Military Monday – Mrs Abby Augusta (Hill) Meserve References Samuel Shackford’s Service as Basis of Her Daughters of the American Revolution Application (Blog 458)

October 23, 2017November 9, 2017 ~ Joanne Shackford Parkes ~ Leave a comment

Abby Augusta Hill, the daughter of Levi Gerrish and Abigail Burnham (Shackford) Hill was born August 16, 1842 in Somersworth, New Hampshire. She lived with her parents until her marriage to Major William Neal Meserve on November 30, 1864.

William served another term in the military from December 14, 1864 to June 17, 1865 and then the new family lived in Roxbury, Massachusetts with William’s father Isaac in 1865. He must have needed time to rest as he had served at the Battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Sulphur Springs, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Jackson, Campbell’s Sta., Knoxville, Spottslyvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburgh, Weldon R. R., and Peebles Farm. They moved to Norfolk, Virginia before 1870 where William worked as a dentist. He then pursued the ministry obtaining a degree from the Theological Institute and was ordained in 1874 in Santa Cruz, California. He lived in Oakland, Antioch, Philadelphia and Durango before the family settled in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1880 where William worked as a clergyman.

By 1881 the family was in Durango, Colorado and in June 1885 William moved the family to El Paso, Colorado. Sometime thereafter William abandoned the family and moved to California alone.

Abby remained in Colorado and around 1897 applied for and was accepted into the Daughters of the American Revolution as member 21103.

DAR Lineage Mrs Abby Hill Meserve Dolliver Louise Pearsons, Historian General, Lineage Book National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Vol XXII. 21001-22000 1897 (Wash

MRS. ABBY HILL MESERVE. 21103
Born in Somersetworth, New Hampshire [should probably be Somersworth, New Hampshire, jsp]
Wife of Maj. William Neal Meserve.
Descendant of Capt. Samuel Shackford and of Solomon
Buzell, of New Hampshire.
Daughter of Levi Gerrish Hill, A. M., M. D., and Abigail Burn-
ham Shackford, his wife.
Granddaughter of Andrew Neal Hill and Sallie Leighton, his wife;
Samuel Shackford and Nancy Buzell, his wife.
Gr.-granddaughter of Samuel Shackford, Jr., and Nancy Walker, his
wife; Solomon Buzell and Elizabeth Burnham, his wife.
Gr.-gr-grandaughter of Samuel Shackford and Mary Elizabeth
Marshall King, his wife.
Samuel Shackford (1728-1812), served in the Rhode Is-
land and Burgoyne campaignes. He was born in Newington;
died in Portsmouth, N.H.
Solomon Buzell, (1761-1812), served in the Rhode Island
campaign, 1778. He died in Northwood, N.H.
Also Nos. 14175, 15093, 19352

In 1900, Abby was living in Grand Junction, Colorado with her son Richard and a cousin, Mary Kingsley Shackford. She remained in Grand Junction until her death due to pneumonia at the age of 70 on December 21, 1912. She was buried with her parents in the Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover, New Hampshire. Her husband William Neal Meserve who had moved to California around 1886 died in San Diego and was buried there in the Mount Hope Cemetery

CHILDREN:

Frederick Hill Meserve (1865-1962) – dry goods, textile manufacturing, collector of civil war photographs, married Edith Turner

William Curtis Meserve (1868-1950) – married Olive A Dodgion

Richard Earle Meserve (1871-1953) – mechanical engineer, married Lola Eudora

John Shackford Meserve (1873-1955) – physician, married Edith Johnson Connor

Philip French Meserve (1876-????) – believe he died young

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!

Note: Information found in these older Lineage Books is not necessarily sufficient proof to use for a descendent’s application for acceptance into the Daughters of the American Revolution – a future DAR applicant may also need to provide additional information proving their descendent relationships.

SOURCES:

1850 United States Federal Census, Strafford County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Dover, page 109 (penned), 55 (stamped), dwelling 567, family number 857, Levi G Hill; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 November 2015).

1860 United States Federal Census, Strafford County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Ward 3, Dover City, Page No 103, dwelling 542, family 835, Levi G Hill; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 November 2015).

1865 Massachusetts State Census, Norfolk County, population schedule, Roxbury, dwelling 105, family 117, Isaac H Meserve; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2017).

1870 United States Federal Census, Norfolk County, Virginia, population schedule, Norfolk, Page No 25, dwelling 171, family 226, Wm N Meserve; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2017).

1880 United States Federal Census, Litchfield, County, Connecticut, population schedule, Harwinton, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 28, Page No 1, dwelling 3, family 3, Wm N Meserve; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 August 2015).

