It is true. Wherever you see them, the men and women who went west, old now and often poor, they carry themselves with pride and they possess a quiet dignity that comes from having met the worst that life can offer, and survived.
A word of explanation seems appropriate about THE MAN FROM THE BROKEN HILLS. This story has been included among the Sackett stories since its publication, but it is actually a Talon story, as are RIVERS WEST and MILO TALON. At the time the book appeared the decision was made to call it a new Sackett story because Milo’s mother was a Sackett. Now, with the publication of THE SACKETT COMPANION, I’ve decided to no longer list THE MAN FROM THE BROKEN HILLS as one of the Sackett stories.
As many of my readers are aware, I started writing this series with the intention of showing how the United States and Canada were opened to settlement, as seen through the eyes of three families: the Sacketts, the Chantrys, and the Talons.
The first book of the Talon series remains to be written, though it has been started, and put aside for the time. The first of the Chantry series was FAIR BLOWS THE WIND, in which the vessel abandoned with much of its cargo of silver still aboard is the same hulk in which Barnabas Sackett takes shelter on a sandy island in the river.
When and how that silver will be discovered again remains to be told in a future story, but at least now you know the connection. It is not often I share such secrets beforehand.
A few words about THE MAN FROM THE BROKEN HILLS. It is rare in a western story to find cowboys actually working. They are in town, in a saloon, on a trail, but rarely involved in doing what a cowboy does. I have tried here and there to show him at work, and some of this is in BROKEN HILLS.
Some of the best riders and ropers were Hispanic, but in the early days they were only found in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Without a doubt, the riatas used by California ropers were the longest used anywhere, except in Mexico itself. A California rope, of plaited rawhide, might measure eighty-five feet, although sixty-five was more common. The average Texas cowboy used a rope of about thirty-five feet.
In my story RIDE THE DARK TRAIL, which is a Sackett story, I introduce Barnabas and Milo Talon for the first time, and one gets the family connection. But THE MAN FROM THE BROKEN HILLS is definitely a Talon story, and so it shall be listed from now on.
The Sackett family genealogy presented here has nothing to do with any Sackett family except the one created in my stories.
In creating the characters in my stories it has also been necessary to create a family tree. Not, I might add, the easiest thing to do.
Names present a problem for the simple reason that a name once used in a story cannot be used again without the possibility of confusion. In family histories sons and daughters were often named for their parents, uncles, aunts, or in-laws, with the same name often repeated many times. This can present a problem for those researching family history, as the duplication of names presents difficulties and strict attention must be paid to dates, marriages, and such.
Several of my readers have attempted, for their own satisfaction, to put together a genealogy of the Sacketts, but unfortunately for their efforts, all the names were not available to them, as many generations had been skipped over to be left for future stories. Naturally, I sympathize with their frustration in trying to grasp the relationships, hence this book.
One of the ideas attending a SACKETT COMPANION was to offer enough of a family tree so the relationships could be understood and to provide a bit more history than accompanies the stories, which are all basically historical.
For the benefit of the curious I might add that none of the characters in the Sackett-Chantry-Talon series is based upon members of my own family or of anyone else whom I know or know of. Having lived with history most of my life, and having worked and traveled in many parts of the country, I have tried to create characters who, if they did not live as I have written, very well could have. The events in which they took part were actually happening, and happening to people like those of whom I write.
It is often overlooked that white men had been on this continent for some 250 years before the United States became a nation, and many of the patterns of behavior had been established by the ruling powers of Spain, France, and England or by their subjects. Relationships with many Indian tribes had been developed long before there was a United States, and when we became a nation we inherited both the good and bad feeling that resulted from previous dealings.
Often, in considering our history, it has been assumed we were always the powerful nation we eventually became, but this was far from the truth. At the time of our war with Mexico, for example, our standing army was less than one-third the size of theirs, comprising some twenty-five thousand men scattered in garrisons in outposts mostly in Indian country.
In 1803 we acquired the Louisiana Purchase from France, a vast stretch of territory which more than doubled the size of the country but which was virtually uninhabited except by nomadic and warlike Indians. The few scattered settlements were largely located along the Mississippi or its tributary rivers.
Texas became an independent nation in 1836, and some nine years later joined us as a state. Mexico had threatened that if such became the case, it meant war. Shortly after that, war began with the annihilation of an American patrol by a much larger force near the border between Texas and Mexico. This precipitated the war with Mexico. Neither in a military or a financial sense were we prepared for such a conflict.
When Barnabas Sackett landed in Carolina, the land was in theory a possession of the King of England. Spain possessed Florida where the French had also made attempts to establish themselves. In Nova Scotia, far to the north, the French were already settled, as well as along the St. Lawrence River.
Barnabas had no grant from the King, nor had he any official right to be where he was beyond the right of possession. Hence his desire to avoid the colony that was later established at Jamestown, in Virginia. It was also the motive behind his desire for further exploration westward, as he could foresee a time when their location at Shooting Creek might be usurped by the King or some colonial official.
