San Luis Obispo County Biographies HON. R. M. SHACKELFORD Submitted by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm HON. R. M. SHACKELFORD, an eminent business man of El Paso de Robles, is a native of the Blue Grass State, where his ancestors for generations, both on the maternal and paternal sides, have lived. The Shackelfords of Kentucky claim both Scotch and English progenitors, while Mr. Shackelford's mother's family, the Dickersons, claim English forefathers only. Mr. Shackelford was born in Kentucky, and came to California in 1853, when a lad of seventeen years. Having been identified with California during the whole of its history as a State, and having received his education here' he claims the right and distinction of being a Californian in the fullest sense. While Mr. Shackelford has made a remarkable business success in life, yet like most pioneers he has seen hard times and many reverses, notwithstanding the misfortunes and trials have been to him, as he expresses it, �golden experiences." To appreciate health we must know what it is to be sick; and to enjoy sunshine we must have been in the deepest shades. Mr. Shackelford's business career has been a remarkable one. A portion of his boyhood was spent in Missouri; and he was but four-teen years of age when the gold excitement occurred in California. As soon as he was old enough he came to this coast, a poorly educated boy, seventeen years of age. In Tuolumne County, he worked hard all day, and at night studied until ten and eleven o'clock, in the winter time, and in this way he received his education. For five years he dug in the mines in Tuolumne and El Dorado Counties, both placer and quartz, with but fair success. In 1858 he engaged in draying and handling freight with ox teams over the mountains. He received eighty cents per hundred for a single trip, the price of a pair of oxen. They took their provisions and camped out at night; he followed this business successfully for eighteen months. At Marysville he engaged in a flour-mill, forwarding and commission business until 1863. By this time he had made a little money and had it invested in this business: his warehouse was full of flour and grain, but the floods of 1862 and 1863 filled the warehouse with water, and the accumulation of years of industry was destroyed. He was compelled to start out again with ox teams, hauling freight from Marysville to Virginia City. He then went into the lumber business, which he manufactured until 1865. In this year he was elected a member of the first Legislature of the State of Nevada, by the Republican party, and served one term. In the fall of 1866 he returned to Los Gatos, California, where lie opened a general merchandise store and lumber business connected with it. In 1868 he sold out, and in connection with two other gentlemen bought 22,000 acres of land, on which the town of King City now stands. In 1873 he sold out his interest and settled at Hollister, California, and engaged in a mill and warehouse. In this business he is still interested, the property having been transferred to the Central Milling Company. In November, 1886, he removed to El Faso de Robles, and engaged in the construction of warehouses, and started lumber yards along the line of the railroad between Soledad and San Margarita. He organized the Southern Pacific Milling Company, etc., and they have nine warehouses fifty feet wide and aggregating nearly a mile in length, and as many lumber yards. Mr. Shackelford has purchased 1,700 acres of land adjoining Paso Robles, and has organ- ized a company known as the Stock and Fruit Company's Association. On this land they have established a breeding farm, are raising fine horses, and have also a very large orchard. Mr. Shackelford is one of the directors and a stockholder of the water works of the town, and is a stockholder and director in the Central Milling Company. Mr. Shackelford, with Messrs. Steele & Wheelan, organized the Southern Mill and Warehouse Company; they have six warehouses and lumber yards, and the planing-mill at Ventura City. Mr. Shackelford's father and grandfather were both born in Kentucky, and both bore the same name, James Shackelford. The grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution, and in the war of 1812 died fighting the Indians, at the battle of Hall's Gap. James Shackelford, Jr., married Sarah A. Dickerson. Her father, Beverly Dickerson, was a stock-raiser and tobacco planter. Mr. Shackelford's parents had twelve children, of whom ten are living. He was the fourth child in this numerous family, and was born in Kentucky, January 17, 1835. He was married in 1861 to Miss Mary Louise McQueston, a native of Wisconsin. They have one son. Otto Shackelford, a promising young merchant of El Paso de Robles. Mrs. Shackelford's father, John McQueston, is a native of Michigan, of Scotch descent. Mr. and Mrs. Shackelford are members of the Methodist Church, and were important factors in the building of the neat church and parsonage in their town. Mr. Shackelford was a trustee, and gave the ground and $1,200 to aid in the building. In March, 1887, Mr. Shackelford built on a block of good ground, purchased for that purpose, a beautiful cottage, in which he resides with his family. He is a Knight Templar, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has been a Republican since the organization of that party. History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California - by C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II. -Lewis Publ. Co., Chicago, 1917.