John and his wife Martha Cole had seven children, four of whom (Lela, Harvey Temple, Mary Alice, and Nannie Lloyd) died of diphtheria in 1862. Three years later they lost their son Walter Emory who was serving with Virginia's 5th Calvary Regiment when he was mortally wounded in April 1865 at "Five Forks" in Dinwiddie Co.
John's two remaining children were Joseph Wesley Shackford, a minister and William H Shackford a physician. John William died in July 1900 followed shortly by the death of his widow Martha in November 1900. This excellent article shown below describes some of John William Shackford's life.
At that time he was only 28 years of age, and was ardently devoted to the cause of Methodism. Thenceforth for more than thirty-five years he labored "in season, out of season," throughout King and Queen, and often in King William and Essex Counties, for the cause of Christ. He preached often at "Shepherd's" "Providence," Paces," and the "Old Church," and many souls were converted under his ministry. He never lost his devotion for his itinerant brethern; his house was their home, they sought his council, loved him cordially, and he labored with then in their meetings, and for their support in all the practical work of the church. Acting under the authority of the Quarterly Conference in 1873, he raised the money to buy the first parsonage for King and Queen ciruit. He was class-leader, superintendent of Sunday school, and preacher, all in one. He loved God's people of every name; and no minister ever labored in King and Queen who did more to establish Methodism in the county. For the last fifteen years of his life he was too feeble in body to preach much but he did what he could to help on the little church which had now been built at Walkerton, and to which he gave the name of Mizpah. He died in his eighty-first year, on July 10th, 1900, and was laid to rest in the family burying ground, lamented by a great number of neighbors, relatives, bretheran, and friends. Very tender and impressive memorial services, at which loving tributes were spoken by ministers and laymen of his own and other denominations, were held at Mizpah on July 22d, 1900.
More about John's life and his siblings can be found in The Diary of Joseph Wesley Shackford King and Queen County Virginia 1868-1893.
REFERENCES
Bagby Rev Alfred, A. B,, D. D., King and Queen County, Virginia (New York and Washington: The Neale Publishing Company, 1908), page 108; digital images, HathiTrust (http://babel.hathitrust.org : accessed 29 September 2013
Johnston Joseph S, editor, The Diary of Joseph Wesley Shackford King and Queen County Virginia 1868-1893 (Library of Congress: Library of Congress, 1991), p. 394
Tyler Lyon Gardiner, Men of Mark in Virginia: Ideals of American Live; a Collection of the Leading Men in the State, Volume 3 (Men of Mark Publishing Company: 1907), 357-359; digital images, Google eBooks and at Hathi Trust, http://books.google.com; http://babel.hathitrust.org (: accessed 29 September 2013
Copyright 2014 Joanne Shackford Parkes