Yolo-Sonoma-Napa County CA Archives Biographies.....Sackett, Buel Ruthven 1834 - 1912
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 9, 2005, 5:36 pm

Author: Tom Gregory

BUEL RUTHVEN SACKETT

    Studying the genealogy of the Sackett family, to which belong the well-known
ranchers of California, Buel Euthven Sackett, now deceased, and his son, Harry
E. Sackett, it is found that one of the name, supposedly a native of England,
served as a regimental surgeon in the Revolution. His son, Rev. John B. Sackett,
was born near Syracuse, N. Y., January 8, 1812, and in 1837 became a pioneer of
Ohio, where he first taught school, and later became a Baptist minister in
Ashtabula and Knox counties. As a student of the Bible he attained a widespread
reputation, and in an accurate knowledge of the Scriptures had few equals. In
recognition of his profound Biblical knowledge he was appointed corresponding
secretary of the Ohio Baptist convention, and in the discharge of his duties he
traveled throughput the entire state. His sudden death, December 24, 1870,
closed a career of more than ordinary usefulness and honor. For some years he
was survived by his wife, Amanda (Bardeen) Sackett, who was born in New York
January 16, 1813, and traced her lineage to Scottish ancestry.

    One of the expeditions that entered California during the early '50s
contained among its members a weary and penniless lad who, aroused by tales
concerning the discovery of gold, had run away from home in the hope of becoming
a gold-seeker in the-west. When, after countless discouragements, after a long
period of hunger and privation, he finally reached his destination, it was only
to meet hundreds of discouraged men returning from the mines with the report
that the wonderful tales concerning the abundance of gold were wholly untrue.
The vision of gold that had allured the eastern youth disappeared before the
bald statements of other disillusioned Argonauts, and he turned to a job of
splitting rails as a means of providing food and raiment. Four years later he
returned to his Ohio home and took up the apprenticeship from which he had run
away. No one would have predicted that the twilight of his life would find him
one of the prosperous ranchers of California. Destiny seemed to hold him now to
the east, but, under all, the magic of Californian attractions was working, and
in eighteen months after his return to the east he gave up his position, bade
farewell to friends, and for the last time came to the west to earn a
livelihood. How well he succeeded in his modest aspirations the record of his
holdings and the influence of his name abundantly testify.

    Fabius, a village in the vicinity of Syracuse, N. Y., was the birthplace of
Buel Ruthven Sackett, and here he was born January 4, 1834. At three years of
age he was taken by his parents to Ohio, and from that time until he was
eighteen remained in Ashtabula and Knox counties. Meanwhile he had been
apprenticed to a jeweler in Mount Vernon, and as he sat at work he heard little
discussed but the discovery of gold in California. Small wonder that his
imagination became inflamed and his ambition aroused. The principal impediment
was the fact that his apprenticeship had not expired. Finally he determined not
to allow that to hinder him in his plans, and so, with a friend, he executed the
coup d'etat, running away in the night with a total capital of $8, but with a
fund of hope that at the time seemed inexhaustible.

    From the first the discouragements were many. Every outgoing train of
emigrants leaving Lexington, Mo., was implored to give work to the lad, whose
anxiety grew greater as his fund became less. A loaf of bread warded off
starvation, while a barn furnished shelter at night. Thus a week dragged its
slow length along, and then a kind-hearted man listened to his appeal, hiring
him to aid in driving a herd of stock across the plains. As Mr. Sackett had no
knowledge of harnessing horses or driving cattle, he was less helpful than a
country boy would have been, but with his eagerness and determination he soon
learned to be of use to his employer. The journey was tedious and not without
danger, but finally California was reached in safety, and he continued on to
Sonoma, county with the man who had brought him west. From there he walked to
Napa county and began to split rails, receiving $6 per hundred, and shortly
afterward built a house of logs hewn by himself. Near the cabin he planted
apricot, peach and fig trees, which though planted in 1852 are to some extent
still bearing fruit.

    Selling his claim and returning to the east, Mr. Sackett took up work in the
shop from which he had run away, and as stated above remained there about
eighteen months, when he returned to California via the Panama route. He rented
land in the northern part of Solano county near Winters, where he remained for
two years, and then with Milton Wolfskill bought two hundred and ten acres near
Winters, and shortly afterward forty acres of the tract were planted to grapes.
On selling out four years later Mr. Sackett received only enough to pay his
debts, and he accordingly crossed the line into Yolo county, where he bought one
hundred and ninety acres, situated about three miles west of Winters, and here,
for four years, engaged in raising vegetables. On selling this property for
$2,000 he bought one hundred and fifty acres for the same amount, but this place
he sold for $11,000 four years later. His next purchase comprised three hundred
and eighty acres in Solano and Yolo counties, and this splendid ranch he and his
brother, John, owned and managed jointly with large profit. The William Brinck
ranch, for which he paid $18,000, he sold four years afterward for $29,000. In
partnership with his brother John he bought nine hundred acres, the most of
which is along Putah creek in Yolo county, although a portion of the tract is in
Solano county. The large acreage is divided into five farms and each bears a
full equipment of improvements. The home farm lies three and a half miles west
of Winters in Yolo county, and has about two hundred and fifty acres in orchard
and vineyard. In 1906 Mr. Sackett located in Alameda, where he made his home the
remainder of his life, his death occurring March 30, 1912. Mr. Sackett's death
was sincerely mourned by a great number of friends and associates, who had ever
found him a conscientious and thoughtful friend, and also by a number who had
been the recipient of his kindly charities. He was a high type of the self-made,
self-reliant man who has come to the west to build it up and make it the
exceptional country it is today, and it is largely due to him and his followers
that his line of business has reached its present flourishing condition.

    In February, 1862, Buel R. Sackett was married to Susan Williams, who was
born in Missouri and came across the plains with her father shortly before her
marriage. Four children were born to this union, as follows: Harry E., who is an
eminent horticulturist of this vicinity; Fannie, who is the wife of E. N.
Dinsmore and the mother of Buel Dinsmore; Louis A., who married Clara Graham,
and has two children, Buel E. and Dorothy; and Herbert F., deceased. After the
death of his first wife Mr. Sackett married Frances Williams, who soon after
passed away. On September 30, 1879, at Fairfield, he married Florence A. Howe, a
native of Auburn, Fayette county, Iowa, daughter of Hiram T. and Rhoda A.
(Pitts) Howe, early settlers of Iowa. Mr. Howe was a soldier in an Iowa regiment
in the Civil war, and died during service. Mrs. Sackett was brought to
California in 1875 with her mother and stepfather, H. B. Austin. She was the
mother of five children, viz.: Amanda J., who married Frederick Ayres, of
Alameda, Cal.; Buel, deceased; Chester H., who is managing the home place;
Ruthven W., who is Mrs. Roy Wyatt, of Winters; and Florence M. All these
children have been given a thorough educational training and been brought up to
be a credit to the name they bear.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]

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