Ten Generations of the Shaw Family

My late mother Dolores Frances (Shaw) Olar was the tenth generation of her family in America, directly descended from JOHN SHAW, our colonist ancestor in Massachusetts in the early 1600s. Below is a presentation of her Shaw lineage, proceeding father to son, with occasional discussion of collateral branches and cousins. As mentioned on the Shaw Genealogy page, the old family records, notes, photographs, and papers that I inherited from my late grandmother Frances (Miller) Shaw Keithahn form the basis of the following account of the Shaw genealogy, but these records have also been greatly augmented and extended thanks to the help of many cousins. Two chief sources are Benjamin Shurtleff and Margaret Johnson Drake's unsourced but very useful and generally accurate manuscript John Shaw of Plymouth, Massachusetts (1972), and John Shaw of Plymouth Plantation in Progress, the database of my distant cousin Kenneth L. Shaw III of Taunton, Massachusetts. One of Kenneth's sources is an important genealogical study prepared by Kenneth's cousin Jonathan Allen Shaw, "John Shaw of Plymouth Colony, Purchaser and Canal Builder," published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1997) 151:259-285, 417-437. (Jonathan Allen Shaw's mailing address was listed in this study as P.O. Box 123, Sandwich, Massachusetts, 02563.) Jonathan A. Shaw's study is the definitive work treating the first three generations of our Shaw family in this country. My distant cousin Paul H. Shaw of Tennessee has kindly provided a copy of Jonathan A. Shaw's study, which thus serves as a chief source for the first three generations below. Kenneth's database also incorporates information from his late cousin Jonathan Arthur "Jack" Shaw, who had prepared an exhaustive compilation of the Carver, Plymouth County, Massachusetts burial records of Lakenham Cemetery, corner of Linton Drive and Forest Street, North Carver, Union Cemetery, Central Cemetery, Wenham Cemetery and some early Town Hall Records. Kenneth's database also includes genealogical and topographical information supplied by his cousin Dana Shaw Ward concerning our Shaw family homesteads and locations in Massachusetts. In addition to Shurtleff and Drake's manuscript and Kenneth's database, my other sources include Eugene Aubrey Stratton's Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691 (1986), page 350; Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Begins (1995), vol. III, pages 1659-1662; and James Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (1884, 1994), vol. IV, pages 63-65. Information from Kenneth Shaw's database forms the basis of the first four generations shown below.

1. JOHN SHAW, born circa 1597, very likely in England or perhaps in Scotland; died circa 1664 in Plymouth Colony (Middleboro), Massachusetts; thought to be buried in Nemasket Hill Cemetery, Plymouth Street, Middleboro, Massachusetts. Shurtleff and Drake's John Shaw of Plymouth, Massachusetts (1972), page 5, says John died 24 Oct. 1694, which would have made John unusually long-lived for that era. However, that date comes from an old misreading of Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, page 64, which assigns the date of death of 24 Oct. 1694 to John's daughter and shows no date of death for John at all. The surname of John Shaw and his descendants variously appears in the old handwritten records of Massachusetts as "Shawe," "Shaw," "Shaul," "Shew," "Shoare," "Shore," etc. Our ancestor John Shaw appears more than 50 times in the early records of Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, in the period from 1626 to 1664.

Nothing is really known of John's life prior to his immigration to Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Shurtleff and Drake's John Shaw of Plymouth, Massachusetts (1972), page 5, says he was born in England and that he "left Plymouth, England in 1622 and came to this country as early as 1627, his wife and children coming afterwards." As for his place of birth, guesses include London, or Essex, or Kent, or Yorkshire, or Dalton in Furness, Lancashire. As mentioned above, for all we know he could have been born in Scotland and moved to England as a child or an adult, though that seems to be not as likely as a birth in England since John's known children did not have typically Scottish names. In his study, Jonathan A. Shaw says, "The origins of John Shaw in England have not been found -- nor are they likely to be since the name John Shaw is a common one" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:261). Kenneth Shaw lists six English baptismal or birth records of children named "John Shaw," any of which or none of which might be our John:

John Shaw, baptised 10 Aug. 1589 in Bingley, Yorkshire, son of John Shaw and Mary Ryley
John Shaw, baptised 2 Sept. 1597 in Dalton in Furness, Lancashire, son of James Shaw
John Shaw, baptised 16 Jan. 1599 in Middleton, Lancashire, son of John Shaw and Margaret Barlow
John Shaw, born 4 April 1600 in Ellastone, Staffordshire, son of John and Alice Shaw
John Shawe, baptised 13 July 1600 at St. Botolph Parish, Bishopsgate, son of John Shawe
John Shawe, baptised 26 Aug. 1604 at St. Botolph Parish, Bishopsgate, son of John Shawe

It's likely that the two John Shawes of St. Botolph were both children of John Shawe and Agnes Ewdall, who were married 25 June 1598 at St. Botolph, Bishopsgate. The John baptised in 1600 may have died in infancy, and his parents then gave another son the same name. The marriage record of John and Agnes appears on page 30 of vol. 1 of the old parish registers of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate. The above shown 1600 baptism of John Shawe is on page 147 of vol. 1 of the St. Botolph parish registers, while the 1604 baptism of John Shaw is on page 158 of the same volume. Two other Shawe baptisms, apparently children of John Shawe and Agnes Ewdall, are also recorded in the St. Botolph registers: Thomas Shawe, baptised 2 May 1602, son of "John Shawe, carpenter" (page 152), and Robert Shawe, baptised 25 May 1607, son of John Shawe (page 166). There is, of course, no way to tell if this is our Shaw family. Indeed, if our John was born circa 1597 then he could not have been either of the two John Shawes who were baptised at St. Botolph in 1600 and 1604.

