We were pleasantly surprised to receive our copy of American Ancestors and discover an article describing how we used the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s Historic Catholic Records Online Project to help discover Catherine (Mullet) Shackford’s parents.
This article titled Discoveries from Historic Catholic Records Online which was written by Jean Maguire can be found on page 31 of the Winter edition of American Ancestors by New England Historic Genealogical Society. We wish to thank all the members of the team of individuals who helped create images of these important records, transcribe them, and fund the project to help ensure that many folks can see them online! Also a large thanks to Jean who publishes many interesting articles for the New England Historic Genealogical Society!
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:
Maguire Jean, “Discoveries from Historic Catholic Records Online,” American Ancestors by New England Historic Genealogical Society (Winter 2018, Vol 18, No 4), page 31.
Copyright 2018 Joanne Shackford Parkes (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not copy this material and paste it elsewhere)
Joseph Edward Shackford, the son of William Brown Shackford and Catherine T (Mullett) Shackford was born Oct 22, 1849 and baptized at the Holy Cross Church in Boston on December 6, 1849. We find him in the 1850 census with his parents and sister May Kate Shackford, age 4; in the 1855 Massachusetts census, in the 1860 census, and in the 1865 Massachusetts census.
Joseph would have just turned 16 when his father who had served in the Civil War died in November 1866 and started work sometime thereafter working as a clerk at 22 Broad St.
He married Elizabeth A (Lizzie) Myers, the daughter of Henry J V Myers, a policeman on Feb 10, 1873, and switched from clerking to working as a bookkeeper. The family moved to Watertown, Massachusetts where we find Joseph, Lizzie and two children William Henry and Joseph Edward in the 1880 census and also where Joseph and his wife won prizes at the Grand Army Fair in Dec 1881. Sometime thereafter the family moved to Syracuse where our first record pertains to their December 1866 divorce which was described in the Syracuse Herald. The newspaper stated that the suit alleged adultery by Mrs Shackford and gave custody of the two sons William H and Joseph E to their father. The newspaper also described Joseph’s job as a commercial traveller.
Ten months later on October 20, 1887, Joseph married Miss Donna Lovilla Evans of Chicago, the daughter of Thomas Evans in a “Brilliant Social Event” and describes the happy couple departing for their future home in Syracuse, NY. They first moved to 2 East Castle Street, then to 103 East Castle. In 1892 we find Joseph, Donna, William and Joseph along with a new son Arthur Evans Shackford in Syracuse. The couple celebrated their 12th anniversary in October 1899 with card games and dancing and appeared in multiple other newspaper articles describing entertaining.
They appeared in the 1900 census with two new children Thomas L and Donna M Shackford and are mentioned in the 1902 newspaper celebrating their 15th anniversary celebrating by playing whist. They were also mentioned in the newspaper in 1903 due to electrical light fires occurring in the home.
In 1908, Donna who had been ill for three years died at the age of 43 due to an obstructed bile duct. From the 1910 census we see that Joseph who was working for the National Lead Company hired a servant to help out at home as he was still traveling. In 1914 he received an award in New York in the white lead selling competition. In 1917 he was recognized in the Syracuse Herald for his 30 years of work representing the National Lead Company. He died on November 28, 1920 and is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse. His obituary describes his very active involvement in the masons & other clubs in Syracuse.
Obituary Joseph E Shackford, Syracuse Journal, 29 Nov 1920
J. E. Shackford, Leading Mason, Dies in Hospital
JOSEPH E. SHACKFORD
Member of Many Orders and of Citizen’s Club Passes Away
Joseph E. Shackford, 71, well
known in Syracuse Masonic circles
and for the past 32 years a resident
of the city, died Sunday night at St.
Joseph’s Hospital. Mr Shackford
was for 29 years with the National
Lead Company, retiring from active
business four years ago.
He was a member of Central City
Lodge, No 305, F. and A. M., Central
City Chapter, No. 13, R. A. M., Cen-
tral City Council, No. 70. Central
City Commandery, No. 23, Knights
Templar and of the Central City
Scottish Rite bodies. He was also a
member of Ziyara Temple, Nobles of
the Mystic Shrine, Keder Khan
Grotto, and the Citizens’ Club of
Syracuse.
Mr. Shackford is survived by four
sons: Joseph E., Jr., of Baldwins-
ville; Thomas L. of St. Augustine,
Fla.; Arthur E. of Syracuse, and
William H. of Troy, and by a
daughter Mrs. William J. Brown of
New York City.
Masonic funeral services will be
held at the undertaking rooms of W.
A. Fancher, 112 Seymour st., at a
date and hour to be fixed later.
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!
