This past week I had a very small DNA match on Ancestry to someone whose tree showed that they descend from Susanna Sabrina (Shackford) Lanfair. There is no guarantee that the match is from my Shackford line (it’s small and could just be noise or could be a match from a different line). However finding this match gave me the incentive to review Susanna Sabrina Shackford and find more information about her ancestors in case I find other shared DNA matches with this person.
Susanna Sabrina Shackford was the daughter of Samuel Shackford and Susanna (Hobbs) Shackford). Her birth and death dates (Nov. 28, 1826-Feb 29, 1924) are clearly shown on her gravestone. Her Dec 14, 1843 marriage to Edwin Lanfair was recorded in the Vermont Phoenix on Dec 22, 1843 and documented in Vermont Vital Records. There was also a notice in The Franklin Democrat on Jan 23, 1844 stating she had left Edwin but she returned as she had six children with him and they are recorded in the 1850, 1855, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and the 1920 census. We have not obtained a copy of her death record.
Susanna’s father died in 1831 when she was 5 and two years later her mother took a second husband, Rememberance Nash followed soon by a third husband, Ezra French. We’ve learned about Sabrina Shackford’s ancestors, from Samuel Burnham Shackford’s, Shackford Genealogy Manuscript which I had reviewed in 2016. Susanna Sabrina is listed on a page with ID #253 which lists the details of her children and lists her parents as Samuel Shackford and Susannah Hobbs. This page of the manuscript includes two sources: Sabrina S. Lanfair and History of Deerfield 2-229. This means that Samuel Burnham Shackford either spoke to or corresponded with Susanna Sabrina and there may be additional source information from the conversations or correspondence in the many boxes of materials at the New England Historical and Genealogical Society!!! Yes, this means a road trip back to Boston is in the future – well not the near future but someday in the future…
Samuel Burnham Shackford’s manuscript describing Susannah Sabrina’s father #116 lists her siblings and Samual’s ancestors and includes a source: Family Bible per Sabrina Lanfair. This has us wondering what is included in the Bible – did it include these ancestors or just list her parents? Was the Bible passed down to Susanna Sabrina’s descendents or donated to an archive? And was it transcribed by anyone? Also if it was transcribed, was a transcription left with the documents kept with Samuel Burnham Shackford’s manuscript???
If you’re a descendent of Susanna Sabrina Shackford Lanfair, perhaps you can help with these questions!
Samuel Burnham Shackford’s manuscript does take Sabrina’s ancestry back to William Shackford & Deborah Trickey and if correct, links me to the person with a small DNA match via Joshua Shackford & Elizabeth Barnes as a seventh cousin twice removed which aligns with this small match. The manuscript if correct also connects many Shackfords who I have not been able to connect to William & Deborah and had just left with no ancestors. However there is very little documentation for #62 John Shackford who according to the manuscript lived to age 103 (1743-1846) which seems unlikely. Also am a bit uncertain regarding the #26 Paul Shackford listed as the son of Joshua Shackford and Elizabeth Barnes — just difficult to sort out the many Paul’s. I plan to continue to look for more sources for this new information and review each new piece of information over the next few months.
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:
Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 8 October 2018), Find A Grave Memorial, Susanna Sabrina Shackford Lanfair,# 96753875.
Massachusetts “Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980,” index book, Ancestry.com(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 October 2018), anfair Susanna S (Shackford) Hardwick, Year 1924, Vol 29, Page 259.
“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, #253, Susanna Sabrina b 1826.
Sheldon George, A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: The Times When and the People by Whom it was Settled, Unsettled and Resettled with a Special Study of the Indian Wars in the Connecticut Valley with Genealogies. Vol II(Deerfield, Mass.: 1896), page 229; digital images, Archive.org(http://archive.org : accessed 8 October 2018.
Vermont Phoenix, Brattleboro, Vermont (online archive), Married, Dec 22, 1843, Image 3, accessed Jan 9, 2013.
Vermont, Vermont Vital Records, 1760-2008, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V8MY-ZSB, Edwin Lanfair/Sabrina Shackford, 14 December 1843; digital images, FamilySearch(www.familysearch.org : accessed 5 June 2013).
Copyright 2024 Joanne Shackford Parkes – edited again in April 2024 (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not copy this material and paste it elsewhere).
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