Whether or not our John ever lived in Plymouth, England, as Shurtleff claimed, he certainly immigrated from southern England (Essex?) no later than 1626 to Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. In that year, he appears as one of the colony's Purchasers or shareholders in one of the letters of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony:

"The twenty-seven men who signed the agreement to allow privileges to the eight Undertakers in return for their assumption of the debt are: William Brewster, Cuthbert Cuthbertson, William Palmer, Stephen Hopkins, John Adams, Experience Mitchell, Francis Eaton, Phineas Pratt, Edward Bangs, Jonathan Brewster, Stephen Tracy, Samuel Fuller, Manasseh Kempton, Edward Doty, Robert Hicks, Thomas Prence, Joshua Pratt, John Howland, Anthony Annable, Stephen Deane, John Billington, John Shaw, William Wright, Peter Brown, William Bassett, Francis Cooke, John Faunce" (Governor William Bradford's letter book (1906), pages 38-40)

Jonathan A. Shaw adds that, "As a Purchaser, one of 58 freemen, he agreed to pay three bushels of corn or six pounds of tobacco yearly, to enjoy as a consequence of his purchase the Colony's anticipated prosperity, and to receive future land grants," and explains in a footnote that the 1626 purchase agreement "must have been signed just before 24 March 1626/7, for Governor Bradford wrote that 'after' signing the purchase agreement 'we made division of the cattle'" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:261). This is the earliest known reference to John on record. It is unknown exactly when and how John Shaw came to Plymouth Colony. Charles Knowles Bolton had listed John Shaw among the founding settlers of Wessagusset Colony (Weymouth, Massachusetts) in 1622 (The Real Founders of New England (1929), Appendix B, pages 161, 176), supposedly being one of the passengers on the Sparrow along with Phineas Pratt. However, it is significant that Shaw does not appear in the 1623 Plymouth land division as does Pratt, which is a problem if Shaw was really a Wessagusset refugee as Pratt was. On this question, Jonathan A. Shaw commented in his study as follows:

"Although Shaw was not one of the first settlers of Plymouth Colony, he and only one other man, Phineas Pratt, were given the privileges belonging to 'old-comers,' those arriving on the first four Pilgrim ships, Mayflower, Fortune, Ann, and Little James . . . . It has been suggested [by Bolton] that he came over in 1622 with Phineas Pratt in the ship Sparrow, Swan, or Charity to plant Thomas Weston's new colony at Wessagusset (now Weymouth). If Shaw arrived with Pratt, it would have been at least three years before he himself appeared on the Plymouth record as a Purchaser, and over four years before he was selected as one of the leaders in the May 1627 livestock division. Shaw had two sons, John and James, born before August 1627, and it seems unlikely that he was separated for four years from a wife and two young children. It is much more probable that he came over in 1625 or 1626 as a seaman in a fishing ship or in one of the cargo ships, such as the Jacob in 1625, which brought cattle to the Colony, and even this hypothesis does not preclude the speculation that he first came over with Pratt and then returned to England before emigrating" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:261, 262).

In 1627, the year after his appearance as a Plymouth Colony Purchaser, John shared in Plymouth Colony's division of cattle, the first person in the sixth company. The cattle division took place through the drawing of lots on 22 May 1627. Jonathan A. Shaw comments in his study that John's selection as a leader of one of the companies "indicates that he was related to one or more of the Plymouth colonists" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:262). In fact, some members of his company may well have been related to him. The text of the 1627 cattle division reads:

The sixt lott fell to John Shaw & his companie Joyned 1 to him 2 John Adams 3 Eliner Adams 4 James Adams 5 John Winslow 6 Mary Winslow 7 Willm Basset 8 Elizabeth Bassett 9 Willyam Basset Junor 10 Elyzabeth Basset Junor 11 ffrancis Sprage 12 Anna Sprage 13 Mercye Sprage To this lot fell the lesser of the black Cowes Came at first in the Ann wth which they must keepe the bigest of the 2 steers. Also to this lott was two shee goats.

John Shaw is mentioned a second time in the cattle division under the seventh lot, which fell to Stephen Hopkins. The seventh lot was to receive livestock that included "the Calfe of this yeare to come of the black Cow, which fell to John Shaw & his Companie." John appears in the cattle division without wife or children, but it is known that he married at least once in England, where he probably had at least two of his four known children. As noted above, Shurtleff and Drake state that John's wife and children came to Massachusetts after him. However, doubt surrounds the identity of the mother of John's children, as he may have married more than once. After settling in Massachusetts, John appears with a wife named ALICE, born circa 1600 probably in England, died 6 March 1654/5 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is not known whether Alice was the mother or stepmother of his children. If she was their mother, then based on the probable age of John's eldest known child, she and John married circa 1621. If Alice was their stepmother, then it was circa 1621 that John married his unknown first wife. In addition, if Alice was John's second wife, then it's possible that he married her in Massachusetts -- indeed, Alice may even have been the widow of another Plymouth colonist for all we know. On this question, Jonathan A. Shaw says, "It is likely that [Alice] was not the mother of his children and that he had one or more earlier wives . . . . The prevalence of the given names Hannah/Anne -- and perhaps Abigail as well -- in the descendants of John Shaw suggests that his unknown wife or wives may have been named Hannah/Anne or Abigail." (Shaw, NEHGR 151:261)

Though there is uncertainty regarding the maternity of John Shaw's children, the records and Shaw family tradition affirm that he had three sons and one daughter. The eldest, JOHN SHAW JR., was born in England by about 1622. John Jr. had a sister named ABIGAIL SHAW, born perhaps around 1624, probably in England, wife of STEPHEN BRYANT. The other known children of John Shaw Sr. were JAMES SHAW, born perhaps around 1626 either in England or Plymouth Colony, and JONATHAN SHAW, born in Plymouth Colony traditionally on 2 March 1629 or perhaps as late as circa 1631. Kenneth Shaw notes a number of possible candidates for John's hypothetical first wife (who would be the mother of his four children):

