This is a single-page biographical sketch that my great-grandfather Frederick Gleason Sacket wrote and his brother Frank Sackett typed for him (the onionskin paper, though very thin, is in amazing condition given its age of 100+ years). Because it was among other pages of family lore and genealogical information that actually appeared in THE SACKETTS OF AMERICA, I assume that Frank Sackett forwarded this sketch along to Weygant. ========================= SKENE DOUGLASS SACKETT As near as we can learn, he was supposed to have two or three brothers and two sisters. The names or dates of birth or marriage of any of these we have no record of. He had, we think, two or three uncles, but what was [sic] the names or data regarding them is not now known. However, we are told that at an early age, say 15 or 16 years, he was bound out, or was sent to live with one of his uncles by the name of Bull, who treated him so unkindly that the trustees of the town or township became interested in the matter and sent him to the trustees of the town or township where he came from with an order or petition that they appoint a guardian for him. Instead of using this, or going there, he went direct to the headquarters of the "Continental" army and enlisted under Gen. Washington.* As his age was under that permitted, he feared that some of his uncles would come and take him out, so instead of giving his full name he enlisted under the name of Skene Douglass, and in later years when he applied & received a pension, it was under this name. He was under Baron Stuben [von Steuben], who was a Prussian and had served under "Frederick the Great." ____________________________________ *[NOTE: Since court documents regarding Skene's pension clearly state that he served in the "Connecticut" line and enlisted in a regiment that was formed in Connecticut, this story about going directly to enlist under General Washington sounds a bit far-fetched.]