We learned from Charles Wells Chapin's 1893, Sketches of the Old Inhabitants and Other Citizens of Old Springfield of the Present Century, and Its Historic Mansions of "Ye Olden Tyme", that Col. Samuel Adams Shackford was a merchant in business with George A. Taylor in Chicopee, Massachusetts until 1863 and then found this 1856 Massachusetts Business Directory which lists their store under both the Clothing and Dry Goods sections.
We wondered what a dry goods store was like in 1856 and found Lynn Corbin's blog letting us know how one proprietor organized his dry goods store in 1856.
Thanks to the Chicopee Public Library, we also were also able to find some scanned Chiccopee Weekly Journals which let us know that Samuel A Shackford was commissioned as Justice of the Peace on March 4, 1854 and elected as Town Moderator on April 8, 1854! We believe he held other elected positions but are looking for more sources documenting his legislative roles.
We've also found Samuel's death record registered in the Town of Chicopee for the Year eighteen hundred and sixty-four showing he died of softening of the brain on Feb 3rd and verifying that his parents were Seth R Shackford and Martha [Boardman, jsp].
Also, a photograph of Samuel's gravestone can be found at Find A Grave at Memorial #64717159.
We'll use this and more material to compile a biography about Samuel Adams Shackford for a future blog. Thanks to those who make all this digital material to include photographs of gravestones available so we can research SHACKFORDs while living far from New England!
References:
Chapin Charles Wells, Sketches of the Old Inhabitants and Other Citizens of Old Springfield of the Present Century, and Its Historic Mansions of "Ye Olden Tyme" (Springfield, Mass: Press of Springfield, Mass, 1893), page 329; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 15 February 2014
Chicopee Weekly Journal (Chicopee, Massachusetts), 4 March 1854, page 2, col 7; digital images, Chicopee Public Library (http://www.chicopeepubliclibrary.org/ : accessed 21 February 2014).
Chicopee Weekly Journal (Chicopee, Massachusetts), 8 April 1854; digital images, Chicopee Public Library (http://www.chicopeepubliclibrary.org/ : accessed 22 February 2014
Find A Grave, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 22 February 2014), Samuel Shackford, Find A Grave Memorial# 64727259
Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915, , Sam A Shackford, 1864; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 February 2014); Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts
Copyright 2014 Joanne Shackford Parkes