John Shawe married 15 May 1610 to Katherine Denny in Halton, Lancashire
John Shaw married 14 Feb. 1614 to Katrine Standishe in Winwick, Lancashire
John Shaw born circa 1591 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, married 5 May 1616 to Ann Beaumonte in Breswell, Yorkshire
John Shawe married 30 June 1622 to Katherine Cockes in Aldermanbury, London
John Shaw ("Jno Shaw") married 14 Jan. 1623 Anne Standish, born circa 1603, in St. Dunstan's Church, Hamlet of Stepney
Jonathan Shaw born circa 1599, of Wantworth, St. Stepney, London, married Anne Standish
John Shawe, vintner, of London, on 20 Jan. 1616/17 obtained license to marry Mary Cosens, widow, of Stepney, Middlesex

Most noteworthy are the last three candidates, which are all associated with Stepney in London. There appears to be some confusion, however, because both John Shaw and Jonathan Shaw are said to be from Stepney and both are said to have married an Anne Standish. Is "Jonathan" merely a duplicate of "John," or were they perhaps brothers or cousins who both married Anne? In any case, the marriage of this John Shaw and Anne Standish could be very significant, for a number of reasons. For one thing, the marriage date agrees with the approximate date of birth of our John's eldest son. For another thing, there is a possibility that Anne Standish was related to the Mayflower Pilgrim Miles Standish. On that score, Katrine Standishe who married a John Shaw in 1616 might also have been a relative of Miles Standish. Now, according to Kenneth Shaw, "There also is evidence of a JOHN SHAW AND HANNAH UNKNOWN up in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, New England in 1627." Kenneth Shaw does not say what that evidence is, but if he is right, that is very probably our John Shaw, whose first wife would have been named "Hannah," a form of the name Anna, Anne, or Ann -- perhaps the Anne Standish of Stepney. In addition, as Kenneth Shaw notes, "There are many connections between Stepney and the Pilgrims who arrived at New England." In those days, according to Kenneth, the old Hamlet of Stepney, East London, included "the districts of Bow, Bethnal Green, Bromley, East Smithfield, the Isle of Dogs, Mile End, Limehouse, Poplar, Ratcliffe, Saint George, Shadwell, Waping, Whitechapel, Stepney and others." Due to the Pilgrim associations with Stepney, however, there is also a possibility that the 1616/17 marriage of John Shawe and Mary Cosens is that of our John Shaw. This latter marriage is recorded on page 48 of Allegations for Marriage Licences Issued by the Bishop of London England 1611 to 1628 (published by The Harleian Society). The marriage license identifies Mary Cosens as the widow of Henry Cosens of Stepney, vintner, and the license was issued at St. Anne & Agnes, Aldersgate, London.

Jonathan A. Shaw also discusses the possible implications of the 1623 John Shaw/Anne Standish marriage in his study of our Shaw family. He comments, "The date is approximately correct for, say, a first or second marriage of John Shaw, but the IGI also shows the christening of a child John to a John Shaw and mother Hanna at Saint Dunstan on 16 January 1633 -- too late for John Shaw." In other words, if the John and Hanna of 1633 were the John and Anne who married in 1623, then it obviously could not be our John Shaw, who was then living in Massachusetts, not London, and the child also was born too late to be John Shaw Jr. Jonathan A. Shaw continues, "The place of origin of the Miles Standish family has never been conclusively determined despite a hundred years of research, although the Isle of Man has been generally accepted. Thus, despite the possible connection of John Shaw with the Wessagusset colonists and their rescue by Miles Standish the significance of this particular marriage seems slight" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:261).

About six months after the 1627 cattle division, the Plymouth settlers also apportioned the land of the colony. In his study, Jonathan A. Shaw describes the land division as follows:

"Although the records of the land division of 1627 . . . have not been preserved, it is known from [Governor William] Bradford's journal that the head of each family received twenty acres for himself and a multiple thereof for each member of his family, and it is highly probable that the families of each company that received livestock also received land in proximity to one another. According to Governor Bradford, these plots of land were laid out along the shore of Plymouth Bay, extending north and south from the original settlement . . . . The plots, according to Bradford, were mostly five acres wide along the water and four acres deep, which meant that each adult male had at least 1000 feet of seashore and that each lot extended 800 feet inland." (Shaw, NEHGR 151:263)

Continuing, Jonathan A. Shaw explains where our ancestor John Shaw's portion of the 1627 land division was located:

"John Shaw's twenty acres, as we know from later records, was at Plain Dealing on Plymouth Bay, a tract of land two miles to the north of the seventeenth-century village of Plymouth and slightly to the north of the section of Plymouth known then and today as High Cliff. Plain Dealing, a name that at that time meant a plain lying on the edge of the sea, still lies in the town of Plymouth on the border with Kingston." (Shaw, NEHGR 151:263)

About three years after the 1627 cattle and land divisions, John Shaw bought land from his neighbor John Winslow, who was a member of John Shaw's company in the cattle division. On 8 July 1630, Winslow sold to Shaw "all his arable land that is lying in that tract of land that is commonly called Knave's Acre otherwise named Woodbee," located near High Cliff, and part of the consideration was "all the meadow ground tha butteth at the upper end of the said arable land." Jonathan A. Shaw notes in his study, "On this deed, witnessed by Jonathan Brewster, John Shaw's mark -- an indication that he could not read or write -- appears for the first time" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:263). In 1633, John Shaw is named among those who had been admitted as freemen of Plymouth Colony prior to 1 Jan. 1632/33. Most notably, John also was a leader of the group that in 1633 cut the passage between Green's Harbor (Marshfield) and the bay, a watercourse known today as the Cut River. This is related in the account of the founding of Marshfield, Massachusetts, in Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691, Part One, Chapter 3:

"First called Green's Harbor, then Rexham, this settlement finally became known as Marshfield. In writing of the year 1632, Bradford noted that some lands were granted at Green's Harbor to some special men who were expected to let their servants farm there but live at Plymouth themselves. Of course, within a few years Marshfield is a town, and Edward Winslow is one of its leading residents. On 1st July 1633 the General Court ordered that Mr. Gilson, John Shaw, and the others who undertook to enlarge the passage between Green's Harbor and the sea, finish it by 1st October, or be fined £10. Whether this is done and later had to be redone, or was not done at all, is not known, but on 3rd January 1636/37 the court ordered again that the passage be enlarged, and the governor, the Assistants, and John Winslow, Jonathan Brewster, John Barnes, and Christopher Wadsworth were to apportion the costs equally to 'every man' and to supervise the work there, with ten men working at a time. It does not seem that 'every man' would refer to the entire colony, but more likely meant every man then living at Marshfield (and possibly some living at Scituate who would have also benefited from this access to the sea)."

