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

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.

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

Wednesday Wedding – Richard Shackford, Wharf Builder of Boston Marries His Housekeeper, Isiphene Mann Eighteen Months After His First Wife Dies (Blog 445)

We learned about Mrs Isiphene Shackford from this obituary found in the the Bar Harbor Mount Desert Herald

Mrs Isiphene Shackford Slips from South Surry, Bar Harbor Mount Desert Herald (Bar Harbor, Maine), 22 January 1886
Bar Harbor Mount Desert Herald, 22 Jan 1886

The remains of Mrs. Isiphene Shackford who died at her home in Winthrop, Mass., on New Year’s day, were brought to Surry for internment, and placed in Morgan’s Bay cemetery, on Thursday last.

The Faylene Hutton Cemetery Collection listed her husband as Richard Shackford which helped us place him as Richard, the son of Samuel and Hannah (Currier) Shackford who was born on October 3, 1812 in Chester, New Hampshire.  On March 22, 1840, he married Elizabeth Rankin who died in Winthrop on May 30, 1864.

We don’t know when Isiphene started working as Richard’s housekeeper but the 1865 census taken on May 13, 1865 after her death shows Richard Shackford, age 53 living in Winthrop with his housekeeper, Isiphenia Mann, age 24.

They married on December 7 of that year:Marriage Record Richard Shackford Isiphene Mann

MARRIAGES REGISTERED IN THE Town of Winthrop for the Year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, page 5 Richard Shackford, Winthrop, age 53, Wharf Builder, born Chester, N.H., parents Samuel & Hannah Schackford, Second, Porter M Winton Pastor, M. E. Chc, Winthrop
Isiphenia Mann, Winthrop, age 25, born Surry, Me, parents Robert & Hannah Mann

Isiphenia whose name is spelled many ways – Isiphenia, Isiphena, Josephine, Isiphemia, and Isiphene was the daughter of Robert and Hannah (Eaton) Mann, born in Surry, Maine on February 21, 1841.  She and her husband Richard are found in the 1870 and 1880 census records living in Winthrop — Richard with an occupation as a bridge builder – his previous occupations were wharf builder, pile driver.  He also served on the Boston Common Council and was a selectman in Boston during the Civil War

Isiphene was only 44 when she died of peritonitis on Jan 1, 1886 after being ill for five days.  She was buried in the Bayview Cemetery in her home town of Surry, Maine.  Her husband Richard died on April 6, 1895 and was buried in Wells, Maine next to his first wife Elizabeth.

CHILDREN: (with wife Elizabeth Rankin)

William Henry (1842-1846) – buried in Wells, Maine

Mary Ann Shackford (1845-1845) – buried in Wells, Maine

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:

1865 Massachusetts Census, Suffolk County, population census, Winthrop, no page number, dwelling 72, family 82, Richard Shackford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 April 2015).

1870 United States Federal Census, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Page No 6, dwelling 42, family 47, Richard Shackford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 21 April 2015).

1880 United States Federal Census, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, population census, Winthrop, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 575, Page No 18, dwelling 94 family 99, Richard Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 April 2015).

Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 17 July 2014), Mary M. Shackford, Find A Grave Memorial# 131853042.

Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 17 July 2014), William Henry Shackford, Find A Grave Memorial# 131853071.

“Maine, Faylene Hutton Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1990,” index and Images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 19 April 2015), Isiphenia Shackford.

“Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910,” index, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 6 April 2015), Richard Shackford m Isiphemia Mann 7 Dec 1865.

Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915, , Elizabeth Shackford, 30 June 1864; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 August 2013); Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

New Hampshire, New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900, , Richard Shackford, 3 October 1812; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 6 April 2015).

“Slips from South Surry,” Bar Harbor Mount Desert Herald (Bar Harbor, Maine), 22 January 1886; digital images, Digital Archives of the Friends of Island History (http://islandhistory.newspaperarchive.com/ : accessed 10 January 2014).

Town of Winthrop, Town of Winthrop : Record of Deaths 1886 (1886), ; digital images, Archive.org (https://archive.org : accessed 12 July 2017

Updated on 7/23/2017 to reflect correct Elizabeths’ month of death as May and the year Isiphene’s year of death as 1886.  We wish to thank Cathy who noticed this error.

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

Mystery Monday – Why Was Samuel Quimby Shackford Suing Ship Hermann in California in 1850? (Blog 416)

Samuel Quimby Shackford, the eighth child of Samuel and Hannah (Currier) Shackford was born in Chester, New Hampshire September 25, 1822.  When he was 19 years old, his father died and left everything to his mother Hannah and his brother Jonathan.  Samuel Q and his siblings  received $1 as a token of remembrances. On January 7, 1843, his brother, Richard Shackford of Boston assumed his guardianship.  Seven years later, on January 31, 1849, Samuel and two of his brothers John and Luther headed to California aboard the Steamer Corsair.

Sometime thereafter Samuel filed a lawsuit against Ship Hermann and Owners.  This is all we know about the lawsuit:

Samuel Q Shackford vs Ship Hermann DISTRICT COURT, Daily Alta California (San Francisco, California), 14 August 1850
Daily Alta California, Aug 14, 1850

DISTRICT COURT-Judge Parsons – Samuel Q Shackford vs Ship Hermann and Owners. – This was a motion to set aside writ of attachment. Motion argued and overruled.

Unfortunately Samuel died in Sacramento, California on Oct 9, 1850, 45 days after filing the lawsuit – he was only 28 years old.  Someday we hope to learn more about why Samuel sued the Ship Hermann

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:

“California Deaths and Burials, 1776-2000,” database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2020), Samuel L Shackford, d 19 Oct 1850.

Chase John Carroll, History of Chester New Hampshire Including Auburn A Supplement to the History of Old Chester Published in 1869 (Derry, New Hampshire: John Carroll Chase, 1926), page 357-358; digital image, Archive.org (https://archive.org : accessed 27 December 2016.

“DISTRICT COURT,” Daily Alta California (San Francisco, California), 14 August 1850; digital images, California Digital Newspaper Collection (https://cdnc.ucr.edu : accessed 11 March 2017).

Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 5 April 2015), Samuel L Find A Grave Memorial# 140723334.

New Hampshire, New Hampshire, Birth Records, 1659-1900, , Samuel Quimby Shackford, 25 September 1822; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 July 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.

“Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers,” index, American Ancestors (www.americanancestors.org : accessed 10 February 2020), Samuel Q Shackford Guardianship.

Copyright 2020 Joanne Shackford Parkes  (sharing a link to this post is appreciated but please do not copy this material and paste it elsewhere)

Updated 2020 to include reference to Samuel Q’s guardianship and a source regarding his death.