We’re pretty certain that Harriet Farnum Shackford was the daughter of John and Olive Farnum and that she was born in Manchester, NH on Oct 20, 1823. Our only hesitation was finding her obituary listing her maiden name as Varnum but we believe this is a typo. We believe we’ve found her in the Chester census in 1850 at age 28 living with parents John and Olive and 12 year old Elisabeth Vinson but know little of her heritage.
Our only source of Harriet’s marriage is John Carroll Chase’s book History of Chester New Hampshire Including Auburn A Supplement to the History of Old Chester Published in 1869 which states that Jonathan Shackford married in 1853 Harriet N Farnham. We then find her and Jonathan and their children in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 census. She probably had a tough life as the wife of a farmer in Chester, NH in the mid 1850 – 1880s but it may have been eased by her husband’s inheritance of the family homestead farm along with other neighboring property.
Harriet’s husband Jonathan died on August 4, 1895 in Chester and she followed her son-in-law George Symmes and her daughter Olive A to Canada where we find the family in 1901. Olive died in Quebec in 1903 and Harriet returned to Kingston, New Hampshire where she died on January 3, 1904. The cause of death was listed as senile, fall & injury to the neck.
Her obituary is shown below – we think it has a few typing errors – her maiden name is listed as Varnum and her son-in-law’s last name is misspelled Simms.
Harriet (Varnum) Shackford, widow of
the late Jonathan Shackford, died Sunday at
the home of her son-in-law, George Simms in
Kingston, at the age of 81 years and 3 months.
Her remains were brought here Tuesday and
placed in the receiving tomb to await internment
in the Village cemetery. After the death of
her husband several years ago she went to
Canada to live with her daughter Mrs Olive
Simms, and since her death about one year
ago has made her home with her son-in-law in
Kingston. Of her immediate family she is
survived by one son, Franklin P. Shackford.
Harriet’s will which was dated Dec 12, 1903 left $1.00 to her son Franklin Pierce Shackford and the remainder to her son-in-law, George W Symmes. Based on Harriet’s cause of death which was listed as senile, we wonder if the will was contested.
CHILDREN:
Franklin Pierce Shackford (1854-1926) – married Helen A Lewis, lived in Derry, NH and worked as a mason.
Samuel Q Shackford (1855-1868) – died at the young age of 8, buried in Chester, NH
Harriet E Shackford (1857-1876) – died at the young age of 18, buried in Chester, NH
Olive A Shackford (1859-1903) – married George W Symmes of Canada, lived in Manchester, then Canada where she died of valvular heart disease at the age of 43
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:
1850 United States Federal Census, Rockingham, New Hampshire, population schedule, Chester, Page 646 (penned), dwelling 594, family 645, John Farnum; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 12 March 2017).
1860 United States Federal Census, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Chester, Page No 23, dwelling 188, family 195, Jonathan Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2015).
1870 United States Federal Census, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Chester, Page No 7, dwelling 53, family 56, Jonathan Shackford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 May 2015).
1880 United States Federal Census, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Chester, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 200, Page No 9, dwelling 93, family 97, Jonathan Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2015).
“Canada Census 1901,”, database, FamilySearch (www.FamilySearch.org : accessed 21 May 2015), George Symms
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.
“Harriet (Varnum) Shackford,” The Derry News (Derry, New Hampshire), 8 January 1904; digital images, Derry Public Library (http://derry.advantage-preservation.com : accessed 24 February 2017).
New Hampshire, County Probate Estate Files, Samuel Shackford; “New Hampshire, County Probate Estate Files, 1769-1936,” digital images, Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org: accessed 8 July 2013); Rockingham County Case No 14275, Will found in Image 512 of 1140
New Hampshire, New Hampshire, Death Records 1654-1947, , Harriet N. Shackford, 3 January 1904; digital images, FamilySearch, New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947 (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 26 May 2014).
New Hampshire, New Hampshire, Death Records 1654-1947, , Jonathan Shackford, 4 August 1895; digital images, FamilySearch, New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947 (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 May 2014).
New Hampshire, New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FSVP-QBX, Franklin P Shackford, 5 July 1926; index and digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 20 May 2013).
“New Hampshire, Wills and Probate Records, 1643-1982,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 March 2017), Harriet N Shackford.
Quebec, Canada, Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967, , Olave A Shackford wife of George W Symms, ; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 27 January 2014).
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)
SHACKFORD Family History 