Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

SHACKFORD William Shackford, of Bloody Point, Dover township, New Hampshire, took the oath of fidelity required by the general court of Massachusetts in 1669. He was a member of the grand jury in 1682. He married Deborah, daughter of Thomas Trickey, an original settler of Bloody Point, N. H., about 1637. William Shackford cultivated a farm and was a house carpenter by trade. Three sons: Samuel, John and Joshua. Bloody Point was named Newington by Governor Dudley in 1714, but it had already been incorporated as a parish, but was not incorporated as a town until 1764. William Shackford was a member of the first church established in Newington. He died there in 1720. (II) Joshua, son of William and Deborah (Trickey) Shackford, was born in Newington, N. H. He married Elizabeth ____, and had three sons: Samuel, John and Paul, baptized in the church at Newington in 1728. He continued to reside in Newington up to the time of his death. (III) Samuel, son of Joshua and Elizabeth Shackford, was born in Newington, N. H., and was a mariner, sailing from Newbury, where he made his home. He married July 19, 1740, Mary Coombs, of Newbury, Mass. Having been brought up to the life of a sailor, he followed that calling and brought up his boys to the same hazardous and exciting vocation. Children: 1. Captain John (q.v.), born in 1753. 2. Levi, a soldier in the American revolution, wounded in the battle of Bunker Hill. 3. William, a sailor in the privateer service and a prisoner of war for three years and afterward served in the navy under John Paul Jones. 4. Mary, who married Caleb Boynton, for whom Boynton street and Boynton school in Eastport are named. Captain Samuel Shackford died in Newburyport, Mass. (IV) John, son of Samuel and Mary (Coombs) Shackford, was born in Newbury, Mass. in 1753. He was brought up a sailor and while so employed his ship visited Eastport, Maine as early as 1763. He married Nov. 26, 1780, Eshter, daughter of Captain Gideon and Hannah Woodwell. Captain Woodwell was an extensive ship builder in Newbury, Mass. Captain John Shackford was a pioneer settler of Eastport, Washington county, Maine, visiting the place for a second time in 1782, when he determined to remain and make provisions for the safety and comfort of his wife and children preparatory to permanent setttlement. He built accommodations for curing the fish he hired caught by the Indians and some white fishermen from the British province; he also erected a strong storehouse of logs, where he kept and sold such merchandise as met the requirements of the fishermen and Indians; the fishery and storehouse were in full operation, and he set about building a dwelling house and planting part of his farming lands. Everything being ready in 1784, he set out in his small sailing vessel, the "Industry," for Newbury, Mass., and brought to their new home his wife and two children, John and William Shackford. His little craft was the first vessel owned in the place, as the fishing business up to that time had been done in open boats. Among the vessels subsequently owned by him were the "Delight," "Hannah," "Sally" and "Patty." The latter vessel plied between Eastport, Portland and Boston, and was the first freight and passenger boat employed on this route. The "Polly" was commanded by John Shackford Jr., son of the owner. He also carried on a farm of one hundred acres on Shackford Cove, being lot No. 3, granted him in 1783, and one hundred acres calle Shackford's Head or Broad Cove. He was a soldier in Capt. Wood's company, which marched under General Benedict Arnold through the woods of Maine to the attack of Quebec, and in the assault on that fortress he was taken prisoner and was confined nine months in prison, six weeks of the time being in irons. Upon his return he was ordered to the army of General Washington at Kings Bridge, New York. After the close of the revolutionary war Benedict Arnold, then known as the traitor, took refuge in St. John, New Brunswick, where he was a merchant and ship owner, and Capt. John Shackford loaded a vessel for him at Campo Bello, Arnold personally directing the work. He commanded the first militia company organized in Eastport, his uniform consisting of an old Continental three-cornered hat and he wore an old sword. His company was made up largely of veteran soldiers of the revolution, a wild set of fellows whom their captain found it difficult to control. During the war of 1812, when the English fleet captured the town, the British commander was met at the wharf by the old patriot soldier who demanded of the British officer as follows: "Well sir! what brought you here? I am king of Pascamaquoddy and thou are my subject. If you behave youself you can come on shore, if not you had better begone." On taking possession of the town the inhabitants were ordered to swear fidelity to the king of England, but Capt. Shackford replied to the officer who was about to administer the oath, "that he had fought under General Washington; that he might take four horses and draw him to quarters, but never would he swear allegience to the king of England." The old veteran was excused from taking the oath and his property was not disturbed. Capt. John Shackford died at his home in Eastport, Maine, on Christmas day, 1840, having attained the eighty-seventh year of his age, and his widow obtained a pension from the U. S. government by reason of his service in the American revolution. His brother Levi was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, and his brother William was captured on the privateer "Dalton" and confined in the "Old Mill Prison" for three years, and on being released he served under John Paul Jones, and he was either killed or died from hardships endured in the war, as he never returned to his home. Children: 1. John Jr., born in Newbury, Mass. July 1, 1781, was commander of the first vessel owned in the town and commander on the first freight and passenger traffic boat established between Eastport, Portland and Boston, and his last packed, the "Boundary," the swiftest vessel on the coast after twenty-one years in this service, had to give place to seamships. Capt. John Shackford Jr. built a windmill upon the bluff at the entrance of Shackford's Cove, but it proved faulty in construction and was of no practical value, but remained standing on the bluff for many years as a conspicuous landmark. Three sons, all sailors: Captain Benjamin, who died in Eastport in 1885, aged seventy-three years. Captain Charles W., master of the brig "Esther Elizabeth," who with his vessel was lost at sea. Captain John L., who died at St. Thomas, West Indies. 