Captain Richard Brackett was born September 16, 1610 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. He was a Puritan and like so many others of his faith, immigrated to the American Colonies seeking freedom to practice his religion. He arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1630-1632, becoming one of the early founders.
Richard returned back to England to marry Alice Blower. Their wedding was on January 16, 1633 at the Collegiate Church of St. Katherine By the Tower located in London, England. The image below, showing the interior of the church is from an engraving made in 1780. This medieval church was founded in 1147 and demolished in 1825 to make way for an expansion of the area.
Richard and Alice’s marriage entry is located in the image below. They returned back to Massachusetts by 1634.
Richard was prominent in community and in military matters. He was also actively involved in his parish and was one of the original members of the First Church in Boston, headed by Governor John Winthrop. Richard’s wife Alice was also actively involved in the church and signed a covenant on September 8, 1635. The covenant was a promise that a person would live by certain rules in the Puritan church. In the Puritan community, each "free man" (as a male colonist was called) signed a covenant contract. In this covenant, each Puritan promised that their family and community would live by rules laid out by the church. Richard was ordained deacon of the Braintree Church on July 21, 1642.
In the year 1637, he was appointed Keeper of the Prison and from his service there, he received the name, Grim Richard Brackett. On March 21, 1636, he was granted a home lot in Boston which he later sold upon moving to Braintree. On November 23, 1636, he was made Freeman and became a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. He served as first town clerk of Braintree, as magistrate and as selectman in the years 1652, 1670 and 1672. He was also a deputy to the general court for many years. Richard served as captain of his company during King Philip’s war and held that position for thirty years. He owned houses and land in Braintree and Billerica, where several of his children settled.
The archived item above, dated "27 of October 1679" is a petition from the residents of Braintree, Massachusetts to the general court requesting that Captain Richard Brackett be appointed to perform marriages and administer oaths in civil cases.
Richard and his wife Alice had a wine goblet made with their initials and a heart on the side. Upon their deaths in 1690, the cup was donated to their church where it was then used in ceremonies. Over three hundred years later, in 2001, the church auctioned off a collection of silver pieces. This cup was included and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and added to their American Silver collection.
John Hull, the skilled artisan behind the creation of the Brackett's silver cup, was granted authorization by the Massachusetts legislature to mint the earliest coinage for the colony. This historic currency included three items: the Willow, the Oak, and the Pine Tree Shilling which was introduced in 1652.
When Richard Brackett lived in Massachusetts, three general types of money were used in the Colonies of British America: the specie (coins), printed paper money and trade-based commodity money. Commodities such as tobacco, beaver skins, and wampum were traded when coins and paper money were scarce. Cash in the Colonies was denominated in pounds, shillings, and pence. The value of each denomination varied from one colony to another. A Massachusetts pound, for example, was not equivalent to a Pennsylvania pound. All colonial pounds were of less value than the British pound sterling. The coins in circulation during the Colonial Era were most often of Spanish and Portuguese origin. The widespread use of the Spanish dollar in the colonies led to the denomination of US currency in dollars, rather than pounds.
The 1652 Pine Tree Shilling above was minted around 1670. According to a coin collector, 1652 may refer to the year that the Massachusetts General Court appointed John Hull to be Boston's mint master.
Richard Brackett’s signature is shown below.
The Brackett family is believed to be the largest group of relatives to arrive during the Great Migration. There were more than 40 Brackett immigrants. This number includes spouses.
About the author:
Wendy Werner is a family history researcher with a passion for helping others locate their roots. She has eighteen years of genealogy research experience.
You can email Wendy at: gentrees@live.com
Find more stories at https://heritage-paths.com