George Shackford

We love the title of George Shackford’s obituary – “LIFE’S CONTRACT FILLED”

George Shackford, the seventh child of Samuel and Hannah (Currier) Shackford was born on August 6, 1818 in Chester, New Hampshire. When he was 23, his father died and left him $1 as a token of remembrance – the homestead in Chester given to George’s older brother Jonathan.

According to William Cutter’s Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume 4, George moved to Boston at a young age beginning his profession as a wharf and bridge builder. We find him in Boston by 1845 living at 7 Gouch St. He was listed as wharf builder at the age of 33 on April 13, 1853 when he married Rutha Elizabeth Crosby, the daughter of Alonzo and Rutha (Bemis) Crosby. The next year, he and his brother Richard were formally authorized to build a wharf in East Boston. According to Cutter he was responsible for repairing wharfs along Atlantic Avenue in Boston and in East Boston and rebuilt the Meridian Street Bridge in Chelsea. George continued with his occupation of wharf building and bridge contractor living at 98 Decatur, Boston, 69 Saratoga St, and eventually 76 Saratoga St where he died. George died of complications of Bright’s Disease in Boston at the age of 70 on December 30, 1888. This obituary was published in the Boston Globe the next day:

Obituary George Shackford 1818-1888 Boston Daily Globe December 31, 1889 — Boston Daily Globe, 31 Dec 1888

LIFE’S CONTRACT FILLED

Death of George Shackford of East Boston

George Shackford, one of the oldest and
most prominent citizens of East Boston,
died at his home, 76 Saratoga street, yester-
day after a lingering illness, of
Bright’s disease. Mr. Shackford was 70
years of age and resided nearly all his life
in East Boston. He carried on a very suc-
cessful business as a bridge contractor until
two years ago when he was stricken down
with the disease which caused his death.
He was a most interesting companion and
was universally respected. The date of the
funeral has not yet been settled upon. Mr
Shackford leaves a widow, one son and a
daughter, both of whom are married and
reside in East Boston.

George’s wife Rutha died at the age of 84 on June 13, 1914 in Boston. They were both buried at the Mt Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

CHILDREN:

George Alonzo Shackford (1854-1942) – worked with his father in the bridge and wharf building business – married Mary Pinkham and Alice Blaker Pote.

Hannah Elizabeth Shackford (1856-1907) – married William G Grady

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:

Cutter William Richard, A. M , editor, Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume 4 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908), page 1804; digital images, Google E-Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 13 September 2013.

“LIFE’S CONTRACT FILLED Death of George Shackford of East Boston,” Boston Daily Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), 31 December 1888; digital images, Access Newspaper Archives (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 19 September 2017).

Massachusetts, Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915, , George Shackford m Ruth E Crosby, 13 April 1853; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 31 March 2014).

Massachusetts, Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, DEATHS REGISTERED in the City of Boston for the Year eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, page 438, George Shackford, death, 30 December 1888; digital images, Family Search (http://familysearch.org : accessed 11 August 2013).

Massachusetts, Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, , Rutha E Shackford, 13 June 1914; digital images, Family Search (http://familysearch.org : accessed 15 August 2015).

New Hampshire, New Hampshire, Birth Records, 1659-1900, , George Shackford, 6 August 1818; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 September 2013); “New Hampshire, Birth Records, through 1900.” Online index and digital images. New England Historical Genealogical Society. Citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire.

Secretary of the Commonwealth, Acts and Resolves Passed By the General Court of Massachusetts in the Year 1854 Together With the Rolls and Messages (Boston: William White, Printer to the State, n.d.), Page 81; 1854, Google eBooks (http://books.google.com : accessed 12 July 2017.

While researching Richard Shackford, we discovered this document which authorized him to build a Wharf in East Boston. We’ve since found city directories which place the wharf from Border, foot of Lexington street and know that Richard lived at 15 Lexington. We’ve added a map at the end of blog that shows that location – we don’t know the history of this area but it appears that the area where the original wharf was may have been filled in.

An Act to Build a Wharf - Richard Shackford and George Shackford

An Act to authorize Richard Shackford and George Shackford to build
a Wharf.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represnta-
tives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of
the same, as follows:
Richard Shackford and George Shackford, proprietors of
land and flats in that part of Boston called East Boston,
bounding on Border Street, are hereby authorized to build
and maintain a wharf upon and from their said premises
into Boston harbor, as far as the line established by the
act entitled “An Act concerning the Harbor of Boston,”
passed on the seventeenth day of March, in the year one
thousand eight hundred and forty; and shall have the right
to lay vessels at the end and sides of said wharf, and to
receive wharfage and dockage therefor; provided, however,
that this grant shall not be construed to extend to any flats
or lands of this Commonwealth, lying in front of the flats
of any other person, or which would be comprehended by
the true lines of such flats continued to said commissioners’
line; and provided, further, that so much of said wharf, as
may be constructed below low-water mark, shall be built on
piles, which piles shall not be nearer to each other than six
feet, in the direction of the stream, and eight feet in a
transverse direction, and that this act shall in nowise impair
the legal rights of any person whatever. [Approved by the
Governor, March 24, 1854.]

Today’s map of Boston from Google Maps showing the wharf area at the intersection of Border and Lexington St.

Probably location of Richard and George Shackford's Wharf

SOURCES:

The Boston Almanac and Business Directory. 1874 Vol. 34 (N.p.: Sampson, Davenport & Co., 1874), page 124 – WHARVES., Shackford & Co.’s; digital image, HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org : accessed 14 July 2017).

The Boston Almanac and Business Directory. 1876 Vol. 41 (N.p.: Sampson, Davenport & Co., 1876), page 153, Shackford & Co.’s, Border, ft. Lexington, E.B; digital image, HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org : accessed 14 July 2017).

Sumner William H., A History of East Boston; with Biographical Sketches of Its Early Proprietors, and An Appendix (Boston: J. E. Tilton and Company, 1858), page 702; digital images, Hathi Trust (https://babel.hathitrust.org : accessed 14 July 2017.

SHACKFORD Family History

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

Sunday’s Obituary – George Shackford of East Boston (1818-1888) “Life’s Contract Fulfilled” (Blog 457)

Treasure Chest Thursday – An Act to Authorize Richard Shackford and George Shackford to Build a Wharf in East Boston – 1854 (Blog 446)