Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Sackett
Variants: Sacket, Sackitt
Category: 3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.
Website: www.sackettfamily.info
DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Sackett
Guild hosted website: sackett.one-name.net
Contact: Mr Chris Sackett
Several derivations of the surname Sackett have been proposed:
The word "sacket" has two dictionary definitions: a bag; and a term of reproach or abuse.
None of these possible derivations of the surname is likely. Any would have resulted in the name arising independently in different places; but such is the concentration of the name in early records in a small area of Thanet that it may be supposed that the name originated in a single family. Certainly, the surname, first found in 1317, is seen to predate the earliest recorded use (c1440) of the word "sakett" meaning a bag.
The Sackett family originated in England in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, probably at Sackett's Hill in the parish of St Peter's. The earliest record is that of William Saket of Southborough, St Peter in Thanet who, in 1317, was in a legal dispute with the Abbot of St Augustine.
The Sacketts were among the first colonists of America, with Simon Sackett arriving at the Massachusetts Bay Colony just a few months after the Winthrop Fleet of 1630, and John Sackett, possibly a nephew of Simon, arriving in New Haven sometime before 1641.
The Sackett Family Association website (Second placed website, Guild Publications Awards 2009; Guild Award of Excellence 2012, 2016)
The Book of Sacketts: The Sackett Family History and Genealogy, downloadable e-book
The Sackett Family Association blog
Sackett (surname) on Wikipedia