"The Prediction Fufilled (From Shackford's Lecture on the Mexican War) About twelve years ago, when the idea of the annexation of Texas to the United States was derided y men of all parties, as would be the idea of the annexation of Botany Bay when the politicians were asleep and saw no signs of the approaching evil, there proceeded from one who was regarded by them as a mere Dreamer and Theorist, and was directed to stick to his trade of preaching from the pulpit, a word which was a voice of prophesy, so literaly has it been fufilled... (Anti-slavery bugle. (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, March 17, 1848, Image 1)
Charles Chauncy Shackford7, William Moore6, John5, John Josiah4, Paul3, John2, WILLIAM1, was the third son of William Moore Shackford (1789-1825) and Joanna Chauncy Moore (1792-1857). He was born Sep 26, 1815[i]in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to a ship captain and a descendent of Charles Chauncy, the second president of Harvard College.
Charles attended Philips Exeter Academy[ii]and then Harvard[iv] where he graduated in 1835[v]as the first scholar (valedictorian), class orator, and editor of the Harvardiana.[vi] He returned to Harvard to attend Law School, then continued his education at New York and Andover Theological Seminaries. He was then ordained in 1841 at Boston as the minister of Hawes Place Unitarian Church.[vii] This same year he married Charlotte Louise Shackford of Portsmouth, daughter of Capt John Shackford and Jane Smallcorn. He then joined his younger brother Albert Samuel Shackford in Burlington, Iowa where he was a teacher from 1844-1846. After the death of his wife, in Oct 1845, he moved east to Lynn where he became the pastor of the Lynn Unitarian Church.[viii] On September 22, 1846 He married Martha Gold Chapin. While in Lynn he was very active in education, helped create a public library, and was involved in the community in literary clubs and giving lectures.[ix]
One of those lectures was "A citizen's appeal in regard to the war with Mexico, A lecture" which was delivered at Lyceum Hall in Lynn on January 16, 1848.[x] Charles' hobbies while in Lynn included translating German literature[xi] In 1865 he left the Lynn pulpit and started a school for young women in
Boston.[xii]
In 1871, Charles was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory and of General Literature at Cornell (Ithaca, NY). During his tenure as a professor, he was recognized by his students for "developing their intellectual advancement".[xiii] The Cornell class of 1884 was so impressed with him that they gifted the
school with an oil painting of him as their class memorial.[xiv] Professor Charles C Shackford retired from Cornell in 1886 and moved to Brookline, Massachusetts.
Charles died on Dec 25, 1891 in Brookline. His obituary states that he was a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson (they met in 1836)[xv]; that "his aim in life was high, unselfish and noble"[xvi], and that he so "lived as to show the beauty and loveliness of a life so directed."[xvii] After his death, Roberts Bros published "Social and Literary Papers, essays prepared for and read before various literary clubs.[xviii]
CHILDREN:
Ellen Louisa Shackford (1842-1843)
Clara Bartlett Shackford (1847-1851)
Alice M Shackford (1849-????) - Married Edward Ellis, lived in Lynn, Boston, and Brookline
Charles Chauncy Shackford (1852-1931) - salesman, retired leather dealer, married Flora Adelaide Wood, lived in Lynn, Boston, and Long Beach, California
Martha Bartlett Shackford (1855-????) Married Gram Curtis, lived in Lynn, Boston, Newcastle, Pennslyvania,
Swarthmore, Pennslyvania
Lucy Bartlett Shackford -(1857-1934) - Graduated from Cornell, married Charles Edward Payn Babcock, moved to Buffalo, New York
[i] Andover Theological Seminary, Necrology, 1891-92, Boston: Beacon Press: Thomas Todd, Printer, 1 Somerset St, 1892), p. 45
[ii] Andover Theological Seminary, Necrology, 1891-92, Boston: Beacon Press: Thomas Todd, Printer, 1 Somerset St, 1892), p. 45
[iv] Catalogue of the officers and students of Harvard University, for the academical year 1831-32
[v] New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vols. 37 (1883)-v. 52 (1898), p. 151
[vi] The Cornell Daily Sun, Volume VI, Number 131, 19 May 1886 — AN INTERESTING AND SUCCESSFUL CAREER. [ARTICLE]
[vii] " The Cornell Daily Sun, Volume VI, Number 131, 19 May 1886 — AN INTERESTING AND SUCCESSFUL CAREER. [ARTICLE]
[viii]Andover Theological Society Necrology, 1891-92, Prepared for the Alumni Association, Second Printed Series, No 2, Boston Press: Thomas Todd, Printer Somerset Street, 1892, p. 45
[ix]Andover Theological Society Necrology, 1891-92, Prepared for the Alumni Association, Second Printed Series, No 2, Boston Press: Thomas Todd, Printer Somerset Street, 1892, p. 45
[x]Shackford, Charles C, A citizen's appeal in regard to the war with Mexico, A lecture, Delivered at Lyceum Hall, Lynn, January 16, 1848, Boston, Printed by Andrews & Prentiss, No 11, Devonshire Street, 1848, accessed via Hathi Trust Digital Library Jan 25, 2013
[xi]Selkreg, John H, Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York, D Mason & Co, 1894
[xii]Gates, Charles Horatio, Memorials of The Class of 1835, Harvard University. Prepared on Behalf of the Class Secretary, Boston, David Clapp & Son, 1886, p. 69-70
[xiii]Selkreg, John H, Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York, D Mason & Co, 1894
[xiv]Cornell Daily Sun, Ithaca NY, Wednesday, May 19, 1996
[xv]Takeda, Katz, d'Annales de Litterature Comparee, Vol XXII, 1968, p, 11-2
[xvi] Boston Evening Transcript, Dec 28, 1891
[xvii]Boston Evening Transcript, Dec 28, 1891
[xviii]The annual American catalogue 1886-1900: being the full titles ..., Volume 7, p. 183