a major disagreement between Braintree and Boston over 600 acres of land. It’s noteworthy that even though Richard lived in Braintree, he favored Boston’s position regarding the disputed land.⁵

Richard was captain of Braintree's militia by 1655, and he served in that rank during King Philip’s War.⁵ One story about his service involved an Indian who surrendered to the colonists, and was about to be treated with some leniency. But Richard stepped in, seeing that the man was taken to Boston and kept in their jail, later to be sold into slavery.⁵

During the years 1655-1665, 1667, 1671, 1672, 1674 and 1680, Richard was Braintree's deputy to the Massachusetts General Court.¹ The gap of service between 1675 and 1679 is thought to be associated with King Philip’s War and the lingering trouble with natives afterwards; perhaps Richard needed to devote attention to his role in the military during that time. Besides all of his other roles in life, Richard also served as Braintree’s town clerk,¹ and for a time, he may have been a teacher.⁵ In his later years, he was authorized to perform marriages and swear oaths.⁵

On March 3, 1690, Richard died in Braintree.³ His wife Alice survived him by about nine months, passing away on November 30th.⁸ One object that belonged to Richard and Alice survives today: a silver wine cup with their initials on it, made by silversmiths John Hull and Robert Sanderson. The cup was donated to the church in Braintree about nine years after they died and it was used as a communion cup. The church kept it for many years and it’s now part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.⁹

Silver cup which belonged to Richard.

Richard’s descendants include Henry Fonda, George H.W. Bush, and all of their famous offspring.¹⁰

Children:
1. Hannah Brackett — B. before 4 Jan 1634, Boston Massachusetts;⁶ D. 3 Jul 1706, Dunstable, Massachusetts;¹¹ M. (1) Samuel Kingsley (?-1662);⁵ (2) John Blanchard (?-1691)⁵

2. Peter Brackett — B. before 7 May 1637, Boston, Massachusetts;¹² M. (1) Elizabeth Bosworth (?-1686), 7 Mar 1661, Braintree, Massachusetts;¹³ (2) Sarah Parker (?-1718), 30 Mar 1687, Billerica, Massachusetts¹⁴

3. John Brackett — B. before 7 May 1637, Boston, Massachusetts;⁵ D. 18 Mar 1687, Billerica, Massachusetts;⁵ M. (1) Hannah French (1644-1674), 6 Sep 1661, Braintree, Massachusetts;¹⁵ (2) Ruth Ellice, 31 May 1675, Billerica, Massachusetts¹⁶

4. Rachel Brackett — B. about Nov 1639, Boston, Massachusetts;¹⁷ M. Simon Crosby (1637-1725), 15 Jul 1659, Braintree, Massachusetts⁵

5. Mary Brackett — B. 1 Feb 1641, Braintree, Massachusetts;¹⁸ D. 23 Mar 1678, Billerica, Massachusetts;¹⁸ M. Joseph Tompson (1639-1732), 1 Feb 1662, Billerica, Massachusetts¹⁹

6. James Brackett — B. 8 Jul 1645, Braintree, Massachusetts;²⁰ D. 8 Apr 1718, Braintree, Massachusetts;²⁰ M. Sarah Marsh (1649-1727), 1674²⁰

7. Josiah Brackett — B. 8 Mar 1652, Braintree, Massachusetts;²¹ D. about 1681;⁵ M. Elizabeth Waldo (1648-1743), 4 Feb 1673, Billerica, Massachusetts²²

8. Sarah Brackett — B. about 1655, Braintree, Massachusetts;⁷ D. 1690;⁷ M. Joseph Crosby (1639-1695), 1 Apr 1675, Braintree, Massachusetts²³

Sources:
1    Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Vols. I-III, Robert Charles Anderson
2    Marriage record of Richard Brackett and Alice Blower, England Marriages, 1538-1973, FamilySearch.org
3    Find-a-Grave listing of Capt. Richard Brackett
4    “Parish Records from Sudbury, Suffolk, England,” The American Genealogist, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp.66-67
5    50 Great Migration Colonists, J. B. Threlfall, 1990, pp. 65-75
6    Christening record of Hannah Brackett, Massachusetts, Births and Christenings, 1639-1915, FamilySearch.org
7    Find-a-Grave listing of Sarah (Brackett) Crosby
8    Find-a-Grave listing of Alice (Blower) Brackett
9    Early American Silver in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Beth Carver Wees and Medill Higgins Harvey, 2013
10  FamousKin.com listing of Richard Brackett
11  History of the Old Township of Dunstable, Charles J. Fox, 1846, p. 83
12  Christening record of Peter Brackett, M., B. & C.
13  Marriage record of Peter Brackett and Elizabeth Bosworth, Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Town and Vital Records, 1626-2001, FamilySearch.org
14  Marriage record of Peter Brackett and Sarah Parker, M., T. C., T. & V. R.
15  Marriage record of John Brackett and Hannah French, M., T. C., T. & V. R.
16  Marriage record of John Brackett and Ruth Ellice, M., T. C., T. & V. R.
17  Christening record of Rachel Brackett, M., B. & C.
18  Find-a-Grave listing of Mary (Brackett) Thompson
19  Marriage record of Joseph Thompson and Mary Brackett, M., T. C., T. & V. R.
20  Find-a-Grave listing of James Brackett
21  Birth record of Josiah Brackett, Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, Ancestry.com
22  Marriage record of Josiah Brackett and Elizabeth Waldo, M., T. C., T. & V. R.
23  Marriage record of Joseph Crosby and Sarah Brackett, M., T. C., T. & V. R.