The Sacketts

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, February 2021; written by Tammy Dinsmore.

This winter I have been revisiting the Sackett series by Louis L’Amour. It has been fun listening to the audiobooks while I am driving to and from work.

The series starts with Sackett’s Land. Barnabas Sackett’s home is in the Fens of Eastern England. It is 1599 and as he travels from the Fens to seek his fortune in the New World, he discovers some old gold coins. He is able to sell the coins which funds his trip to the New World, but as he is preparing for his trip, the sale of the gold coins has made him both friends and enemies.

His enemies make it difficult for him to leave London, but he makes his escape on a ship and sails across the Atlantic to the New World and then up and down the Eastern coast. There is plenty of high adventure on the sea dealing with pirates and other ne’er-do-wells. Barnabas wants to make a new start, and after meeting his future bride Abigail, he vows to come back to stay once his affairs in England are taken care of.

In The Far Blue Mountains, Barnabas is headed back to England to settle his personal affairs before returning to the New World to make his life with Abigail. When he arrives in London, he finds out that Queen Elizabeth has issued a warrant for his arrest because she has been told that the gold coins that Barnabas found before leaving England was part of a lost royal treasure. They are sure he knows where the rest of the treasure is.

Barnabas is finally able to escape England and make his way back to the New World. He and Abigail marry and they, along with a group of friends find their way to an area they call Shooting Creek in the Blue Ridge Mountains where they set up a fort. It is a hard living, and there are encounters with Native Americans. Some of the tribes are willing to do some trading but others are warring tribes so they see their share of conflict. Barnabas and Abigail raise 5 children on Shooting Creek, Kin-Ring, Brian, Yance, Jublain (Jubal), and Noelle.

When the boys are old enough to be on their own, Abigail decides to return to England with Brian, who will be studying law, and to take Noelle with her so that Noelle will know something other than the wilds of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After Abigail, Brian, and Noelle leave for England, Barnabas’s love of the unknown gets the better of him and he travels deeper into the mountains.

There are several more books in the series and I’m eager to re-discover the adventures of the rest of the Sackett clan. Most of the series titles are either available here at the library in hard copy, audiobook, or online through the Alaska Digital Library.

Although the library building is closed to the public, we are still offering curbside service. Place items on hold via either the online catalog or by phone at (907) 225-3331. Items that are on the shelf will be available for next-day pick up.