CHILDREN:
with Elizabeth A Myers
William Henry Shackford (1873-1958) – married Anna Mooney, worked for Aetna Mills, , lived in Troy, New York
Joseph Edward Shackford (1876-1948) – married Etta May Chadwick, salesman for Puget Sound Works, , lived in Seattle, Washington
with Donna L Evans
Arthur Evans Shackford (1889-1965) – married Josephine Clara Essig, salesman, inspector factory, lived in Syracuse, NY
Thomas Leon Shackford (1892-1959) – married Ruth Hopkins, Eugenie R Edwards, lived in Evanston, Illinois, St Augustine, Florida
Donna May Shackford (1896-1965) Married William J Brown???, Victor Anthony Note, and Oscar J Barber
SOURCES:
1850 United States Federal Census, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Ward 10, Dwelling 662, Family 1057, Wm Shackford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed ).
1855 Massachusetts State Census, Suffolk County, population schedule, Ward 10, page 30, Dwelling 180, Family 209, William B Shackford; digital images, Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 May 2013).
1860 United States Federal Census, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, population schedule, 12th Ward, Boston, Page No. 185, Dwelling 1145, Family 1494, Wm B Shackford; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 July 2013).
1865 Massachusetts State Census, Boston, Suffolk, Ward 12, City of Boston County of Suffolk, Dwelling 3324, Family 5397, William Shackford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 14 May 2013).
1880 United States Federal Census, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Watertown, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District 420, Supervisor’s District do, Sheet A, Page 21 (penned), Page 11 (stamped), Dwelling 188, Family 220, Joseph E Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 July 2013).
1892 New York State Census, Onondaga County, population index, Syracuse, Ward 11, Page 4, Joseph E Shackford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 28 November 2013).
1900 United States Federal Census, , Syracuse City, Ward 19, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District 161, Supervisor’s District 12, Sheet No 6, B, House No 210, Dwelling 121 (corrected), Family 128, Joseph Shackford head; digital images, (: accessed 14 August 2013).
1910 United States Federal Census, Onondaga County, New York, population schedule, Syracuse City, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 189, Sheet No 9A, 210 Beard Avenue, Visited No 175, Family No 190, Joseph E Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 November 2013).
Boston Daily Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), 14 December 1881; digital images, Access Newspaper Archives (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 16 July 2013).
“Brilliant Social Event,” Oak Park Reporter, 21 October 1887; Newspaper Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 29 January 2014).
FOR ANNIVERSARIES.,” The Syracuse Journal, 25 October 1902; Fulton History (http://www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 24 January 2014).
“HAD BEEN ILL THREE YEARS Mrs. Donna Evans Shackford Died This Morning,” The Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, New York), 13 July 1908; digital images, Access Newspaper Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 10 December 2013).
“J. E. Shackford, Leading Mason, Dies in Hospital,” Syracuse Journal, 29 November 1920; FultonHistory (www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 23 January 2014); Syrause NY Daily Journal 1920-6321.
“J. E. Shackford Veteran Salesman Who Knows Paint,” The Syracuse Herald, 1917; FultonHistory (http://fultonhistory.com : accessed 23 January 2014).
LIGHT WIRES’ PRANKS Fires and Explosions in the Nineteenth. In a Score of Houses,” The Syracuse Herald, 2 August 1903; FultonHistory (http://fultonhistory.com : accessed ).
“Massachusetts: (Image only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900,” digital images, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 25 January 2017), Joseph E Shackford; Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.6, 1844-1850, Vol 6, Page 529, December Baptisms 1849.
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, , MARRIAGES REGISTERED IN THE CITY OF BOSTON, FOR THE YEAR 1873, No 46, February 10, Joseph E Shackford, Elizabeth A Myers, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 July 2013); Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records.
The Painters Magazine and Paint & Wallpaper Dealer January 1914 (n.d.), page 162; digital images, Google eBooks (books.google.com : accessed 23 January 2014.
“Mr Shackford’s Suit,” The Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, New York), 19 December 1886; digital images, Access Newspaper Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 10 December 2013).
Copyright 2017 Joanne Shackford Parkes (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not copy this material and paste it elsewhere)
Updated 12/9/2017 to update Donna May Shackford’s year of death and the names of her husbands, 12/10/2017 to add link to blog about Donna May
Here’s a transcription of that portion of the will:
“Ninth The rest, residue and remainder of my estate I give, devise and bequeath to Mary A. Leman, Catherine Shackford and Frank H Rowland, the first being sisters and the last names a brother of my late husband said rest residue and remainder to go to them share and share alike.”
We originally had read these words to mean that Catherine was Anna’s sister, found Anna’s death record listed her parents as Patrick McCawley and Catherine Quinn. Then we made the assumption (later found to be incorrect) that Catherine and Mary’s mother was also Catherine Quinn who had first married a Mr Mullett, then married Patrick McCawley. We searched for such marriages but found nothing and were also puzzled by the differences in ages and birth locations — Mary Ann born about 1808 in Boston, Catherine born in 1812 in Boston and Anna born about 1830 in St Johns.
