Brackett, Joseph W.

Born: 1815-01-19 Otsego County, New York

Died: 1894-01-03 Rock Island, Illinois

Flourished: 1850 to 1894 Rock Island, Illinois

Joseph W. Brackett, attorney, was born in Cherry Valley, New York. He was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy in 1831 and served until 1836 when he resigned. Brackett then studied law in New York and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He practiced law in Cherry Valley until 1849, when he settled permanently in Rock Island, Illinois, where he continued to practice law. During the Civil War, Brackett volunteered for service and was a quartermaster, then a first lieutenant, and finally a commissary in the Ninth Illinois Cavalry. In 1860, Brackett owned real estate valued at $10,000 and personal property worth $5,000. He married Eliza M. Parmalee in 1843 and was survived by three children. Politically, Brackett was a Republican.

The Past and Present of Rock Island County, Ill. (Chicago: H. F. Kett, 1877), 269; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Rock Island, Rock Island County, IL, 212; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Rock Island, Rock Island County, IL, 182; Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Rock Island Argus (IL), 4 January 1894, 5:2; Gravestone, Chippiannock Cemetery, Rock Island, IL.