Further to C.N. 2991 (see page 177 of <Chess Facts and Fables>), we are still seeking clarification as to whether Q.A. Brackett, a rival of Capablanca’s during their student years, was the son of John Quincy Adams Brackett (1842-1918), the one-time Governor of Massachusetts.

6087. Quincy A. Brackett (C.N.s 2991 & 6073)

Russell Miller (Camas, WA, USA) informs us that the Draft Registration Card for Quincy Adams Brackett states that he was born on 7 July 1885. This matches up with the obituary on page 17 of the New York Times, 13 August 1951, which reported that he had died at the age of 66 (see C.N. 2991).

As to whether he was the son of the Governor of Massachusetts, John Quincy Adams Brackett (1842-1918), Nikolai Brunni (Honolulu, HI, USA) demonstrates that such was not the case. He has sent us pages 224-226 of <American Biography: A New Cyclopedia> by William Richard Cutter (New York, 1919). This shows that there was another John Quincy Adams Brackett (1840-1918), a Boston businessman. An extract from his entry:

‘In many respects he resembled the late ex-Governor John Quincy Adams Brackett, and though a close personal friend of the former governor was not related, but the similarity in the names often occasioned amusing experiences for both.’

By his second marriage ‘there was one son, Quincy Adams, now living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he is connected with the Westinghouse Electric Company’.