Isaac Packard

Family-based resources tell us that Isaac Packard was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1737. He may have been the eldest or youngest son in the large family of Seth and Mercy Bryant Packard. We seek more definitive documentation regarding his origins and path to Albany.

In March 1768, he married Eunice Rawson also of Milton, Massachusetts. The marriage produced ten children as these Packards migrated across the Commonwealth during the 1770s and 80s.

In his late thirties at the outbreak of hostilities, we would expect to document his wartime activities. We strive to not confuse him with the more prominent and contemporary same-named neighbor known as "Captain Isaac Packard."

By 1790, he had relocated to Albany and was settled in the first ward. He was a house carpenter who worked on rebuilding Philip Van Rensselaer's Cherry Hill.

In 1791, his daughter, Eunice, married Yankee newcomer Hezekiah Tracy. Two years later, daughter Sarah, married their wealthy older neighbor, Philip Wendell.

Isaac Packard died in Albany on March 3, 1795. An obituary noted that he was "respected and esteemed as an ingenious mechanic and honest man." A month later, letters of administration were issued on his estate. His stone eventually found its way to Albany Rural Cemetery. Its inscription read that "Capt." Isaac Packard had lived 57 years, 5 months, and five days. His widow lived on in Albany until her passing in 1824.

Sources: The life of Isaac Packard is CAP biography number 1998. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. Chief among the family resources is "Family Records of Isaac Packard of Albany," contributed by Robert F. Gibson III and published in NYGBR 127:1 (January 1996), pp. 16-21.