Two views of the Cut River at Green Harbor, near Marshfield, Massachusetts

The Cut River, connecting Green Harbor and Duxbury Bay, is the earliest canal still in existence in the United States. In colonial times, the canal was called "the Cutt." It was "cut" (hence its name) in 1633 by a team of Plymouth colonists led by William Gilson and John Shaw.

This project was in fact the digging of a new canal, not simply the enlargment of a passage, though it did make use of creeks and rivers already present. Jonathan A. Shaw in his study informs us that, "This is the earliest canal still in existence in America," explaining in a footnote that, "It was preceded on 5 July 1631 by a cul-de-sac canal, no longer in existence, that led from the Charles River to the settlement at Cambridge." (Shaw, NEHGR 151:259). He describes the construction and history of the Cut River canal as follows:

"It connects Green Harbor and Duxbury Bay to create an inland water route from Plymouth via the Duxbury creeks and Green Harbor River, through a narrow creek to the South River estuary and up the North River to the present town of Hanover. The Cutt, as it was soon called, may have been difficult to complete, and for whatever reason Gilson and Shaw were delayed in the construction. As a consequence the General Court threatened them with £10 fines if they did not fulfill their agreement and finish the work by October 1. Four years later, on 4 January 1637[/7], the Cutt, which had no doubt proved its worth as a safe route for the passage of people and goods between Marshfield, Duxbury, and Plymouth, was ordered to be enlarged to 'eighteene foote wide and sixe foote deep.' Colonial ships and barges in the middle of the seventeenth century were small, and the widened and deepened canal was designed to permit the passage of medium-tonnage vessels, saving many miles of dangerous travel in the open sea. As the General Court formulated its plans on 4 January 1636[/7], it made no mention of John Shaw or his partners, but the difficulties that occurred in 1633 may have been reflected in the fact that the 'ordering' of the project was to be directly under the control of the Governor and his Assistants so that 'tenn men may worke together there at once,' and was requested that the participants 'apportion everyman equally to the charge.' Once constructed, the canal was used by lighters (shallow-draft barges) for the transport of salt hay that was 'mowed, made, stacked and loaded' at Green Harbor. Early in the nineteenth century a new canal was constructed, joining the old one at the Duxbury line. The seventeenth century canal can still be seen where a small bridge crosses it at the corner of Canal and Bay Streets in Marshfield, a winding watercourse approximately 1000 feet long, much narrowed over the years. A granite stone, placed by the Marshfield Historical Commission, marks the site." (Shaw, NEHGR 151:259-260)

Two additional views of the Cut River at Green Harbor, near Marshfield, Massachusetts

The photograph at left shows the Cut River canal looking away from Green Harbor, and the photograph at right shows the canal looking toward the harbor.

John Shaw appears on Plymouth Colony's tax list around the time of his involvement in the cutting of the Cut River canal. He appears on the tax list of 25 March 1633, when he was assessed 18 shillings, and again on the tax list of 27 March 1634, when he was assessed 9 shillings. On 14 Jan. 1636/37, John was "allowed to enlarge at the end of his lot lying at Black Brooke," and indication of the growth and prosperity of Plymouth Colony. On 2 Oct. 1637, he and his neighbors John Atwood and Thomas Armitage were allowed "to have enlargement of lands abutting above their lotts at Playne Dealeing, to the northward, wch lands are to be first viewed, and afterwards to be deuided to them." Jonathan A. Shaw mentions that this enlargement of their property seems to have occasioned a legal dispute, for the Court agreed on 2 April 1638 that "The lands that were proportioned to Mr. Atwood and John Shaw are to stand as they are layd forth to them, prouided they do not prejudice the graunt formerly made to Mr. Prince [Thomas Prence, resident of Plain Dealing and later governor of the Colony] and Mrs Fuller [widow of Dr. Samuel Fuller]." (Shaw, NEHGR 151:264) These are probably the same lots referred to on 4 Feb. 1638/39. About a year or two after that, "John Shawe of Plymouth, planter," sold to William Kemp of Duxbury two and a half acres of meadow land on 2 April 1640. This meadow was located at the eastern end of Kemp's Duxbury property.

In 1638 and 1642, John Shaw appears in two records that pertain to the raising of cattle in Plymouth Colony. "On 26 July 1638 the Colony's stock of cattle from Mr. James Shirley's 1624 donation of a heifer for the poor was distributed, and the 'pyde cow that was Goodman Shawes went to John Shawe -- four shares; Francis Billington -- sixe shares; Mrs Hodgkinson -- two shares,' and there remained 'One red steere in goodman Shawes hands'" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:264). Undoubtedly, "Goodman Shawe" is our ancestor John Shaw, while the reference to "John Shawe" is the earliest surviving mention of his eldest son John Shaw Jr. Plymouth Colony's cattle again were distributed at a town meeting on 7 July 1642, by which time the pied cow was dead -- "Her encrease was only a yeareling heiffer Valued at £4 -- John Shaw had the heiffer and is to pay the stock [20d] and to bring in her hide to Goodman Hurste to be tanned." To cope with wolf attacks on the colony's livestock, a town meeting of 10 Feb. 1642/3 the General Court ordered the construction of wolf traps at five locations, including one "at Playne Dealing by Mr. Combe, Mr. Lee, Francis Billington, Georg Clark, John Shaw, and Edward Dotey" (Shaw, NEHGR 151:264).

