Shacklefords, Virginia

Shacklefords is an unincorporated community in King and Queen County, Virginia, United States. It derives its name from the Shackleford (or Shackelford) family, of whom the immigrant ancestor to the Virginia colony was Roger Shackelford, who was born in Old Alresford in the English county of Hampshire in 1629.[1] (The orthography of the name of Roger Shackelford's descendants varies, sometimes spelled 'el' and sometimes 'le.')

Shacklefords, Virginia
Shacklefords is located in Virginia
Shacklefords
Shacklefords
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia
Shacklefords is located in the United States
Shacklefords
Shacklefords
Shacklefords (the United States)
Coordinates: 37°33′06″N 76°43′56″W / 37.55167°N 76.73222°W / 37.55167; -76.73222
CountryUnited States
StateVirginia
CountyKing and Queen
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)

The immigrant Roger Shackelford was first mentioned in Gloucester County, in a grant of land in 1658. The family likely took its name from the village of Shackleford, in the English county of Surrey, which adjoins Hampshire and is not far from London. A North Carolina barrier island, Shackleford Banks, is named for descendants of the family, as is Shackelford County, Texas. An Orange, Virginia branch of the Shackelford family also counts President Thomas Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles as ancestors.[2]

The post office in Shacklefords (which was at one stage spelled with an apostrophe) was established in 1800.[3]

Dixon, Kempsville, and King and Queen Courthouse Green Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ A descendant, Lt. Col. Robert Baylor Shackelford of the U.S. Army Medical Corps (Ret.), published an extensive genealogy of the Shackelford family, which was printed in Charlottesville, Va., in 1940. He retained the English genealogist Anthony Wagner (later to become Sir Anthony Wagner, Garter King of Arms and one of the world's leading authorities on heraldry and genealogy) to trace the ancestry of the immigrant Shackelford. Shackelford printed the genealogy with Wagner's findings, chiefly that Shackelford's immigrant ancestor came from the English middle to lower classes, that the immigrant ancestor's uncle was a butcher (and not a knight), and that no Shackelford had been granted a coat of arms in England. Despite results that some clients might have found disappointing, a solid friendship formed between Shackelford and Wagner, who traveled to Virginia to vacation at Shackelford's home in Albemarle County.
  2. ^ "A Guide to the Shackelford Family Papers"[permanent dead link], Alderman Memorial Library, University of Virginia
  3. ^ Helbock, Richard W. (2004). United States Post Offices, Volume VI - The Mid-Atlantic, Scappoose, Oregon: La Posta Publications, p. 221
  4. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.