Charles W M Shackford, the son of Charles Harrison and Ariana (Marston) Shackford was first a baritone singer, an opera performer, led an opera company, and was horsewhipped by a performer’s mother when his company shut down without paying the performers. Charles was married at the age of 20, performed around the United States, was injured in a fire in New Orleans, and was fired at a performance in Arkansas. He composed love songs, dramatic songs, comedic songs, operatic comedy, and blackface music – so far we’ve discovered 45 different titles published by Charles between 1891 and 1910 – we’re sure there are more pieces.
Charles may have had trouble managing his finances — his mother restricted the amount left in her will to Charles paying his distribution in monthly amounts and his parents also seem to have raised his two daughters Jessie and Mary – they are listed in the 1910 census as living with their grandparents. One might wonder if this 1897 song created when his children were 12 and 10 was a reflection of something going on in his life?
LET BYGONES BE BYGONES
A Beautiful Song
By Chas Shackford and Kerry Mils
I entered a station one evening
And boarded the midnight train
Behind me sat two pretty children,
Who’d quarrelled about some game,
Just over the aisle sat a lady
Their grandmother old and gray
She took both the children beside her,
And sweetly I then heard her say.
Refrain
Let bygones by bygones for ever,
Forgive and forget each wrong,
Thro sunshine and shadow my darling,
You’ll find life is one grand, sweet song.
Remember that each act of kindness,
Comes straight from the heart they say,
Don’t speak of the
faults of another,
Let bygones be bygones for aye
Just then down the aisle walked a stranger,
But paused when he saw her face
For there sat the mother who loved him,
Upon whom he’d brought disgrace,
His voice seemed to shake with emotion
Then with one great cry of joy
She said, “John, let by-gones,
And fell in the arms of her boy
Refrain
Let bygones by bygones for ever,
Forgive and forget each wrong,
Thro sunshine and shadow my darling,
You’ll find life is one grand, sweet song.
Remember that each act of kindness,
Comes straight from the heart they say,
Don’t speak of the
faults of another,
Let bygones be bygones for aye
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SOURCES:
“Advertisement,” New York Clipper, 31 July 1897, page 11, Let Bygones Be Bygones by Chas Shackford and Kerry Mills; digital images, University of Illinois (http://www.library.illinois.edu/ : accessed 4 December 2013), American Popular Entertainment.
New Hampshire, County Probate Estate Files, Ariana M. Shackford Case No 7927; “New Hampshire, County Probate Estate Files, 1769-1936,” digital images, Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org: accessed 30 January 2014); Carroll, Case no 7881-7964 1840-1936, Images 938-942.
“New York Public Library Digital Collections,” database and images, NYPL Digital Gallery (http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/: accessed 16 September 2013), Let Bygones Be Bygones.
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SHACKFORD Family History 