Around this time, John and several of his neighbors brought a number of legal actions against each other, accusing each other of trespassing on one another's land. John brought two actions alleging trespass on 3 March 1639/40 and 1 Sept. 1640. Later, Kenelm Winslow brought an action against John Shaw on 7 Dec. 1641, and William Hanbury brought an action against John on 7 Sept. 1642, accusing him of trespass.

John served on the colony's Jury on 4 Sept. 1638, 1 June 1641, 6 Sept. 1641, 3 May 1642, 5 March 1643/44, 5 June 1644, 22 July 1648, 3 Oct. 1648, and 28 Oct. 1649. His Jury service on 22 July 1648 and 3 Oct. 1648, as well as his service on the Coroner's Jury on 6 Aug. 1648 and the Petit Jury on 4 Oct. 1648, was for the trial of Alice Bishop, who had murdered her 4-year-old daughter Martha Clark. As a Juror for this trial, John probably witnessed Alice Bishop's execution by hanging. John was on Plymouth Colony's list of men able to bear arms in 1643. On 7 March 1642/43 and again on 5 June 1644, John held the position of highway surveyor at Plymouth.

Shurtleff and Drake record an old tradition that in 1645 John Shaw "was one of eight men who went out against the Narragansetts." However, William Richard Cutter's New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial (1914), vol. IV, page 2146, says either John Shaw Sr. "or his son John served seventeen days against the Narragansett Indians in 1645." The Narragansett were a powerful American Indian tribe of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut area. They were enemies of the Wampanoag, who in turn were allies of the Pilgrims settled in Plymouth Colony. Consequently, relations between Plymouth and the Narragansett were usually poor or overtly hostile -- although Canonicus (1562-1647), sachem (chief) of the Narragansett, always maintained his friendship with Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, who had been expelled from Plymouth for heresy. The following account written by Sanderson Beck and published in his America to 1744 (2006) briefly presents the background of the military action against the Narragansett in which John Shaw participated:

"In 1645 Chief Pessicus led a Narragansett invasion into Mohegan territory and assaulted the fort of [the Mohegan chief] Uncas. Both Connecticut and New Haven sent forces to defend the Mohegans, and a special meeting of the Commissioners in June sent out envoys, who were abused by the Narragansetts. The Narragansetts sent a gift to Governor Winthrop in Boston, asking for an alliance against Uncas, but he refused to accept it on those terms. The confederation raised three hundred men with 190 from Massachusetts. Roger Williams secured Rhode Island by negotiating neutrality with the Narragansetts in July. Miles Standish was leading forces from Plymouth, and he objected to the Rhode Islanders being friendly with the Indians and demanded that they take one side or the other. The Indians agreed to negotiate, and they signed a treaty in August; captives were to be returned, and children were to be hostages. However, the Narragansetts and the Niantics did not restore the captives nor did they pay the damages. The Commissioners called another special meeting in July 1647, and the sachem Ninigret came to Boston with some Niantics and promised to pay a thousand fathoms of wampum."

It was during this conflict that Capt. Miles Standish of Plymouth Colony with eight of his soldiers, which included either John Shaw Sr. or John Shaw Jr., headed over to Wessagusett Colony (Weymouth) to rescue them from hostile Indians. Standish and his soldiers killed four Indians there, and the rest of the attacking Indians for whatever reason fled into the swamps. Kenneth Shaw has speculated that John Shaw's wife Alice could have been the widow Alice Whitmarsh of Weymouth, and that perhaps Standish's relief of Wessagusett in 1645 was when John met his wife Alice.

Both Savage and Cutter state that John Shaw purchased land in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1652. The following year, on 3 Nov. 1653, John and his wife Alice agreed with Thomas Savory and Annis Savory his wife, all of New Plymouth, that the Savorys' son, Benjamin, aged 9 years old, would live with the Shaws until he was 21, and the Shaws would pay him £5 at the end of his service. If either John or Alice died, Benjamin was to serve out his time with Jonathan Shaw, the son of John Shaw, and Jonathan was to teach him a trade, writing and reading, and give him two suits of apparel. On 4 March 1657, Jonathan was cleared of this engagement by mutual consent of all the persons "that are now alive," which reflects the fact that Alice had died in the interim.

On 28 Dec. 1653, John Shaw Sr. of Plymouth, planter, purchased of Mr. John Winslow of Plymouth, a two acre parcel of marsh meadow in Green Harbor Marsh. This land purchase appears in the old records of Plymouth Colony as follows:

"The 28th of December 1653. Memorand; That Mr John Winslow of the towne of Plymouth in the Jurisdiction of New Plym: Doth acknowlidg that for and in consideration of the summe of 3 pounds and six shillings to him in hand paied by John Shaw senior of Plymouth aforsaid planter; hee hath freely and absolutly barganed and sold unto the said John Shaw a pcell of mersh meadow conteining two acres bee it more or lesse lying in greenharbour mersh att a place called the pinney point over against wood Island lying next a psell of mersh belonging to Mis Jenings; To have and to hold the said two acres of Mersh meadow bee it more or lesse with all and singulare the appurtenances belonging therunto unto the said John Shaw his heires and assignes for ever; unto the onely proper use and behoofe of him the said John Shaw his heires and assignes for ever. Acknowlidged before Mr Bradford Govr"

This purchase of marsh meadow from John Winslow is mentioned in a subsequent deed dated 31 Dec. 1656, when John Shaw Sr. of Plymouth deeded to "my son Jonathan Shaw all that my house and land I am now possessed of and live upon in the township of Plymouth aforesaid containing twenty and five acres of upland . . . provided . . . I reserve an interest in my orchard during my life and decease to be my said son Jonathan's . . . reserve unto myself liberty to employ or improve some small spot of upland for the planting of tobacco . . . during my life . . . [also] unto my said son Jonathan all my meadow land fresh or salt in any place belonging to me, in particular three acres of marsh meadow bought of Mr. John Winslow . . . and six acres more or less of fresh meadow lying on the south arm of Joanes River . . . one quarter part of my purchase land . . . ."