2. William (q.v.), born Nov. 23, 1783. 3. Captain Samuel, born in Eastport, Sept. 28, 1786, was probably the first male child born in the town; he married Elizabeth, daughter of Otis and Elizabeth (Thompson) Lincoln, of Berch Point, Perry, Maine, and died at Demerare, South America, Aug. 31, 1820, of yellow fever. 4. Captain Jacob, born Jan. 20, 1790, commanded the steam brig "New York," the first steam vessel to enter the harbor of Eastport, Maine. He followed the sea up to 1832, when he became a member of the firm of W. & J. Shackford & Company, merchants, ship builders and fishermen. He married Eliza, daughter of John Pearce, and had eleven children; Capt. Jacob died June 19, 1869, aged seventy-nine years. 5. Hannah, married Capt. Darius Pearce. 6. Esther, married Israel Hinckley. 7. Sally, married Capt. John Lincoln. (V) Captain William (2), second son of Capt. John and Esther (Woodwell) Shackford, was born in Newbury, Mass., Nov. 23, 1783, and died March 28, 1870. He went to sea as a boy and continued to be a sailor all his life. He commanded the "Active" in 1807 and was subsequently master of the "Sally," "Orient," "Blockade," "Five Brothers," and was largely interested in the West Indian trade. He was in command of the brig "Dawn" when that American ship was captured by a French cruiser during the war with the French in the time of Napoleon I. He was carried to France, and upon being relieved at the instance of the American minister he went to England and came before the mast as an ordinary seaman. He next commanded the "Lady Sherbrooke" and then the "Sarah." His last vessel was the "Splendid," a fine packet engaged in the freight and passenger traffic between Eastport, Portland and Boston. He retired from sea service in 1833 and engaged in mercantile pursuits with his brother Jacob. He died in 1870, aged eighty-seven years. Children: 1. John William, born in Eastport, Maine, Jan. 30, 1839, who for many years commanded the steam packet "Illinois" and other ocean steamers and became master of the "Atalanta," a steam yacht owned by Jay Gould. 2. Edward Wallace (q.v.), born April 14, 1840. 3. Mary Lincoln, born March 24, 1841, married Andrew W. French, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was born in Eastport in 1837; children: William Shackford and Ferdinand Lampher French. 4. Ebed Lincoln, born Dec., 1843, married Aug. 23, 1869, Lucy Parritt, who died July, 1893; at the outbreak of the civil war in 1861 he enlisted in Company D, First Maine Cavalry, and served with that regiment during its term of enlistment, when he settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, as a merchant, and died there Oct. 1, 1908. 5. Sarah Ellen, born April 27, 1844, removed to Philadelphia; she never married. 6. Charles Russell, born July 30, 1847, died Dec. 16, 1850. 7. Charles Joseph, born May 5, 1854, went to sea and was lost in 1870 while making his first voyage. (VI) Edward Wallace, second son of William (2) and Mary Cutter (Lincoln) Shackford, was born in Eastport, Maine, April 14, 1840. He was graduated at the Eastport high school, and learned the trade of block and spar making at Machiasport. When he had mastered this trade he shipped on a vessel trading with the West Indies as ordinary seaman, and his second voyage was on a ship that made the hazardous journey to the Pacific coast of the U. S. by way of Cape Horn, South America, reaching San Francisco in 1860, and sailed as far north as Puget Sound, where he passed the year 1861-62, and returned to Maine by the same route, reaching home in 1864. His next voyage was before the mast, first mate and captain of the brig "Emily Fisher," commanding the brig in 1866. His next sea experience was on a steamer on the American line between Philadelphia and Liverpool, England, in the capacity of second officer, and he made four voyages on the steamships. He commanded a barque after leaving the steamship, and in 1887 resigned the command of the barque "Ormus" to assume a like position on the steam yacht "Atalanta," owned by Jay Gould, on a voyage to the Mediterranean. He was captain of the schooner "Johannah Swan," built by Albert M. Nash at his ship yards in Harrington, Maine, from 1889 up to the time the schooner was wrecked in the terrible gale of Nov., 1898, in which gale the steamer "City of Portland" was lost with all on board, and scarce a vestige of the vessel was ever found. The wrecked schooner, however, withstood the gale for seven days, when Capt. Shackford and his crew were rescued by the German barque "Anna," and on his arrival home he abandoned the life of a sailor and retired from active participation in business life. He established a winter home at Harrington and a summer home was a comfortable cottage by the sea, at Point Ripley, which has proved so delightful a summer retreat to seekers for an ideal seaside rest. Capt. Shackford finds congenial spirits at the periodical meetings of Eastern Lodge, No. 7, Free and Accepted Masons, of Eastport; Dirigo Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Cherryfield, and Tomah Tribe, No. 67, Improved Order of Red Men, of Harrington, Maine. He was elected a member and chairman of the Harrington Republican town committee; was chairman of the Harrington school board for three years; represented his district in the house of representatives of the state of Maine in 1903-04, and a member of the senate of the state of Maine 1905-06. He has been president of the Ripley Land Company of Maine from its organization. Mr. Shackford attends the Baptist church, of which his wife is a member. Mr. Shackford married (first) at Eastport, Sept. 30, 1866, Clara R. Gardner, who died Feb. 22, 1873, at Eastport, Maine. Children: 1. Leslie G., born Eastport, Maine, June 13, 1868; married June 2, 1903, Matie Schmidt; he resides at St. Paul, Minnesota, where he is employed by the St. Paul Rubber Company. 2. Clara Lincoln, born at Eastport Jan. 21, 1873, single; superintendent of the John Sealy Hospital at Galveston, Texas. Mr. Shackford married (second) at Marchias, Maine, Adelaide Tobey, June 4, 1876.