Sometime before he turned eight, John became a resident at the New Hampshire's Orphan's Home located in Franklin, New Hampshire and was living there on June 14th when the 1880 census was taken.
We don't know how long he stayed in the orphanage but assume that it was a shocking situation for an eight year old boy whose siblings were also placed in homes across the state.
We do know that when John was 20, he was working in Lowell as a teamster when he married Emma L Dodge on January 28, 1893. She was employed as a knitter at the time of their marriage. In 1900 they are recorded in different locations in the census - he is living with the Colby family in Merrimack, New Hampshire working as a boarder, and his wife Emma is living at 502 School Street in Lowell with her mother Mary Dodge and with John's sister Alice, her husband Charles W Moore, and their children. Unfortunately Emma died on April 27, 1902 of an ovarian cystoma. The Lowell Sun listed the many flowers brought to her funeral by husband, brother, grandmother, friends, aunt, uncle, and the Moore family.
Six month's after Emma's death, on August 12, 1902, John married Carrie Jenette (Miller) Nelson in Ryegate, Vermont. Carrie was a widow with four living children whose first husband, Carlos Nelson had died in 1883. We wonder how they met as she was 54 at the time of their marriage and John was 30. Interestingly, John's occupation was listed as farmer and he quickly became involved in community activities such as the Ryegate's building committee, increasing the farm's water supply, and became a Blue Mountain Telephone Company Director. The boot The History of Ryegate, Vermont describes John's wfe Carrie as a successful dairy farmer who won many prizes for her butter and cheese, increased her farm's size and capabilities and taught butter-making to her sons.
In 1910 we find Caroline living in Ryegate with her son Claud, daugther-in law Delia - we're uncertain why John isn't listed in that census record. Caroline died on May 8, 1919 in Ryegate of apoplexy and diiabetes at the age of 71. Her funeral announcement was attended by her husband, children, and many "to bear testimony to the place Mrs Shackford held in the esteem of the people with whom she had mingled during her lifetime."
After Caroline's death, John boarded in Ryegate at the Henderson home 1920. He then moved to Manchester but did return to visit Ryegate in 1922 but by 1930 was living with his nephew William Shackford in Hooksett, Massachusetts. Two years later a Mystery Shooting was reported at the home which left John in critical condition. John survived and moved to 47 Lane street in Lowell where he resided with his niece Ada Moore Craven and worked as a laundry worker. He died in 1960 in Northbridge at the age of 88 or 89.
SOURCES:
1880 United States Federal Census, Merrimack County, population schedule, Franklin, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 179, Page No 12, John L Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 May 2015)
1900 United States Federal Census, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, population schedule, Canterbury, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 144, Sheet No 2, dwelling 45, family 45, John Shackford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 24 May 2015).
1910 United States Federal Census, Caledonia County, Vermont, population schedule, Ryegate, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 50, Sheet No 91, dwelling 171, family 179, Carrie J Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 May 2015).
1920 United States Federal Census, Caldenonia County, Vermont, population schedule, Ryegate, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District No 13, Sheet No, dwelling 178, family 189, John Shackford boarder at home of Henry Henderson; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 May 2015).
1930 United States Federal Census, Merrimack, New Hampshire, population schedule, Hooksett town, enumeration district (ED) ED 7-42, SD No 2, Sheet No 3B, William Shackford head; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2013).
Biennial Report of the Public Service Commission of the State of Vermont June 30, 1916, to December 31, 1917 (Change from Fiscal year to Calendar Year) (Rutland, Vermont: The Tuttle Company, 1918), page 50; digital image, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 24 May 2015
"FUNERALS," Lowell Sun (Lowell Massachusetts), 2 May 1902; digital images, Newspaper Archives (http://access.newspaperarchives.com : accessed 4 August 2015).
Massachusetts, Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, DEATHS REGISTERED in the City of Lowell for the Year Nineteen Hundred and two Page 573, Emma L Dodge Shackford, death, 27 April 1902; digital images, Family Search (http://familysearch.org : accessed 10 August 2013).
Massachusetts, Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915, , John L Shackford m Emma L Dodge, 28 January 1893; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 April 2014
Miller Edward and Frederick P. Wells, History of Ryegate, Vermont, From Its Settlement by the Scotch-American Company of Farmers to Present Time with Genealogical Records of Many Families (St. Johnsbury, Vt: The Caledonian Company, 1913), page 198; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com : accessed 24 May 2015
"Mrs J. A. Shackford," The Evening Caledonian (St. Johnsbury, Vermont), 17 May 1919; digital image, Library of Congress Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 24 May 2015).
"Mystery in Shooting at Hookset," Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshrie), 3 March 1932; digital images, Newspaper Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 28 May 2014)
New Hampshire, New Hampshire, Birth Records, Early to 1900, , John Leon Shackford, 31 March 1872; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 11 May 2015).
Polk's Lowell (Middlesex County, Mass.) City Directory 1943 (Boston, Mass: R. L. Pol & Co., Publishers, 1943), page 600, John L Shackford; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 August 2015).
Massachusetts "Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980," index book, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 September 2013), John L Shackford
"RYEGATE.," St. Johnsbury Caledonian (St. Johnsbury, Vermont), 14 September 1904; digital images, Library of Congress Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 24 May 2015).
"RYEGATE," The Caledonian-record (St Johnsbury, Vermont), 5 October 1922; digital images, Library of Congress Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 13 November 2014).
Vermont, Vermont Vital Records, 1760-2008, p, 344, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XFH1-KMY, John Leon Shackford and Mrs Carrie J Nelson, 12 August 1902; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 5 June 2013).
Vermont, Vermont Vital Records, 1760-2008, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/2V7X-QYV, Carrie J Nelson Shackford d., 8 May 1919; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 8 January 2014).