It is always interesting to speculate on how much exploration was done by Long Hunters and others before there was any recorded movement west. The few reports we have are those official explorations or those by men who could write, and who took the time to write.
In the East a man’s family name could open doors for him, but in the West it meant nothing. A man was known by his deeds, and whether his word was good or bad. Names meant nothing and often a man lived out his western years known only as Slim or Shorty or some other such name without anybody knowing or caring what his real name was. That was still true during my knockabout years.
There is an amusing poem entitled What Was Your Name In The States? that makes the point very well. The fact was that nobody cared. Often a man went to his grave with only a nickname on his tombstone because he was unknown by any other.
The movement of the Sacketts toward the West was part of what was happening at the time. Aside from mountain men, trappers, and fur traders, the first movement west was that of the Mormons to Utah, followed and accompanied by the Gold Rush to California and the Land Rush to Oregon. With the Civil War’s end many young men returned to plantations devastated by war or to cities already crowded with men seeking jobs.
Tell Sackett had joined a cattle drive through Indian country to the ranges of Montana, and unaware of what had happened to him, Tyrel and Orrin started west to find a home for their mother. Lando, gathering his few belongings, had started south and west to find a better life for himself as did Flagan and Galloway. None of these Sacketts knew any others of the name outside their immediate family, but all had heard of the Clinch Mountains Sacketts of whom everyone in the mountains knew.
Colborn or Colly Sackett, as he was known, had disappeared into the western mountains some years before. He was the father of Tell, Tyrel, Orrin, etc. His brother Ethan, after much trapping in the
mountains, had gone west guiding a wagon train (BENDIGO SHAFTER) and their sister Echo had remained, so far as they knew, at Tuckalucky Cove.
Many stories of the Sacketts remain to be told, and some may, for various reasons, remain untold. The ramifications of any family can stretch out in every direction and eventually grow so tangled and complicated that following every line is virtually impossible.
In this COMPANION to the Sackett stories I have chosen to follow only a few branches of the family, those immediately concerned with the published stories, and in the main lines of descent. In some cases—for example, Macon, Mordecai, and Trulove Sackett—I have included their stories in THE SACKETT COMPANION but have not included them on the family tree. Their exact connection to the rest of the Sacketts is information that is yet to be revealed. Occasionally I have used only the first names of wives leaving their stories to be told at some later date. Nor shall I, at this time, provide the full line of descent for the sons and daughters of Barnabas.
In drawing up the family tree of the Sacketts I have arranged a number of marriages for better or worse, and these couples have given birth to a colorful assortment of children, all of whom I have named. Even writing their names is a challenge: what is their story? How did they get together? Yet I have other stories to write first and these must simmer on the back burner for the time being. One morning I will awaken and know that is the day for that and I shall write it. By that time my subconscious will have put together many of the ingredients and it will also have directed my reading, somewhat, so the necessary material is there.
One thing I have discovered. For each story there is a time in which it must be written, and it is often fatal to begin too soon.
Nobody can suggest a story to me. At least, not one that I will write. My stories must come from within me and from what I have learned or am learning. If someone else has a story that is their story, not mine.
My characters are very real to me. They are created from the materials my life has given me or which history has provided. Once created the characters often take on a life of their own, and often I find that I cannot leave them alone, and must return and offer a further glimpse of their lives and fortunes.
When the idea occurs to me I get a few lines on paper, sometimes about the story, more often the beginning. Once that is done the story remains mine forever and I can return to it at any time. Some stories come to mind on the spur of the moment; others, such as THE LONESOME GODS, THE WALKING DRUM, and LAST OF THE BREED were years in the developing. There is no set rule for me, at least.
Barnabas Sackett had four sons and a daughter. Brian and Noelle returned to England with their mother, he to read for the law at the Inns of Court, she to become a lady in surroundings more suited to that development.
Jubal went west to disappear into the mountains. That he met and married a Natchez Indian girl they knew, but beyond that, nothing.
So the Sacketts with whom my present stories deal are largely descendants of Kin-Ring and Yance.
Kin married Diana Macklin, and in due time they had three sons and a daughter who lived. These were Philip, Malaby, Anne, and Bretton.
Philip married a Ruth Bernard and seven generations later Parmalee was born.
Malaby married a girl whose only name was Vanora, and in the fourth generation Daubeny was born.
Daubeny fought in the American Revolution and married a girl named Nata under strange circumstances and they were to have four sons, Mawney, Pym, Regal, and John. Mawney was to marry Fiora Clyde. From them came two sons, Ethan and Colborn, and a daughter, Echo.
And from Colborn and his wife Mary Ann were five sons, William Tell, Orrin, Tyrel, Bob, and Joe.
Pym, Daubeny’s second son, married Cindy Larraway, who among others had a son named Falcon.
Falcon married Aleyne Kurbishaw by whom he had a son, Orlando.