We then reread Anna’s will and realized that it was stating that Mary A Lehman and Catherine (both children of William Mullett) were sisters of Anna’s late husband, Edward W Rowland. We hadn’t considered this because Edward’s death record lists his parents as Thomas W Rowland and Elizabeth Rowland. We realized that we were looking at the indexed record, not the source. When we looked at the actual source, we realized that it was so wrinkled that one can’t really identify the name of Edward’s mother.
We then reread Anna’s will and noted that it mentioned two other siblings of Edward – David Rowland, deceased and Frank H Rowland, living. David’s death record listed a father Thomas and mother Eleanor. We found the 1850 census listing all three sons (and two others) with mother Eleanor living next door to William B Shackford & wife Catherine.
This led to our hypothesis that Catherine and Mary Ann’s parents were William and Eleanor Mullett. William died and Eleanor married Thomas Rowland who then died leaving Eleanor a widow raising two daughters and five sons.
We went back to the Historic Catholic Records and found a marriage record for Thomas Rowlands to Eleanor Mullett dated Sept 8, 1818 with a Daniel Dulley listed as the witness.
We then found William Mullet’s marriage to Eleanor Dulley on Oct 6, 1806.
We then broadened our hypothesis to state that William Mullet married Eleanor Dulley on Oct 6, 1806, and had two daughters Mary Ann (1808) & Catherine (1812). He died sometime before Sept 1818 and Eleanor Dulley Mullet then married Thomas Rowland on Sept 8, 1818 and they had five sons.
To check this hypothesis we took a look at the parents listed for each of these seven children:
Mary Ann Mullett Leman (1808-1900) – death record not yet found but her baptismal records written in latin mentions parents Gulielmia Mullet it Eleanorae (Gulielmia translates to William)
Catherine Mullett Shackford (1812-1902) William and Eleanor Mullett
William B Rowland (1821-1855) Thomas and Ellen [could be shortening of Eleanor]
James S Rowland (1823-1872) Thomas b. Wales, Eleanor, b. England
Edward W Rowland (1824-1873) Thomas W Rowland, b. Wales, mother unclear
Frances H Rowland (1827-1898) William Mary E Dully [Catherine or her children most likely reported this death and used the names of her parents]
David F Rowland (1827-1876) Thomas b. Wales, Eleanor b England
We then found the death record for Eleanor (Dulley) (Mullet) Rowland on May 18, 1876 and discovered that it stated Eleanor Rowland m n Dully. This record connects the dots of the original hypothesis and also lists her parents as Daniel and Mary which takes back this family lineage back another generation!
As far as we can tell, we’re the first to piece together the connection of these families in FamilySearch or Ancestry – these individual were not yet in Family Search and there are no Member Connections to this family line in Ancestry. In the future we will try to put our conclusions together in a proof standard format and also go back to our original post on this family and correct our first incorrect conclusions we made from the will. We’ll also summarize the family lineage adding the names of the spouses of these Rowlands. Our next step will be to see if we can learn more about the Dully’s mentioned in the Catholic Church records.
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:
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915, , Anna McCawley Rowland, 21 August 1893; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 August 2016); Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts..
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915, , David F Rowland, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 January 2017); Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts..
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915, , Eleanor Dully Rowland, 18 May 1876; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accesed 27 January 2017); Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts..
“Massachusetts: (Image only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900,” digital images, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 25 January 2017), Catherine Mullet.
“Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900,” digital images, NEHGS (https://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 6 July 2017), Mary Ann Mullett.
“Massachusetts: (Image only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900,” digital images, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 27 January 2017), Thomas Rowlands m Eleanor Mullet; Holy Cross (Boston) Various v.2 1810-1823, Image 223 of 354.
Copyright 2017 Joanne Shackford Parkes (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not copy this material and paste it elsewhere)
Updated 12/23/2017 to add Mary Ann Mullet’s baptismal record
Joseph Edward Shackford
Dec. 26th I baptized Joseph Edward born 22d October
of William Shackford & Catherine Mullett
Sp Edward W Rollins & Catherine O’Brien
N Y ‘Brien
We had this same birthdate for Joseph but didn’t have a source so this baptismal record now provides us with a document and adds to his marriage record documenting the names of his parents, William Brown Shackford & Catherine T Mullet. We’re hoping to learn if there is any relationship to the Edward W Rollins & Catherine O’Brien who were the sponsors of this baptism.
