Treasure Chest Thursday – Searching for Guardian of Mary Shackford’s son Joshua Chase (Blog 319)

While working on the research question we’ve posed for Joshua Chase, son of Joshua Chase and Mary Shackford we’ve learned unexpected things about Joshua – an outcome described in Harold Henderson’s article  Ten-Minute Methodology: How to Ask Good Research Questions.

Our research Question:

What document appoints William Plaisted as guardian of Joshua Chase, born about 1782 in Portsmouth, the son of Dr Joshua Chase and Mary Shackford?

We knew that a guardian was appointed for Joshua Chase around 1787 so we began our research by reviewing FamilySearch’s  New Hampshire, County Probate Records, 1660-1973  Rockingham Probate record index 1753-1800.  While looking for Chase, we found a Joshua Chase on Image 18:

1787-1788 Chase, Joshua Gdn

We then headed to FamilySearch’s  New Hampshire, County Probate Records, 1660-1973 Rockingham Probate records 1784-1793 vol 28-30 to find the actual document reviewing:
Vol 28 – Index C’s Image 6 – no Joshua Chase found
Vol 29 – Index C’s Image 298 – Joshua Chase Guardn 148

We found page 148 at Image 388 and found the unexpected!.  We had expected to find a document appointing William Plaisted as Joshua’s guardian but this document reflects the appointment of Giles Seaward of Portsmouth as the guardian of Joshua Chase!

 

 

 

 

Rockingham ss At a Court of Probate held at Exeter in said County the seventh
day of November Anni Domini 1787 by Phillips White Esq Judge Administration … And Giles Seaward of Portsmouth in said County Mariner was appointed Guardian to Joshua Chase (a minor under fourteen years of age Son of Joshua Chase late of Newbury, Newton Physician) deceased and with George Wentworth Merch & William Dearing Carver both of said Portsmouth gave bond according to Law – And at said Court held at said Exeter on the ninth Day of the same November by the said Judge

So why might Giles Seaward have been appointed as Joshua’s guardian?  He was Joshua’s great grandfather, the father of Joshua’s grandmother Deborah (Sewaward) Shackford. Giles would have been 70 years old and a widow when he was appointed the guardian of five years old Joshua.  Giles’ daughter Deborah (Joshua’s grandmother) who would have been 48 years old was probably living in Giles’ home — we base this assumption on Giles’ will which was written two years later on 22 Aug 1789 and left his daughter Deborah (Seaward) Shackford the westerly half of his dwelling house and half of his personal estate.

Interestingly this guardianship document states that Joshua’s father the physician Dr Joshua Chase was deceased.  We wonder why this claim was made to the court as we’re not sure this is a correct — later documents pertaining to the younger Joshua seem to infer that Dr Joshua Chase was living.

We didn’t answer our research question What document appoints William Plaisted as guardian of Joshua Chase, born about 1782 in Portsmouth, the son of Dr Joshua Chase and Mary Shackford? yet but certainly learned more than we expected about the younger Joshua as we had no idea that his great grandfather Giles Seaward was the first person who was appointed as his guardian.

We’ll continue looking for the document appointing William Plaisted as Joshua’s guardian.

SOURCES:

New Hampshire, New Hampshire, County Probate Records, 1660-1973, Giles Seaward appointed Guardian of Joshua Chase; digital images, FamilySearch, http://www.familysearch.org (: accessed ); >Rockingham>Probate records 1784-1793 vol 28-30>Image 388

“New Hampshire, Wills and Probate Records, 1643-1982,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 January 2016), Giles Seaward

 

 

 

Treasure Chest Thursday – Probate Abstract — John Shackford (1725-1764), son of Paul and Rebecca (Hudson) Shackford (Blog 316)

We know that John Shackford, the son of Paul and Rebecca (Hudson) Shackford was born September 16, 1735 in Newbury, Massachusetts and that he married Deborah Seaward on Dec 19, 1758  at the Queens Church in Portsmouth.  We believe she was the daughter of Giles and Mary (Hodgdon) Seaward and was his first cousin once removed.

