Richard Sackett's of Dover, Duchess Co, NY 1744 is available here http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~sackettmckayhistory/index.html >From the link go to "Sackett Civil Records" there is only one so far Liesa Robarge

Liesa (& other Crego sleuths), Many thanks for researching and posting Richard Sackett's will. Now that we have the full will, I think it a safe bet that Josiah Crego would have been Richard's stepson and not his natural son. This accords with the conclusion reached by Roy Crego and John Wolcott. It is of course at variance with Weygant's conclusion and scuppers the consequent conclusion that a Josiah Crego Sackett was the father of Skene Douglas Sackett (and Nelly, Prime and Prince). It seems clear that Weygant had sight of an abstract of Richard's will but did not see the full document. The abstract referred in some places to the beneficiaries using their first names only - wife Margery, son Josiah Crego, daughter Catherine, sons Richard and John. Weygant accordingly assumed that "Josiah" and "Crego" were first names in the same manner as Margery, Catherine, Richard and John obviously were. However, in the full will it is seen that all references to names used full names - wife Margery Sacket, son John Sacket, eldest son Richard Sacket, son Josiah Crego, daughter Mary Dean deceased, daughter Catherine (Margeson). There are repeated references to all the beneficiaries, who at every mention are referred to by their full names, one exception being a reference to "my daughter Catherine" which is anyway expanded to "Catherine Margeson" later in the same sentence. In the context of all other names in the will being full names it becomes clear that Josiah Crego was also a full name. There was thus no Josiah Crego Sackett. A further item of evidence would appear to be the reference in the penultimate paragraph (the signature paragraph) to "my two sons" - surely meaning Richard and John. This reference to two sons is clearly in contradiction to the earlier references in the will to son Josiah Crego, son Richard, and son John. But it would support the assumption that two of the sons (Richard and John) were "different" from the other son (Josiah Crego). I believe in times past people did refer to family members in ways we would not regard as strictly accurate - brother for brother-in-law, cousin for just about any kin even if only by marriage - so son for stepson is perfectly understandable, especially if the relationship was close and affectionate. I have certainly seen son used for son-in-law. There is a further intriguing item in this same penultimate paragraph where it says that ***** (somebody) will have the choice of which son to live with. The word ***** looks like "hagas" to me and the full wording is - "In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the day and date before mentioned and after my Decease and my wife's Decease hagas shall have the liberty to chuse which of my two sons she will live with." The only explanation I can think of would be that "hagas" was a female slave. Anybody got a different take on "hagas"? Last point Liesa - do you have details of the source of this document. I note that it is not the original, but a transcript. Best wishes, Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Liesa Robarge" <lrobarge@charter.net> > Richard Sackett's of Dover, Duchess Co, NY 1744 is available here > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~sackettmckayhistory/index.html > > >From the link go to "Sackett Civil Records" there is only one so far > > Liesa Robarge