Helen's death record lists her father as C W Shackford but we believe that her father was John Ellis Shackford (1825 - 1873) who married Fannie Cruess in Saint Louis in September 1859. We don't know much about Fannie but John was the son of William Moore Shackford and Joanna Chauncy Moore and lost his first wife Mary Astern Harris in Toledo in 1854.
Helen was born in June 1860 in St Louis and later that month she is listed in the census with John and Fannie at age 1/12 year. In 1870 we find John E Shackford, age 45, Fannie, age 30, Helen age 10, and Fannie, age 8. Three years later, Helen's father John had died of apoplexy. We haven't found Helen in the 1880 census but know that she married Frank Webster Abbot on November 16, 1881 in Saint Louis. From the 1889 book History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri we know he had been working on the "Frisco" in St Louis and in 1883 moved to Lebanon, Missouri where he was in charge of the Adams Express and general agent of the St Louis & San Francisco Railroad Line. We have not yet found a death record or burial information for Frank W Abbot but based on a probate index record and census records, believe he died in early 1900.
The Lebanon, Missouri 1900 census taken on June 2, 1900 lists Helen Abbott, age 37 a widow who had four children with three living listing Charles, age 13, Frank C, age 11 at home. We're unsure where son Edward is at this time. Also in the home is Helen's sister Frances Breckenridge with her husband Samuel J who is a Railroad Agent and their three children: John, age 8, Gerald (listed as Harold), age 6, and Dorothy, age 2. Ten years later in 1910, Helen's three children have left home and she is living as a lodger in the home of Otto Weisgerber and his family. We haven't found her in the 1920 census yet but she was living with her son Frank Abbot at 2915 Hamilton Street in Houston for four months before her death on 10 July 1927. She was buried in the Lebanon City Cemtery in Lebanon, Missouri.
Children:
Edward Hancock Abbot (1883 - 1943) - lived in El Paso, worked in real estate, married Virginia L Bass
Charles Shackford Abbott (1887 - 1957) - moved to Mobile, Alabama, printer, married Hatti I Jensen
Frank C Abbot (1889 - 1944) - moved to Houston, tax agent, married but unsure of wife's name
Unknown child
SOURCES:
Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 18 July 2014), Helen Augusta Shackford Abbot, Find A Grave Memorial# 7852814
History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri: From the Earliest Time to the Present, Including a Department Devoted to the Preservation of Sundry Personal, Business, Professional and Private Records; Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Etc., Etc (Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing, 1889), Biographical Appendix, Page 688; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 17 February 2015
Missouri, , Abbot; "Missouri, Probate Records, 1750-1998," digital images, Family Search, http://familysearch.org (: accessed 17 February 2015); >Laclede>Probate index, 1850-1908, vol A-B>Image 79 of 203
Missouri, Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002, , John E Shackford m Fannie Cruess in St Louis, 22 September 1859; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 November 2013).
Missouri, Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002, , Helen A Shackford m Frank W Abbot St Louis, 16 November 1881; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 November 2013).
Nancy Johnston, "Re: Helen Augusta Shackford Abbot, Find A Grave Memorial# 7852814," e-mail from [e-mail for private use] ([street address for private use]), to Joanne Shackford Parkes, 17 February 2015
Texas, Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982, , Mrs Helen A Abbot, 10 July 1927; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 December 2013).