Tuesday’s Tip – You Can’t Always Believe What You Read in the Newspaper! (Blog 379)

Once we read the Jan 23rd letter from Adeline Shackford Hill to Samuel Shackford, stating “is it really true that no William Shackford has departed his life?  That no eighty thousand dollars is to be divided among the numerous simple curious relatives?,” we went hunting for the article Samuel Shackford may have written debunking the story about a William Shackford who left an $80,000 estate.

Since Adeline lived in Dover, New Hampshire we used Ken Mark’s The Ancestor Hunt Web Page, clicked on Newspaper Research Links, then on the New Hampshire Online Historical Newspapers and took a look at the newspapers in the Nashua Public Library.

We didn’t find the article by Samuel Shackford but found this article which was published in the Nashua Daily Telegraph on January 9, 1886 which is most likely the one that got some Shackford’s excited about money possibly coming their way!  The article states:

Nashua Daily Telegraph, 9 Jan 1886 William Shackford’s death and $80,000 inheritance

– Relatives in Dover, Rochester and Farmington of William Shackford who died lately in Chicago leaving $80,000 but unmarried and no direct heirs are in readiness to receive their respective

portions of the estate.

 

 

Since we haven’t found the article that Samuel published debunking this story we decided to see if we could find the William Shackford who the article was referring to.

We took a look at Chicago deaths using Ancestry databases and found no deaths before 1906:

Cook County, Illinois, Deaths Index, 1878-1922 – no death s until 1906

Cook County, Illinois, Marriage and Death Indexes, 1833-1889 – no Shackfords

We checked every William Shackford & Shackford with a middle name of William in our database to see if we could find a William who had died 3 years before of Jan 9, 1886 or died with a large estate.  Found these Williams,

William A Shackford (1807-1885) – died in Newmarket, with a will,

William Moore Shackford (1789-1875) – died in Portsmouth, NH with a will

We didn’t find any possible William Shackfords who died in Chicago or any wealth Shackfords who left a large estate and no will — we’re still looking forward to finding Samuel’s article to see how he debunked this story.

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:

“NEW HAMPSHIRE IN BRIEF,” The Nashua Daily Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire), 9 January 1886, William Shackford who died leaving $80,000; digital images, Nashua Public Library (http://nashua.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 24 October 2016).

Copyright 2017 Joanne Shackford Parkes  (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not just copy this material and paste it elsewhere)

 

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

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).

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

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:

“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].

Copyright 2017 Joanne Shackford Parkes  (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not just copy this material and paste it elsewhere)

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

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.

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.

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, 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).

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).

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

Copyright 2017 Joanne Shackford Parkes  (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not just copy this material and paste it elsewhere)