Donna Evans married Joseph Edward Shackford in October 1887. He was 37 and she was 22. Donna's father was Thomas Evans, a jeweler. Her mother was Jane Kilburn. We know Jane died young, sometime before Donna turned 15 as we find Donna in 1880 living in DuPage, Illinois with her father Thomas, a widow and her sister Maggie. According to the Oak Reporter, Donna had been prominent in social circles in Chicago.
According to the newspaper, the wedding which was held held at the Central Park Congregational Church in Chicago, Illinois was a brilliant social event. There was a reception held at her brother's in law's home after which, the happy couple departed by night train for their future home in Syracuse, New York.
In October 1902 The Syracuse Journal describes a celebration of their fifteenth wedding anniversary with a party of fifty friends, many beautiful gifts and says that whist formed the evening's entertainment. Donna must have gotten ill three years after her anniversary - her death certificate says she suffered from chronic obstruction of common bile duct.
She died at age 43 having cared for two of Joseph's earlier children and leaving three children of her own:
William Henry Shackford (1873-1958) - married Anna Moody
Joseph Edward Shackford (1876-1948) - married May Rowe Chadwick
Arthur Evans Shackford (1889-1965) - married Josephine Clara Essig
Thomas Leon Shackford (1892-1959) - married Ruth Hopkins and Eugenie Edwards (my grandparents)
Donna May Shackford (1896-????) - married William J Brown
Mrs. Donna Evan Shackford Died This
Morning.
Mrs. Donna Evans Shackford, wife of
J. E. Shackford, died at 4:30 o'clock this
morning at the family home, No. 210
West Beard avenue. She had been in ill
health for the last three years.
Mrs. Shackford was a daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Evans and was
born at Owego forty-three years ago.
Her younger life was spent at Chicago,
where she married Mr. Shackford twenty
years ago, coming to this city where
she has since lived. Besides her hus-
band, Mrs. Shackford is survived by
two sons; Arthur E. and Thomas L.
Shackford; by one daughter, Donna May
Shackford; by her father Thomas Evans
of Swift, Ill; by a brother, Arthur E.
Evans of Chicago; and by two sisters
Mrs. Stella Towne of Los Angeles and
Mrs. W. K. Patrick of Swift. The
funeral will probably be held on Thurs-
day.
REFERENCES
1880 United States Federal Census, DuPage County, Illinois, population schedule, Township of York, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 250, Page No 16 (D), dwelling 138, family 138, Thomas Evans; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 December 2013
"Brilliant Social Event," Oak Park Reporter, 21 October 1887; Newspaper Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 29 January 2014).
Donna L Shackford, death certificate Register No. G72/26 (13 July 1908), New York State Departent of Health, County of Onondaga, State of New York A Verified Transcript from the Register of Deaths, County of Onondaga, State of New York, Dated at Syracuse, New York
"FOR ANNIVERSARIES.," The Syracuse Journal, 25 October 1902; Fulton History (http://www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 24 January 2014).
"Mr Shackford's Suit," The Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, New York), 19 December 1886; digital images, Access Newspaper Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 10 December 2013
"SOCIAL AND PERSONAL," The Post Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.), 23 October 1902; digital images, Fulton History (http://fultonhistory.com/ : accessed 24 January 2014
"SOCIAL AND PERSONAL," The Post Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.), 23 October 1902; digital images, Fulton History (http://fultonhistory.com/ : accessed 24 January 2014