1885 Colorado State Census, El Paso, population schedule, , William Meserve; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2017)

1900 United States Federal Census, Mesa County, Colorado, population schedule, Grand Junction, enumeration district (ED) 74, Sheet No 7A, dwelling 182, family 163, Abby H Meserve; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2017).

1910 United States Federal Census, Mesa County, Colorado, population schedule, Grand Junction, enumeration district (ED) 94, Sheet 5A, dwelling 91 family 97; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2017).

Dolliver Louise Pearsons, Historian General, Lineage Book National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Vol XXII. 21001-22000 1897 (Washington, D.C.: 1906), page 37; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com :

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States San Francisco (San Francisco: 20 November 1895), Meeting Agenda Nov 20, 1895; digital images, HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org : accessed 23 October 2017.

New Hampshire, New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947, , Wm. N. Meserve and Abbie A. Hill, 30 November 1864; index and images, Family Search (http://familysearch.org : accessed 11 August 2015).

“North American Cemetery Transcriptions from NEHGS Manuscripts, 1642-1977: NH, Strafford: Dover-Pine Hill,” digital images, AmericanAncestors (https://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 13 September 2017), Buckleys buried in Pine Hill (no 1074, p, 256).

Note: Update re proper spelling of Somersworth NH thanks to a suggestion by Janice at Genealogy Bloggers on 1 Nov 2017.

Mystery Monday – What Year did Adeline Shackford Hill Write to Samuel Shackford and which William is She Referring To? (Blog 378)

October 24, 2016April 15, 2017 ~ Joanne Shackford Parkes ~ 1 Comment

We are very glad that the Winnetka Historical Society saved this delightful letter that Adelaide Shackford Hill, daughter of Abigail Burnham Shackford sent to Samuel Shackford on January 23rd referring to an article that Samuel published debunking a rumor that a William Shackford had died leaving an $80,000 estate.

From Adelaide’s letter we learn that she has previously written to Samuel Shackford, that she is well educated and writes with and entertaining style, that she is taking German lessons and Turkish baths. We also learn that she is living at 61 Washington Street in Dover, New Hampshire.

We’re hunting for newspaper articles which mention a William Shackford who left a large estate and also for the article by Samuel Shackford debunking this story. (We think there are other letters in this or other collections we’ve recently accessed that refer to this same story but can’t find them at this moment).

img_6911-letter-adaline-s-hill-to-samuel-shackford-jan-23-year-page-1 — Letter from Adaline Shackford to Samuel Shackford Jan 23 (page 1 of 5), from Winnetka Historical Society

Adelaide S Hill [written in different handwriting]

Dover N. H. Jan. 23d
Dear Mr Shackford
Are you or
are you not the Samuel Shackford
of Winnetka to whom I have
so long owed a letter; and
if so will you absolve me
for my sin of omission, and
receive me again into your
good graces?
If you have inherited the
“cumulative humanities” of the
generations of Samuel Shackfords
who belong to us, I may take
your olive branch for granted
and proceed on our former
friendly plane.
Your article in tonight’s
paper is a great blow to
me. Is it really true
that no William Shackford
has departed this life? That
no eighty thousand dollars
is to be divided among the
numerous simple curious relatives?
Since hearing of that
unclaimed estate I have
labored with my slate and
pencil and evolved the
delightful possibility that
I, myself, might – come into
the possession of an amount
is larger, that to the end of
my days I could revel in
German lessons and Turkish
baths, my two greatest enjoy-
ments.
And now you ruthlessly
destroy these dreams!
I had even gone so far as to
ask a Justice of the Peace
if he would empower me to
go to Chicago and take possession
of the lamented William’s
effects. But said Justice,
being my paternal relative
and therefore incompetent
to judge of my remarkable
abilities, hesitated, and
now we are lost.
How do you intend to
atone for this destruction
of our hopes? Are we,
without a struggle, to sink
back into all the darkness
and degradation of poverty,-
and have not-even and
opportunity of speaking
our minds to the one who
extinguishes our beacon light?
Never! You are hereby
invited to present yourself
before a court of Shackfords
at 61 Washington Street
Dover New Hampshire
at your earliest convenience.
Per order of the Court –
Your disappointed but
ever dutiful cousin.
Adelaide L. Hill
Clerk

SOURCES:

“Samuel Shackford,” ; [research on shackford family genealogy], 1988.325.1; Samuel Shackford; Winnetka Historical Society, 511 Linden, Winnetka, Illinois. Letter from Adelaide S Hill to Samuel Shackford January 23 [year not listed].