John’s probate records tell us he was a mariner and we believe but have not yet proven that he was the captain of the:

Brig Tortuga which sailed to Antigua from Piscataway on 24 July 1760

Brig Brotherhood which sailed from Piscataqua to Barbados on 15 Jan 176, arrived there 10 April 1761, and returned to Portsmouth on 3 May 1761

Ship Nevin from Piscataqua to Barbados on 16 Feb 1764 and the

Brig Amherst from Piscataqua to Barbados on 5 Mar 1762, returning on 1 Jul 1762, leaving Portsmouth to Virginia on 10 Dec 1762, leaving Virginia for Piscataqua  on 12 May 1763, and from Picataaqua to the West Indies on 8 Sept 1763

John’s father Paul’s 1787 probate records list’s two of his children and then lists the Heirs of John Shackford which verifies that he died before his father – we have not found any direct sources but have old notes from a Shackford descendant of his line that tell us that he died on Nov 2, 1764 aboard a ship while traveling from London to Boston.  The timing of his probate record (1765) confirms that his death date was probably around this time.

John left Deborah with either two or three very young children who were listed as heirs of his father’s estate:

Mary Shackford (1759-bef 1787) m. Joshua Chase – son Joshua Chase is mentioned in Paul’s probate records

John Shackford (1761-1800) m Amelia Moore – John is mentioned in his father’s estate

poss Deborah Shackford – there is a Deborah listed as a heir in Paul’s estate – just not sure if it is another child or John’s wife.

We do not know when John’s wife Deborah died or if she remarried but believe she was alive in May 1800 as she is mentioned in her son’s obituary as “his venerable, widowed mother, already fainting beneath trials peculiarly fevere, needs every confolation to ftrengthen dying fortitude”  Deborah’s death date is listed as either 8 Jun 1808 or 14 May 1811 in Rosemary Melville’s From Trickey to Thorpe: a History of the Trickey, Shackfords, Sewards, Calalahan’s publication but no source is noted.

PROBATE ABSTRACT FOR

JOHN SHACKFORD 1765 PORTSMOUTH

[Administration on the estate of John Shackford of Portsmouth, mariner, granted to his widow Deborah Shackford, June 18, 1765.]
[Probate Records, vol. 23, p. 460]
[Bond of Deborah Shackford, with Giles Seaward and John
Bartlett, mariners, as sureties, all of Portsmouth, in the sum of
L500, June 18, 1765, for the administration of the estate;
witnesses, Samuel Marshall, William Parker.]
[Warrant, June 18, 1765, authorizing Samuel Penhallow and
William Knight, both of Portsmouth, merchants, to appraise
the estate.]
[Inventory, Oct 22, 1765; amount, L229, 9.6; signed by
Samuel Penhallow and William Knight.]

We are thankful that Mr Otis Hammond summarized this probate record and are hoping to find and share the original on a future trip to Portsmouth!

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:

Melville Rosemary, From Trickey to Thorpe: a History of the Trickey, Shackfords, Seawards, Callahans (about 1993), page 77; digital image, FamilySearch.org (http://familysearch.org : accessed 20 January 2016.

Hardon Henry W, Newington, New Hampshire Families in the Eighteenth Century (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc, 1991), page 164

Dolliver Louise Pearsons Historian General, Lineage Book National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume XXIII. 22001-23000 1898 (Washington, D.C.: 1907), page 313; digital images, Google Books (http://books.general.com : accessed 4 July 2014.

Hammond Otis S., Editor, Director of the New Hampshire Historical Society, Probate Records of the Province of New Hampshire, Volume 8 (1940), page 181; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/catalog/search : accessed 24 January 2016.

Hammond Priscilla, Vital records from the Parish register of Queen’s Chapel Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Concord, New Hampshire: n.p., 1943), page unknown

Massachusetts “Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915,” database, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 29 March 2015), John Shackford b 16 Sep 1735

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 2016), Capt Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 10 April 1761, p. 2, col. 1..

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 2016), Capt John Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 16 January 1761, p. 2, col. 2..

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 206), Capt John Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 25 July 1760, p. 3, col. 2

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 2016), Capt John Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 5 March 1762, p. 1, col. 3..

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 2016), Capt John Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 8 May 1761, pp. 1, 2, cols. 3, 1..

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 2016), Capt Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 17 February 1764, p. 1, col. 3..

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 2016), Capt John Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 10 December 1762, p. 2, col. 1..

“New Hampshire Gazette: Newspaper Abstracts, 1756-1769,” database, New England Historical Genealogical Society (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 January 2016), Capt John Shackford; New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 13 May 1763, p. 3, col. 2..

Vital Records of Newbury Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 Volume I.-Births (Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1911), page 472; digital images, Essex County Ma (http://essexcountyma.net/ : accessed 12 July 2014

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