A further deed, dated 26 March 1658, involves John Shaw's sons John and James. On that date, John Shaw Sr. of Plymouth, planter, deeded to his son Sergeant James Shaw of New Plymouth one half of his land at Cushena, unless John Shaw son of the said John Shaw Senior "shall come within the term of four years beginning from the first of March 1657/58" (that is, before 1 March 1661/62), in which case John Shaw Jr. should have one half of the land given to James Shaw, i.e., one quarter part of the whole. Not much is known of John Jr. As mentioned above, he was probably born by about 1622, and purchased land in Massachusetts in 1643. He may have been the John Shaw who went out against the Narragansett Indians in 1645, unless that was his father John. John Jr. sold land to his brother-in-law Stephen Bryant in 1651. Shurtleff and Drake record the tradition that John Jr. "went to Rhode Island and had a great day, roasted an ox whole and nothing was known of him after. It is supposed he went back to England." Savage also states, "[John Shaw Sr.'s] s. John went unm. to Eng." (Genealogical Dictionary, page 64) The wording of the deed of 26 March 1658 indicates that he did return to England. It is unknown whether or not John Jr. left any descendants in England, but in any event he presumably was dead by 30 Jan. 1663/4, when his younger brother James received the double portion due to the eldest son.

In his old age, John Shaw became one of the first settlers of Middleboro (Middleborough) in 1662, although the new settlement, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, was not then distinct from New Plymouth and would not receive the name "Middleboro" for a few more years. Kenneth Shaw provides this description of Middleboro:

"The Town of 'Middlebury' now called Middleborough is a 70-square mile historic industrial town on the Nemasket River and was a major native settlement area used for seasonal fishing, hunting and berry gathering. The town is one of only a handful of Southeastern Massachusetts communities that retained a sizable Indian population throughout the Colonial period. The first European Gracious old homes, spacious rural communities, working farms and welcoming urban neighborhoods abound in Cranberry Country."

It was while residing at Middleboro, on 30 Jan. 1663/4, that John Shaw Sr. of Plymouth deeded to "my son-in-law Stephen Bryant of Plymouth . . . all that my whole share of land allotted unto me near unto Namassakett . . . also . . . another portion of land called by the name of Rehoboth . . . formerly granted unto me lying upon the south side of the Smelt River . . . be it forty acres more or less." In addition, John deeded to "my son James Shaw the one half of my purchase land at Cushena, and the one fourth part of my said lot at Cushena I give unto my son Jonathan Shaw, and the other fourth part of my said Purchase lands to my son-in-law Stephen Bryant . . . also my purpose and will is that my daughter Abigaill Bryant after my decease shall have my bed and all the furniture thereunto belonging, as also my chest and whatsoever else doth any ways appertain to me."

On 22nd March 1663/4, George Watson and John Shaw Sr. were granted a lot on Puncateesett Necke (Plymouth Town Records 1:67). This is the last time John Shaw is mentioned to be still living. In 1665, however, Henry Wood received land that was originally set out for John Shaw in "Middlebury" (Middleboro). This evidence indicates that John died some time after the land grant of 22 March 1663/4 but before Henry Wood received John's Middleboro land in 1665.

Regarding the many gaps in our knowledge of the life and family of John Shaw Sr., Kenneth Shaw comments in his database:

"Presently it is not known where exactly in England this John Shaw and 'Alice' are from. The death of John Shaw and the possibility of where he migrated from could have been recorded in the very first book titled 'Plymouth Towne Book Ano Domine 1696-7 for Births Burials and Marriages per Thomas Ffaunce Towne Clerke.' The third leaf, containing the second and third pages, are missing! I would guess the pages missing contained a lot of ancient records of other early colonial families too. You may have noticed the estimation dates for some of the early ancestors listed in the family tree. One of the reasons there are not any solid month, day, year dates or locations of this early colonial Shaw family's births, baptisms, marriages and burials in England or New England is attributed to the missing Lakenham Parish Church records. This Shaw family is not the only family that is affected by this. There are lots of others who attended this church and little information is known of their vitals because of the absence of these particular records. Basically some vitals of the early colonial families of North Carver are very obscure. It is believed that the missing church records contain many years of the no longer existing Lakenham Church's activities."

The known children of John Shaw are:

     --  JOHN SHAW JR., born before 1622, died probably before 30 Jan. 1663/4
     --  ABIGAIL SHAW, born perhaps about 1624, died 24 Oct. 1694.
     --  SGT. JAMES SHAW, born perhaps circa 1626, whose children all died young.
     2.  DEACON JONATHAN SHAW, traditionally born 2 March 1629 or perhaps circa 1631, died July 1701.

2. JONATHAN SHAW, son of John and Alice Shaw, born according to tradition on 2 March 1629 (though it may rather have been as late as circa 1631) at Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts; died at age 72 in July 1701 at Plymouth, Massachusetts; buried perhaps in Lakenham Cemetery, or Nemasket Cemetery, or in Plympton (now Carver), all in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. It is thought that Jonathan may have been born at Plain Dealing (present day Cordage Park) in Plymouth, Massachusetts. On 22 Jan. 1656/57 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Jonathan married PHEBE WATSON, born 1637, daughter of George and Phebe (Hicks) Watson of Plymouth Colony. (A duplicate marriage record of Jonathan and Phebe gives the erroneous date of 22 Jan. 1649/50.) Jonathan and Phebe had four sons and four daughters. Shaw genealogical researcher Kenneth Linwood Shaw III is seventh in descent from LT. JOSEPH SHAW (1749-1804), who married his third cousin LYDIA SHAW (1755-1813). Lt. Joseph was third in descent from LT. JONATHAN SHAW JR., eldest son of Deacon Jonathan Shaw, while Lydia was third in descent from GEORGE SHAW, second son of Deacon Jonathan Shaw.

