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- http://books.google.com/books?id=EDk3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=%22joseph+Hoar%22+berlin&source=bl&ots=WqCXHZxUDv&sig=vGXL2Xx6q7j25RtWJmtqGpx6b8s&hl=en&ei=vyS9SoG9A42l8Qbf2uiwAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=%22joseph%20Hoar%22%20berlin&f=false
Brackett genealogy: descendants of Anthony Brackett of Portsmouth ..., Part 1
By Herbert Ierson Brackett
James Brackett was born May 5, 1764; he was in the twelfth year of his age the first year of the War of the Revolution; had hardly completed his eleventh year when was fought the battle of Lexington. On becoming fourteen years old, parental authority could no longer restrain his ardent patriotism; he ran away from home and became a privateer. After some months of service of varying success and failure, the little vessel on which he served was disabled in battle, and the crew barely escaped with their lives to the nearest shore, then within the British lines; secreting themselves by day and foraging by night they finally made their escape. In after years, during the war, and while a soldier, when men were detailed from his company to man a sloop of war, those fitted for such service were selected; they were men who could serve a double part at war, fight equally as wel on the sea as on the land; among the number thus selected was James Brackett. When making his claim for pension, over forty years later, he did not mention his naval service aboard the privateer. Not that he had forgotten it. (or his children knew, and his grandchildren know, the story of the cruise of the ill-fated little vessel, from his relating it. Probably it was that the adventure was not pursuant to any contract with the government, continental or state, for service, and hard service as it was, it would not entitle him to pension. But pension was not his object in those days; hence service, such as a recruiting officer would not be required to pass upon his ability to perform, or other officer inquire as to whether he had his parents' consent to enter into, suited his case exactly, and this service he engaged in, and in his old days, delighted to relate about. In 1832, he applied for pension; set forth that he was then sixty-eight years old, a resident of Berlin, Me; that he served in Captain Solomon Walker's company, Colonel Prime's regiment; enlisted in April 1780, for eight months. Relative to this term of service the records of the War Department show that "James Bracket" was a private in Captain Solomon Walker's company, Colonel Joseph Prime's regiment; under command of General Wadsworth; enlisted April 30,
1780, discharged December 26, 1780, served "7 months and 27 days at Eastward."
He further stated that he again enlisted in April 1781, for nine months in Captain Benjamin Lemont's company, Samuel McCobb's regiment; was discharged January 2, 1782, at Bath, Me.; that part of the time he was on board of the sloop of war "Defense."
Relative to said term of service, the records in the War Department show that "James Bracket" was a private in Captain Benjamin Lemont's company, Colonel McCobb's regiment; enlisted May 10,
1781, discharged Dec. i, 1781, "served 6 month and 20 days near Penobscot river;" that on board of marine sloop, "Defense," commanded by Captain James Nivens. he served one month and twentyfour days, "was engaged 2 Aug., 1781, discharged 26 Sept., 1781."
Also published records show that he gave receipt dated "Coxhead 8 June 1781," to Captain Benj. Lemont, for musket, etc.
Abraham Brackett of Sidney, Kennebec county, Maine, testified under date of September 20. 1832, that? "I well recollect that my brother James, within named, enlisted and went into the service at both the times by him mentioned."
The claim was allowed and he was paid pension to the date of his death.
For several years after the close of the war he followed the sea; later he became a shipper and horse dealer; bought horses, shipped them from New Orleans to the West Indies and other places, and once lost a cargo of horses by a storm on the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly before his marriage, he had ceased his wandering and adventurous life; he settled in Sidney, Me., where he became engaged in the manufacture and sale of lumber. Here he prospered for several years, was on the road to wealth, when, at a time he had reached the age of fifty years, and had a family of eight children, in one night all he had, mills and lumber, were swept away by a flood. With property gone and indebtedness of his own to meet, his hard lot was made still harder by an obligation he had entered into by a pledge of his credit for tlie accommodation of another who lost his all by the same flood. This disaster came upon him when he was well advanced in years, when his prospects were the brightest, and when he could reasonably look forward to a life of ease and pleasure. A few years were spent in Sidney in adjusting his affairs and then he went to the wilds of Oxford county to begin life anew in a business way on a farm. Determination of purpose overcomes obstacles. Land was purchased, cleared, tilled to an advantage, and from the profits of this farm the last of his debts were paid. It is gratifying to record that this was accomplished, with the pleasures of life which are the lot of a prosperous farmer.
A personal description of him is, that he was about five feet, ten inches in height, had a clean cut face, a sharp nose and was easy and quick in his movements. Also was, at times, given to making decidedly pointed and pithy remarks.
His farm in Oxford county was in the town called at the time he settled there, Berlin, subsequently Phillips, in that part which is West Phillips; it is now owned (1906) by his grandson William Brackett. On the farm is an orchard which he planted and in which he took great pride. On this farm he settled about 1819, and passed the remainder of his days. He died March 22, 1845. One of his neighbors was his sister Sarah, who married Silas Field. The graves of the four, of himself, his wife, his sister Sarah, and her husband, are in the little graveyard in the Levi Field place; there, side by side, rest their remains.
He married January 31, 1798, Mary Lunt. Of her, Rev. Dr. Nathan Brackett of Harper's Ferry, W. V., wrote? "If grandmother now and then smoked a long-stemmed, clean clay pipe, she did it with such exquisite neatness that none of her many granddaughters would have blushed to have seen her. Nobody could bind a stonebruised bare foot or a whittled finger quite as nicely as grandmother. I wish I had one of those pretty lace caps she used to wear, or, better still, a real picture of her at spinning flax on a little wheel, as I can now see lier."
She was born May 19, 1779, died July 8, 1849, was daughter of Benjamin Lunt. He was born August 15, 1747, died in January, 1822, married January 7, 1768, Mercy Brackett; was son of James. He was son of the 2d Henry, who was born June 23, 1698, in Newberry, Mass., and wife Hannah, daughter of Joseph Noyes. Mercy Brackett was daughter of Joshua and wife Esther Cox (see div. 7, fam. i).
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The H600 Project Genealogy DB
1764 - 1845 (80 years)