Falcon married a second time, to Gin Locklear.
Daubeny’s third son John married Willie Mae Calvin, by whom there was a son named Buckley who married Nan MacKaskill.
They had two sons, Flagan and Galloway.
Yance Sackett married Temperance Penney, and his youngest son was Boyne, and in the third generation thereafter was born Shandy Sackett, who married Huguette and fought in the War of the Revolution.
They returned to the Clinch Mountains and after a few years was born Tarbil, who fathered Thomas who sired twin sons, Logan and Nolan.
There is no need now to list the names of the intervening generations, which will be done in due time. These are sufficient for the curious to grasp the relationships of the Sacketts of whom they have read. I have discovered that no sooner do I mention a Sackett than a story is expected, and each must await its time.
Several of those who have attempted, for their own pleasure, to shape family trees of the Sacketts have listed a Seth.
In my story there is no such character although I have mentioned in other places a Seth Sackett who was a real man. Apparently he came west originally with the Baker party, which named the Silverton area Baker’s Park, and he returned to establish himself in the Durango area. At this point I know nothing about his life.
It was an interesting coincidence that I decided to move my Sackett family west from Mora, New Mexico and have them settle in the Durango vicinity only to find a real Sackett had preceded them.
As anyone can see, reading these pages, the story of the Sackett family has only begun, and there are many stories yet to be told of the Chantry and Talon families as well.
The people who created what we know as the West almost always came from elsewhere. By the time anyone could grow up in the West the wild old days were coming to an end. Wild Bill Hickok, Long-Haired Jim Courtright, and Bat Masterson were all born in Illinois; Clay Allison and Cullen Baker, among dozens of others, were from Tennessee; Heck Thomas and Doc Holliday were from Georgia, and so it was.
Those who came west brought their songs, their stories, and their memories from Europe or the East. It took time for the West to generate its own stories and to alter the customs of those who chose to live there.
In two of the Sackett stories and at least one of the Chantry stories I have touched on the life of William Shakespeare. At the time of which I was writing he was not a famous writer. In fact he was not known as a writer at all.
He was one of a company of actors, and in that company at least two actors were much better known than he: Richard Burbage and Will Kempe. Shakespeare was only known as a writer by people of the theatre itself, and perhaps a few patrons who patronized the theatre as a hobby and who sponsored various companies of actors so they could exist at all. Early in his London years Shakespeare had published two long poems and perhaps some minor work, but the sales of such items were never enough to cover the cost of publication. For that the printer, not the writer, usually found some wealthy man to defray the costs, and as a result books were often dedicated to these men. In most cases they had no contact with the actual author at all.
It is always necessary when writing of times gone by, whether in the early west or in Shakespeare’s England, to judge them by their standards and not ours. Supposedly we speak the same language but actually it is much different and many words have taken on meanings other than those intended by the author. For example there are the stories of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. The word “merry” in their time did not mean somebody who was happy or amused. Merry Men in those days meant Bawdy Men, a rather different thing. I surmise that Robin Hood’s men were not unlike a bunch of cowboys or mountain men in manners, actions, and language.
Another example might be the word “haberdasher,” which in our time means a purveyor of men’s furnishings but in Shakespeare’s time it meant a school teacher or an usher.
The English language has gone through many changes and when speaking or writing of a period one had best understand the usages of the time.
For some reason the writings of William Shakespeare have been considered by many as something reserved for
an intellectual elite, but as a matter of fact he wrote his plays for the common man of which most of his audience was composed. Studies of his audience shows that most of them were artisans and apprentices, not unlike the average movie-going audience of today.
Interestingly enough, his plays were popular in the early west, and at one time in Virginia City, Nevada, several companies were playing Shakespeare at the same time.
Theatre was of great importance in the West and usually there were a dozen companies touring the western cattle towns or mining camps. Theatre then, as now, tends to go where the money is, and the West not only had money to spend but a desperate need for entertainment.
My next story of the Sacketts will probably be one concerning the American Revolution, but who knows what other whim may take me? I can always be led astray by a good story.
Undoubtedly demonstration was the first means to education. The primitive child learned to do things by observing his parents or other nearby adults. He or she learned how to build a fire, choose a spear shaft, chip out an arrowhead or prepare a hide by seeing it done. And then came the story.…
The story was man’s first and best means of transmitting knowledge or information, of preparing the child as well as the adult for what might come. All the sciences had their birth in tales told over a campfire or in some moment of leisure.
The returning hunter or warrior was expected to tell what he had done and how it was done. In so doing he taught others not only how to hunt and trap but how to conduct a war party. No doubt the tales of returning hunters and warriors were not thought of as educational. They were entertainment, theatre, and news.
He may have drawn a map in the dust. “We started from camp when the sun was over our left shoulders, and we entered the forest near the big hollow tree. We walked to the water that falls over rocks into the deep pool, and then we went down the hill to the swamp where we drive the mammoth to kill them.”
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