Kings County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



HENRY HACKETT
 
was born in Ireland, April 15, 1808.  His parents emigrated to the United States 
in 1812, and settled in New York, where the father, Thomas Hackett, was engaged 
in the manufacture of harness.  Henry was apprenticed in New Jersey to learn the 
trade of iron roller, working bar iron into merchantable sizes.
            In 1832 Mr. Hackett was married, in New York, to Miss Elizabeth 
Cornell, of the prominent Quaker family of Cornells, so distinguished in the 
early history of New York.  In 1833 they settled in Wayne County, Michigan, 
twenty-two miles from Detroit, and located 320 acres of Government land, at 
$1.25 per acre.  The country was then wild and unsettled, and in the midst of 
the forest Mr. Hackett built a sawmill and supplied lumber for the country 
trade, and was also engaged in general farming.  He assisted in building the 
Michigan Central railroad, the first railway in that State.  In 1860 he 
emigrated with his family to California. They shipped horses, wagons and 
supplies from Detroit to the terminus of the railway system in Iowa, and at that 
point, which was near Burlington, they embarked in the �prairie schooner� for 
their long trip across the plains.  Mr. Hackett drove eight horses and started 
alone with his family, but ere long they were joined by other emigrants and soon 
a large company was formed.  The only particular hardship they encountered on 
the journey was the absence of sufficient feed for their stock.  At Lake Tahoe, 
finding plenty of feed, good water, fish and game in abundance, they encamped 
four weeks, giving their stock time to recuperate.  They then pushed forward 
toward their destination, and arrived in Sacramento in September, being there in 
time to witness the laying of the corner stone of the State capitol.  
            Mr. Hackett settled at Mud Spring, near Placerville, El Dorado 
County, rented a hotel and did an extensive business.  Being on the Washoe 
route, between Sacramento and Placerville, teaming was extensively carried on, 
and his hotel was the popular hostelry.  In 1864 the incoming railroad spoiled 
his business, and from there he moved to Gold Run, an extensive hydraulic mining 
camp in Placer County, built a fine hotel and conducted it until 1870, when he 
came to the vicinity of Grangeville, Tulare County.  Here he homesteaded 160 
acres of land, which was subsequently claimed by the railroad company, and under 
protest he had to pay their price.  The country being dry and overrun by wild 
horses and cattle, crops were uncertain, and the rough side of life was 
uppermost.  Mr. Hackett was among the first to agitate irrigation and to start 
the ditches.  After water was acquired and the �no-fence� law passed the farmer 
began to prosper.  In 1878 Mr. Hackett set out a small family orchard, and 
gradually established a comfortable home.  He now owns 234 acres of land, eighty 
acres of which are in alfalfa and twenty-four in vines.  In connection with his 
farming he has also been interested in stock-raising.
            To Mr. and Mrs. Hackett eleven children were born, seven of whom are 
living, scattered in different parts of the country. George Henry lives with his 
father and takes charge of the ranch.  Mr. Hackett joined the Masonic order in 
Wayne County, Michigan, in 1860.  He is a prominent Royal Arch Mason, and a 
member of the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast.
            Such is an epitome of the life of one of Tulare County�s worthy 
citizens.
 
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, 
California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892  p. 620-621
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler