JOINED IN WEDLOCK.
This evening at 8 o'clock, at the residence of Mrs. G. A. Dewant, No 31 Liberty avenue, Fifth ward, Mrs. E. Belle Shackford of Keene, N. H. and Mr. E. E. Shackford of this city were united in matrimony.
The bride is an accomplished and sweet young women, who during her brief residence in this city , had, by her gently disposition and pleasant manners, endeared herself to a large circle of admiring friends.
The groom, equally esteemed for his true worth, has for years been in the employ of the Southern Pacific, and is to-day one of the most trusted and popular conductors on the road. He has many friends throughout the city of Houston, who will wish him joy and happiness in his wedded life.
The presents were numerous and tasteful, one of the handsomest being an elegant bronze clock, presented by Houston Division No. 7, Order of Railway
Conductors, of which organization Mr Shackford is an honored member.
After the wedding reception was performed a reception was held by the happy couple from ? o'clock until 11, which was attended by a large number of friends. " ("JOINED IN WEDLOCK.," Galveston (Galveston, Texas) Daily News, 4 October 1888; Access Newspapers Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com :
accessed 8 June 2013))
The news about Elmer Ellsworth Shackford's wedding which occurred in Harris, Texas (believe Houston) was also described in the San Antonio (Texas) Daily Express in an article which mentioned that he was a popular conductor, that he was a member of the Knights of Pythius, and that they went to San Antonio for a few days after the wedding.
EE Shackford had been the conductor on a train that was held up by robbers just ten days before his wedding. (See article here).
His bride was his brother's widow. She had married Charles Hiram Shackford in May 1886 in Keene, New Hampshire and Charles died of typhoid fever in Fitchburg, Mass on February 1887, just nine months after their wedding. He was only 19 and his wife Isabella was 16. I wonder how his wife-who had already lost one husband learned that her new husband to be he was safe and also if she wondered about his safety during the many years he continued in railway jobs.
REFERERENCES:
JOINED IN WEDLOCK.," Galveston (Galveston, Texas) Daily News, 4 October 1888; Access Newspapers Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com :accessed 8 June 2013
"Marriage of Conductor Shackford," San Antonio (Texas) Daily Express, 5 October 1888; Access Newspaper Archive (http://access.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 6 April 2013).
"Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973," index, FamilySearch (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 July 2013),
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FXQQ-SX8 E. E. Shackford and E. Belle Shackford, 03 Oct 1888
Copyright 2013 Joanne Shackford Parkes