Sunday’s Obituary – Adelaide Shackford (Hill) Buckley, daughter of Abigail Burnham Shackford (Blog 377)

October 23, 2016April 22, 2017 ~ Joanne Shackford Parkes ~ 1 Comment

Adelaide Shackford Hill, the daughter of Levi Gerrish and Abigail Burham (Shackford) Hill was born July 17, 1844 in Somerset, New Hampshire. We find her in the 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 census living with her parents in Dover, New Hampshire.

Abigail was 42 when she married Rev James Monroe Buckley, the editor of the Christian Advocate and noted Methodist on August 23, 1886. We’d love to learn how they met!. Adelaide moved to Morristown, New Jersey with her new husband and helped raise his daughter Sarah from a previous marriage. She also applied for and was accepted into the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Adelaide died on April 23, 1910, the day after she was recorded in the 1910 census in Morristown. She was buried in the Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover, New Hampshire.

Fortunately we learn a lot about Abigail from her obituary – where she was educated, that she was known for her understanding of literature, that she wrote poems and was very involved in her community. We do believe that the obituary incorrectly infers that Abigail was the mother of Monroe Buckley, born Aug 2, 1876. This is based on his application to the Sons of the American Revolution lists his father as James Monroe Buckley and his mother as Sarah Isabella Staples. Also James married Adelaide in 1886 after Monroe was born. Abigail would have been his and his sister Sarah’s (born 1883)step mother.

obituary-mrs-adelaide-shackford-buckley-new-york-observer-v-88-1910 — Mrs James M Buckley, New York Observer, 28 Apr 1910

Mrs. James M. Buckley
Adelaide Shackford Hill Buckley, daugh-
ter of the late Dr. Levi G. Hill, and wife
of the Rev. James M. Buckley, D.D., edi-
tor of The Christian Advocate, died at
her home at Morristown, N. J., on April
24, after a long illness. Mrs. Buckley
was born in Somersworth, N. H. and was
educated at the Friends’ Boarding School
in Providence. Highly cultured in litera-
ture, Mrs. Buckley translated in the Ger-
man and wrote several poems. She was
a member of Colonial Dames and had
been elected to represent the New Jersey
Society at the national council in Wash-
ington this month. Mrs. Buckley was
also a Daughter of the Revolution, vice-
president of the Morristown branch of
the McCall Society, one of the Board of
Managers of the Morristown Women’s
Exchange and the Memorial Hospital, the
Morristown Society and St. Christopher’s
Home, of New York City. Besides her
husband, she leaves one son, Monroe, of
Philadelphia.

SOURCES:

1850 United States Federal Census, Strafford County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Dover, page 109 (pened), 55 (stamped), dwelling 567, family number 857, Levi G Hill; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 November 2015).

1870 United States Federral Census, Strafford County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Dover, Ward 3, Page No 56, dwelling 426, family 474, Levi G Hill; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 21 November 2015).

1880 United States Federal Census, Strafford County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Dover, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 243, Page No 11, dwelling 65, family 123, Levi G Hill; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 September 2014).

1900 United States Federal Census, Morris County, New Jersey, population schedule, Morristown, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 65, Sheet No 10, 46 Hill Street, dwelling 172, family 212, James M Buckly; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2016).

1910 United States Federal Census, Morris County, New Jersey, population schedule, Morristown, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 26, Sheet No 7, dwelling 46, no of house visited 113, family 106, James M Buckley; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2016).

Dolliver Louise Pearsons, Lineage Book National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Vol XX 19001-20000, 1897 (Washington, D.C.: 1905), page 129-130; digital images, Hathi Trust (http://babel.hathitrust.org/ : accessed 17 January 2016; Mrs. Adelaide Shackford Hill Buckley, 19352

Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 October 2016), Adelaide Shackford Hill Buckley, Find A Grave Memorial# 148598536

“Mrs James M Buckley,” The New York Observer (New York, New York), 28 April 1910; digital images, HathiTrust (http//www.hathitrust.org : accessed 3 March 2014).

New Hampshire, Death and Disinterment Records, 1754-1947, , Adelaid S Buckley d., 23 April 1910; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2014); New England Historical Genealogical Society. Citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire.

“New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659-1947,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 October 2016), Adelaide S Hill m James Munro Buckley

SHACKFORD Family History

Sharing Our Discoveries of the Descendants of William Shackford (abt 1640-1720)

Abigail Burnham Shackford

Military Monday – Mrs Abby Augusta (Hill) Meserve References Samuel Shackford’s Service as Basis of Her Daughters of the American Revolution Application (Blog 458)

Mystery Monday – What Year did Adeline Shackford Hill Write to Samuel Shackford and which William is She Referring To? (Blog 378)

Sunday’s Obituary – Adelaide Shackford (Hill) Buckley, daughter of Abigail Burnham Shackford (Blog 377)