Mercy Rose, the daughter of Eber and Elizabeth (Green) Rose and my third great grandmother was born on January 24, 1795 in Newburyport. She was their second daughter named Mercy – the first Mercy was born in 1792 and died in 1793.
Mercy was 17 when she married William Shackford, son of Levi and Tampson (Greenleaf) Shackford. They had ten children, nine living ranging in ages from 1 to 19 when William, a mason, died of pleurisy on May 15, 1831. We don’t know how Mercy supported her large family after William died — this may be why on January 18, 1834, she married Joseph Newell who was thirty years her senior. In 1850 Joseph, age 84 was head of household with Mercy and children Abner and Emeline in the home but by 1855 Mercy was living in her son Abner’s home with son Thomas. Joseph died shortly thereafter in Boston at the age of 89 of old age in Brookline, Massachusetts on October 31, 1856.
After Joseph’s death, Mercy lived with her son-in-law Edward Cushing and her daughter Louise in Weymouth. In 1865 she was living with her son-in-law Joel Whittemore and daughter Caroline along with son Abner. 
Mercy died on March 21, 1875 of old age at the age of 80 in Brookline and is buried near her son Thomas in Weymouth, Massachusetts with a gravestone which states “OUR MOTHER”. We haven’t found an obituary for Mercy yet — we are honoring her life with this blog.
CHILDREN:
William Brown Shackford (1812-1866) – married Catherine T Mullett
Joseph Shackford (1814-1839)
Thomas Shackford (1815-1874)
Abner Shackford (1817-1818)
Mary B Shackford (1819-1841)
Louisa Shackford (1821-1882) – married Edward Cushing
Caroline Elizabeth Shackford (1823-1877) -married Lebbeus H Varney, Joel Whittemore, and Charles Lewis Palmer
Abner R Shackford (1827-1900) – married Georgianna Whittemore
Lucinda W Shackford (1828-1839)
Emeline Shackford (1830-1910) – married Peter Cushing
All posts on this website are a work in progress. We’d love to learn of any corrections or additions to the information shared. Also we’d love it if you’d like the post here or at http://www.facebook.com/shackfordgenealogy) as that helps share the post with others. Thanks!
SOURCES:
1850 United States Federal Census, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Boston, Ward 10, no page number, dwelling 783 family 1214; digital images, FamilySearch(http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 March 2014).
1855 Massachusetts State Census, Suffolk County, population schedule, Boston, Ward 10, page 30 (penned), dwelling 180, family 210, Abner Shackford; digital images, Family Search(http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 23 October 2013).
1860 United States Federal Census, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Weymouth, page 65-2?, dwelling 1424, family 1645, Edward Cushing; digital images, Ancestry.com(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 July 2014).
1865 Massachusetts Census, Suffolk County, population census, Boston, Ward 11, Page 23-19, dwelling 2200, family 3434, Joel Whitteman; digital images, FamilySearch(http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 March 2014).
Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 July 2017), Mercy Rose Shackford, Find A Grave Memorial# 94226790.
“Massachusetts Deaths and Burials, 1795-1910,” database, FamilySearch(http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 19 July 2017), Joseph Newell.
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, , Marcy Rose, 24 January 1795; digital images, Ancestry.com(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 June 2018); Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records..
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, p. 427, NEWBURYPORT MARRIAGES William, and Mercy Rose, Mar. 19, 1812, ; digital images, Ancestry.com(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 July 2013); Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records..
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, , William Shackford, 15 May 1831; digital images, Ancestry.com(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 June 2018); Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records..
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, , Joseph Newell m Mercy Shackford, 18 January 1834; digital images, Ancestry.com(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 July 2017); Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records.
Copyright 2018 Joanne Shackford Parkes (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not copy this material and paste it elsewhere)
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