Kenneth Shaw indicates that the children of Deacon Jonathan and his wife Phebe were probably all born in Middleboro, though he says their daughter Lydia may rather have been born in Old Plympton. The early town records of Middleboro were burned in a raid by American Indians, so we must speculate or rely upon gravestone inscriptions and Shaw family tradition for the dates and places of birth of Jonathan and Phebe. Jonathan's wife Phebe died at some point after the birth of her twin sons Benoni and Benjamin, who were born circa 1672. In August 1683, Jonathan married secondly in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to a widow named PERSIS (DUNHAM) PRATT, born circa 1630-35 in Leiden, Holland, daughter of Deacon John and Abigail (Barlow) Dunham. Jonathan and Persis had no children, but Persis had 10 children by her former husband, the late Benajah Pratt, ancestor of the Pratts of Carver, Massachusetts.

Shurtleff and Drake state that "Jonathan Shaw, with John Waterman, were the first deacons of the Plympton Church and were ordained to that office on Sunday, November 27, 1698." (John Shaw of Plymouth, Massachusetts, page 6) Kenneth Shaw reports that the First Church of Plympton (now Carver) was located on the north side of Lakenham Cemetery. According to Kenneth, the Plympton townspeople had a disagreement about the distance between the church and the location of their homes, so they decided to let the First Lakenham Church go to "shambles" because it was too far south for them to walk. A second church was built at the location where the present day Lakenham Green is.

Deacon Jonathan Shaw was the first permanent resident of what is today known as North Carver. "He lived in a house between Deacon [Thomas] Savery and the Old Meeting House, according to Shurtleff and Drake. According to Kenneth Shaw, "Jonathan and Phebe Shaw lived at the site where the old Sturtevant House now stands. This house is believed to be the third house erected on the site since their lifetimes. This old Sturtevant house is located on the South side of the Lakenham Green in North Carver." Jane Kent also notes that Jonathan Shaw's "house at Lakenham, north side, was there as early as 1660. The exact location was on the site of the present Sturtevant house south of the Green. (The present house was built about 1750 and traditionally it is known as the third house built on that site. The Shaws' residence was known to stand midway between Plymouth and Middleboro. By 1700 the Shaws and the Watsons held possession in the west section of Carver. Before moving to now Carver, Plymouth, MA, [Jonathan] was one of many who received forty year grants of various dimensions along the South Meadow River, and he also received a land grant at Lakenham."

Jonathan Shaw was one of the principals named in the following deed, found on page 201 of the Middleboro Town Hall Municipal Records of Deeds:

An agreement made the 19th daye of of May 1697 between John Soule, Zack Howland and Jacob Tomson agents for the
proprietors of the lands purchased by Benjamine Church and John Tomson: on the part: and Jonathan Shaw Seniour
of the town of Plymouth on the other part: Whereas the said Jonathan Shaw produced a deed of purchase of Tispoquen
the Black Sachem: and the two aforesaid purchases seeming to enterfere the one upon the other: we have mutually
agreed that the bounds between the two said purchases shall be as we have now run the same: that is to say: from
the place where the old Indian path crosseth Mehuchet brook: ranging due south by a range of marked trees unto two
small cedar trees marked by the northerly side of a pond: and so cross the pond to a small pine tree marked by the
Southerly side of said pond: and from said pine tree ranging northeast by a rang of marked trees unto a red oak
marked on four sides with stones about it near the range of the outside of the aforesaid purchase purchased by
Benjamine Church and John Tomson.
This agreement was signed John Soule - X
and Sealed by John Soule, Zack Howland - X
Zack Howland and Jacob Jacob Tomson - X
Tomson the day above said Jonathan Shaw - X
Witness: John Wadsworth
Joseph Vaughan
This agreement was signed and
sealed by Jonathan Shaw Senior
the sixth day of December 1699:
Witness: William Shurtleff
Joseph Vaughan

The inventory of Jonathan Shaw's will was taken on 30 July 1701 at Lakenham, Old Plympton, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, showing that he had died shortly before. The will of "Deacon Jonathan Shaw, Sr., Esquire" was not proved until 25 Sept. 1701, however. Jonathan is also named posthumously in two deeds dated 20 June 1705 that address the disposition and distribution of his estate among his children and grandchildren. One of the deeds was recorded in the Plymouth Registry of Deeds on 18 Dec. 1706, but the other was not recorded until 10 June 1719 (though it had been acknowledged by Jonathan's family well before then).

The final resting places of Deacon Jonathan Shaw and his first wife Phebe are unknown. Kenneth Shaw discusses and speculates about this mystery as follows:

"At this time it is unknown where their bodies are laid to rest, and there are possibilities of several burial locations. Maybe the Old Burying ground in Plymouth? Or maybe the hill overlooking the Watson's Pond in Taunton, Massachusetts, New England? However one good strong possibility could be the Nemasket Hill Cemetery in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England, sometimes referred to as 'The Hill Cemetery' or 'Old Burial Hill' of 'Middlebury.' Nemasket Hill Cemetery was purchased from the Indians in 1662, a part of the 'Twenty-six Men's Purchase' (Deacon Jonathan Shaw's father John Shaw was one of the 26 men but never received his portion of land) and is in fact the oldest known Cemetery in the town of Middleborough. Maybe Deacon Jonathan and Phebe (Watson) Shaw are buried in the Lakenham Cemetery without stones or just large round cobblestones laid on top where they are located, or could they have had stones and just over hundreds of years deteriorated long ago? The land where the old graveyard is [was] formerly known by the name of Lakenham burying-ground. Now known today as Lakenham Cemetery and originally belonged to Benoni Shaw of Plympton (now present day North Carver) [who gave the land] for the purpose of that cemetery, whose daughter, Rebecca Shaw, who died at about 9 years old in April 1718, is the first person buried there, indicated by the record of her burial monument in this cemetery. Another possibility is a location at the Old Plympton burial ground on the side of Route 58 in Plympton across from the church? Or maybe even the Winslow Cemetery, Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England."

