The Shadrach Allard papers consist primarily of business correspondence addressed to Allard by Henry Charlesworth, regarding their business carving gravestones and memorial markers. Additionally, the collection contains a receipt book kept by Allard during the late 1840s. Allard, then living in Gallipolis, Ohio, worked closely with Charlesworth, of Portsmouth, Ohio, to acquire marble and other stone for the markers. Though the letters imply a general agreeability between the men, Charlesworth often chastised Allard for delays, and repeatedly asked him to send money. Other correspondence includes a fragment and a personal letter from Allard's brother in Cincinnati. Financial records within the collection include a receipt book kept by Allard from 1845-1848 and a receipt for a quantity of marble received by Charlesworth.
Shadrach Allard was born c. 1823 in Ohio, and by the 1850s, he had settled in Gallia county, where he worked as a peddler. During the 1850s, he formed a business partnership with Henry Richard Charlesworth, an English immigrant who worked as a stonecutter. Both Allard and Charlesworth became involved in the tombstone industry, and worked together to procure material for, and to create, gravestones, memorials, and monuments. Allard later became a farmer. He and his wife Mary had 7 children.
