Lydia Shackford of Waterbury, Vermont (1822-1840) (Blog 519)

We know of Lydia Shackford because she is mentioned in Samuel Burnham Shackford’s Shackford Genealogy Manuscript, has a death record, and has a marked gravestone in Waterbury, Vermont.

The manuscript tells us that Lydia was Samuel and Susanna (Hobbs) Shackford‘s ninth child and was born on Oct 26, 1822. She would have been eight when her father died and her mother was left caring for seven or eight girls (at least one sister may have been cared for by another family). We don’t know much more about Lydia’s short life — we presume she and the rest of her family worked hard on the family farm.

Lydia’s death record says that she lived 19 years and one month and died Oct 29, 1840. The birth date shown in Samuel Burnham Shackford’s manuscript and places her at 18 years and 3 days. This date was apparently copied from a family Bible – am unsure if we will find more source information to clarify this slight discrepancy. We do hope to get back to the New England Historical and Genealogy Society someday to review Samuel’s source documentation — perhaps the answer is there.

Lydia is buried in Waterbury Center Cemetery. A picture of her gravestone which was taken by Barb Destromp can be found at Find A Grave.

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SOURCES:

Find a Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 1 August 2014), Lydia Shackford, Find A Grave Memorial# 53220643.

“Shackford Genealogy Manuscript,” 13 October 1925; typed manuscript, SG SHA 5; Shackford collection by Samuel Burnham Shackford; New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. (56) Desc. of William Shackford, #116, Samuel Shackford b 1761.

Vermont, Vermont Vital Records, 1760-2008, , Lydia Shackford, 29 October 1840; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 5 June 2013).

Copyright 2024 Joanne Shackford Parkes – typo corrected in 2024 (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not copy this material and paste it elsewhere).