William H. Y. Hackett (1800 - 1878)
Born at Gilmanton (NH); died at Portsmouth (NH).
Lawyer and state legislator.
Portrait by U.D. Tenney, 1878.
Presented to the State by descendants, 1879.

Hackett (1800 - 1878) was born at Gilmanton (NH) and schooled at Gilmanton Academy. In 1820 Hackett moved to Portsmouth (NH), where he taught school at Portsmouth High School and read law for five years (1820 --1825). After three months' teaching Hackett was asked to be Principal of the high school, at the princely sum of $600/year salary. That was good pay for a twenty year old in 1820; to the horror of his friends Hackett declined the position.

Hackett believed in a strong Bank of the United States, at a time when Andrew Jackson and others were pushing for a weaker central bank and stronger state and local banks. The Portsmouth business community agreed with Hackett's views, and in 1827 Hackett was made a director of Piscataqua Bank. He was then asked (by U.S. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase) to organize the Portsmouth First National Bank; Hackett served as president of this bank until his death. He also served as an officer of Portsmouth Savings Bank and Pis-cataqua Savings Bank, and he was president of Piscataqua Exchange Bank throughout its charter (1845 - 1863).

Until 1850 Portsmouth did not allow practicing lawyers to run for political office (!). In 1850 the law changed and Hackett was immediately elected to the first of several terms as a State Representative (1850 - 1852, 1857, 1860, 1867 - 1869). In 1852 he headed the state Whig Party's electoral ticket, and in 1861 he became a State Senator. December 13, 1861 Hackett was admitted to the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, on the motion of Secretary of War Stanton; in 1862 he was President of the State Senate. Hackett was President of the New Hampshire Historical Society (1861 - 1866); in 1872 he was a vice president of the Republican Party National Convention.

References: Charles A. Bell, The Bench and Bar of New Hampshire (1894); New England Historical and Genealogical Register vol. XXXIII no. 1 (Jan. 1879); Rev. James Denormandie "William H. Y. Hackett", Granite Monthly vol. V no. 1 (Oct 1881).