Trying to learn why in 1880 we find the youngest children in the family of John Laurent Shackford and Mary Jane Rollins either in the orphan's home or to be servants in family homes while both parents are still living. Specifically:

Ida L Shackford is with Mary Jane Rollin's siser in the Batchelder home
Alice M Shackford is 18 and a servant with Phebe B Dunlap, a widow
Alfred L Shackford, age 16 is with the Grant family
Mary A Shackford, age 15 is with the Burr family as a servant
Albert Louis Shackford, age 13 is with the Eaton family working as a servant on a farm
Frank Arthur Shackford, age 11 is a servant with the Leavitt family, recently taken from the orphan's home
Clara Edith Shackford, age 9 is in the Rolfe and Rumford Asylum
John Leon Shackford, age 8 is in the New Hampshire Orphan's home
Walter Harold Shackford, age 5 is living with his mother in Concord, NH
Two older brothers Henry Gardiner Shackford and Charles Wilbur Shackford are living together in Nashua.

But in 1870, most of this family is all living together in Concord - father John L Shackford working as a Life Insurance agent, family in a home valued $1,500, personal estate listed as $1,000. What change took place?








Thanks for any help you can offer!