John Q. A. Brackett

John Quincy Adams Brackett
36th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 7, 1890 – January 8, 1891
Lieutenant	William H. Haile
Preceded by	Oliver Ames
Succeeded by	William E. Russell
34th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 8, 1887 – January 4, 1890
Governor	Oliver Ames
Preceded by	Oliver Ames
Succeeded by	William H. Haile
City of Boston Common Council (Ward 10, 1874-1875; Ward 17, 1876)
In office January 4, 1873 – January 1, 1877[1]
City of Boston, President of the Common Council[2]
In office January 3, 1876 – January 1, 1877
Preceded by	Halsey Joseph Boardmen
Succeeded by	Benjamin Pope[1]
Massachusetts House of Representatives[2] 17th Suffolk District[3]
In office 1877–1881
Massachusetts House of Representatives[4] 17th Suffolk District[4]
In office 1884–1886
Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives[2]
In office January 7, 1885 – 1886
Preceded by	George Augustus Marden
Succeeded by	Charles J. Noyes
Delegate to the 1917 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention[5][6]
In office June 6, 1917[6] – April 6, 1918[7]
Personal details
Born	June 8, 1842 Bradford, New Hampshire
Died	April 6, 1918 (aged 75) Arlington, Massachusetts
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Angie Moore Peck (June 20, 1878)[2][8]
Children	John G. Brackett, Beatrice Brackett[9]
Alma mater	Harvard College A.B., 1865; Harvard Law School L.L.B., 1868
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Unitarian
Signature

John Quincy Adams Brackett (June 8, 1842 – April 6, 1918), served as the 36th Governor of Massachusetts, from 1890 to 1891.

Biography

John Quincy Adams Brackett was born on June 8, 1842, in Bradford, New Hampshire to Ambrose S. Brackett, a shoemaker and farmer, and Nancy (Brown) Brackett. He attended Colby Academy in nearby New London before entering Harvard College. He received a bachelor's from Harvard in 1865, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1868. He then opened a law practice in Boston.^[10] He held the post of Judge Advocate of the Massachusetts Militia's First Brigade at one point during his career. He married Angie Moore Peck of Arlington, Massachusetts^[8] on June 20, 1878;^[8] they had four children.

Brackett, a Republican, served on the Boston Common (City) Council he later served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1877 to 1882 representing Boston from the 17th Suffolk District, 17th Suffolk District^[3] and again from 1884 to 1887.^[4] From 1885 to 1887 Brackett was Speaker of the House.

His major accomplishment as a legislature was the establishment of cooperative banks. These banks were designed to encourage thrift among the working class.

From 1887 to 1890 he served as the 34th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts under Governor Oliver Ames. In 1889, when Ames retired, Brackett was elected to succeed him as Governor, holding office from 1890 to 1891. During his year in office, he effectively advanced an agenda of tax reform and advocated further improvements in Massachusetts prisons. However, he was defeated for re-election in 1890 by the Democrat William E. Russell.^[11]

Brackett then returned to his Boston law practice, remaining active in his party: in 1892 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention and he served as a presidential elector in 1896 and 1900.^[11]

In 1887 Brackett built a Queen Anne style home at 87 Pleasant Street, Arlington, Massachusetts where he lived until his death in 1918. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Arlington Center Historic District, and is also part of the local Pleasant Street Historic District.

1917 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention

In 1916, the Massachusetts legislature and electorate approved a calling of a Constitutional Convention.^[12] In May 1917,^[5] Brackett was elected to serve as a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917, representing Massachusetts' 8th Congressional District.^[6]

Trivia

• The Brackett School at 66 Eastern Avenue, Arlington, Massachusetts, built in 1931, was named after him.
• Brackett was the executor of the estate of Abijah Ellis who was brutally murdered on Presidential Election Day (1872) and dumped in the Charles River just days prior to the Great Boston Fire of 1872. Although Leavitt Alley was tried for the murder, he was acquitted. The murder remains unsolved.

References

1. A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822-1908, Roxbury, 1846-1867, Charlestown 1847-1873 and of The Selectmen of Boston, 1634-1822 also of Various Other Town and Municipal officers. Boston, MA: City of Boston. 1909. pp. 262–265.
2. Hurd, Duane Hamilton (1890). History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men Vol. 1. Philadelphia, PA: J. W. Lewis & Co. p. lviii.
3. Gifford, Stephen Nye (1877). A Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston, MA: Massachusetts General Court. p. 345.
4. Massachusetts House (1885). Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, MA: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. p. 911.
5. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers. 1919. p. 7.
6. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers. 1919. p. 8.
7. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers. 1919. p. 626.
8. Brownell, Thomas Franklin (1885). Harvard College Class of 1865 Secretary's Report No. 6 June 1878 to June 1885. New York. p. 6.
9. Rotch, William (1921). Harvard College Class of 1865 Secretary's Report No. 11 1907 to 1921. Boston, MA: Geo. H. Ellis Co. pp. 13–16.
10. Reno, p. 89
11. Reno, p. 40
12. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, MA: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers. 1919. pp. 7–8.

Bibliography

• Reno, Conrad (1901). Memoirs of the Judiciary and the Bar, Volume 2. Boston: Century Memorial Publishing. OCLC 426554681.
• Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1919) pp. 7–8,626.