We also believe we found Catherine’s baptismal record. From the 1900 census we know she was born Oct 1812 and from her 87th birthday celebration we learned that she was born in Boston. This leads us to believe this baptismal record may belong to her:
1812
…
Catherine Mullet
November 1st
Catherine born the 10th. Daughter of William & Eleanor
Mullet. Sponsors James Devereaux & Catherine Dulley
+ John B P of Bn
We’ll take a deeper look in these wonderful catholic church records for other source records to help us learn more about this part of the Shackford family line!
Do you have any Catholic Shackford descendents who might be listed in these records?
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:
1900 United States Federal Census, Onondaga County, New York, population schedule, Syracuse City, Ward 19, enumeration district (ED) Supervisors District No 12, Enumeration District No 161, B, Sheet Np 6, House No 210, Dwelling 121, Family 128, Joseph E Shackford head; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 July 2013).
“Massachusetts: (Image only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900,” digital images, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 25 January 2017), Joseph E Shackford; Image 191 of 345
“Massachusetts: (Image only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900,” digital images, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 25 January 2017), Joseph E Shackford; Vol 6, Page 529, December 1849
“Spry as a Girl,” Evening Herald (Syracuse, New York), 23 October 1899; Fulton History (http:// : accessed 14 July 2013), http://fultonhistory.com.
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)
We finally made it to Boston! Well – we’re actually staying at an RV park in Mansfield, Massachusetts which placed us away from city traffic but close enough to drive into Boston. Today we drove into Boston to search for the gravestones of my great great grandparents – William Brown Shackford and his wife Catherine (Mullett) Shackford.
William Brown Shackford’s death records stated that he had died of cancer of the stomach November 21, 1866 and was interred at St Augustine’s Cemetery[i]so we reached out to our friend Mr Google and discovered that the St Augustine’s Church and Cemetery was located at 181 Dorchester Street. We found their phone number and called to learn about accessibility. Javier wonderfully directed us to two folks, the archivist, Thomas Lester and the chapel who oversaw the church.
We called Thomas and got an answering machine that asked us to place a research request on their WEB page which we did. We then contacted the oversight church and were told that St Augustine’s was locked except for Saturday services at 4 pm but a volunteer who works there Tuesday might be able to open up the church for us on Tuesday, the day we would be visiting!!!! Unfortunately we received a follow-up call later that night stating that the volunteer had become unavailable so there would be no access. We drove to the church anyway and took these pictures of the hapel and the gravestones.
We’re considering coming back on a Saturday from Exeter, NH but will call ahead to see if we can learn more about William’s burial.
Catherine (Mullet) Shackford’s death was reported in the Syracuse Journal on February 3, 1902[ii]. The article stated that her remains were taken to Boston for burial. The Boston Herald reported that she died at Syracuse and her remains were coming to Boston on Feb 5th for internment in Forest Hills Cemetery[iii]. Before traveling we called and learned that she was buried here. We arrived at this cemetery which is beautiful and learned that Catherine and her daughter May Kate Loughrin who died in 1885 were buried in Lot 932 on the Iris Path and that the plot belonged to Edward W. Rowland — we haven’t yet figured out the connection. We went to the plot and found a gravestone for May in the right location according to the plot diagram. We did not find one that could be clearly identified as Catherine’s Perhaps she didn’t have a gravestone or it went missing.
Even though we didn’t find gravestones for William and Catherine we did find May’s gravestone and we had a wonderful day looking.
We also met up with a cousin, Karen Deborah Shackford Tedeman, my seventh cousin once removed – our common ancestor goes back to William Shackford & Deborah Trickey. We had a wonderful time discussing our common search for the Shackfords and I learned that her father who was very interested in genealogy named her after Deborah Trickey who is our common ancestor!!! We visited the grave of her ancestors – George Alonzo Shackford and had a wonderful lunch together! Hopefully I’ll get to see her again when I go to the New England Genealogical and Historical Society tomorrow.
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:
[i] Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, , William Shackford, death record, 21 November 1886; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 May 2013); Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records
[ii] “Obituary. Mrs. Katherine Shackford.,” The Syracuse Journal, 3 February 1902; Fulton History (http://www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 12 July 2013).
[iii] “SHACKFORD,” Boston (Massachusetts) Herald, ; digital images, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com/ : accessed 16 April 1916).
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)
so we reached out to our friend Mr Google and discovered that the St Augustine’s Church and Cemetery was located at 181 Dorchester Street. We found their phone number and called to learn about accessibility. Javier wonderfully directed us to two folks, the archivist, Thomas Lester and the chapel who oversaw the church.
Tuesday might be able to open up the church for us on Tuesday, the day we would be visiting!!!! Unfortunately we received a follow-up call later that night stating that the volunteer had become unavailable so there would be no access. We drove to the church anyway and took these pictures of the hapel and the gravestones.
and learned that Catherine and her daughter 
SHACKFORD Family History 