The children of Deacon Jonathan Shaw and Phebe Watson were:

     --  PHEBE SHAW, born Feb. 1657/8, died 11 June 1686
     --  HANNAH SHAW, born circa 1661, died 24 July 1713.
     --  LT. JONATHAN SHAW, born circa 1663, died 18 Jan. 1729/30.
     --  MARY SHAW, born 1665, died 28 Nov. 1730.
     --  GEORGE SHAW, born circa 1667, died after 8 Dec. 1714.
     --  LYDIA SHAW, born say 1670, died after 8 Dec. 1714.
     3.  BENONI SHAW, born circa 1672, died 5 March 1750/1.
     --  BENJAMIN SHAW, Benoni's twin, born circa 1672.

3. BENONI SHAW, son of Jonathan and Phebe Shaw. Married LYDIA WATERMAN, daughter of John and Ann Waterman. Benoni Shaw was born circa 1672 at prob. Lakenham, Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He married Lydia Waterman say 1696 at probably, Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Benoni Shaw died on 5-Mar-1750/51 at Lakenham, Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Birth: ABT 1672 in probably Middleboro (records burned by Indians), Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England Death: 5 MAR 1750/51 in 79th year, Plympton (now North Carver), Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England Burial: 1751 Lakenham Cemetery, Row 3, Section O, corner of Linton Dr. & Forest St., North Carver, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England Benoni Shaw's first name in old records is sometimes listed Benoney or Benone, he owned land at North Carver (then Plympton) which he set aside for the purpose of a old graveyard formerly known by the name of Lakenham, his daughter, Rebecca died at 8 or 9 years old (in April, 1718), is the first person buried there.

Lakenham Cemetery sign, North Carver, Massachusetts

The cemetery began when Benoni Shaw set aside land for a burying ground. His own daughter Rebecca Shaw, about 9 years old, was the very first person buried in it, in April 1718.

The tombstones of Benoni Shaw, left, and his wife Lydia (Waterman) Shaw, right, in Lakenham Cemetery, North Carver, Massachusetts

The children of Benoni and Lydia (Waterman) Shaw were:

     --  LIDIA SHAW, born 21 Nov. 1697 in Plymouth (now North Carver), Mass.
     --  DEACON JOHN SHAW, born 3 May 1699 in Plymouth (North Carver), Mass.
     --  MARY SHAW, born 16 Jan. 1699/1700 in Plymouth (North Carver), Mass.
     --  MARGARET SHAW, born 28 June 1701 in Plymouth (North Carver), Mass.
     --  ELKANAH SHAW, born 2 Nov. 1703 in Plymouth (North Carver), Mass.
     --  MOSES SHAW, born 28 June 1704 in Plymouth (North Carver), Mass.
     --  LT. JONATHAN SHAW, born circa 1706/7 in Old Plympton or South Middleboro, Mass.
     -- [INFANT] SHAW, born circa 1708.
     --  WILLIAM SHAW, born circa 1708.
     --  REBECCA SHAW, "child," born circa 1711 in Old Plympton or South Middleboro, Mass.
     --  ABIGAIL SHAW, born circa 1713, prob. in Old Plympton, Mass.
     --  PHEBE SHAW, born circa 1714, prob. in Old Plympton, Mass.
     --  DAVID SHAW JR., born circa Feb. 1713/14 poss. in Middleboro, Mass.
     4.  LT. BENJAMIN SHAW, born circa 1715/16 in Old Plympton or South Middleboro, Mass.
     --  HANNAH SHAW, born circa 1715/16 in Old Plympton, Mass.

4. BENJAMIN SHAW, son of Benoni and Lydia Shaw, born . Married MARY ATWOOD, daughter of Nathaniel and Abigail Atwood. Birth: WFT Est 1715-1716 in of Old Plympton, Lakenham region, Plymouth Colony (now North Carver) or South Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England Death: 17 FEB 1792 in 77th year, Carver, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Burial: 1792 Lakenham Cemetery, Row 3, Section I, corner of Linton Dr. & Forest St., North Carver, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Marriage 1 MARY ATWOOD b: 9 DEC 1723 in Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England Married: 1 NOV 1742 in Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England. -- Benjamin Shaw , Jr b: 1 NOV 1758 in Volume I, Page 78, Plympton (now Carver Town Hall Vital Records), Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England -- Possibly Other Children b: WFT Est 1743-1773

Tombstone of Benjamin Shaw in Lakenham Cemetery, North Carver, Massachusetts

The known children of Benjamin Shaw and Mary (Atwood) Shaw are:

     --  ELIZABETH SHAW ("Miss Betty Shaw"), born after 1742 in Middleboro, Mass.
     --  KEZIAH SHAW ("Catee"), born circa 1744 in Plympton or Plymouth, Mass.
     --  MARY SHAW, born circa 1745 in Plymouth, Mass.
     --  HANNAH SHAW ("child"), born 1747 in Old Plympton (North Carver) or Middleboro, Mass.
     --  ISAAC SHAW, 2nd., born 1749 in Plympton, Mass.
     --  AMBROSE SHAW, born 1751 in Plymouth, Mass.
     --  REBEKAH SHAW, born 1754 in Plympton or Plymouth, Mass.
     --  HANNAH SHAW, born circa 1755 in Plympton, Mass.
     --  BENJAMIN SHAW JR., born 1 Nov. 1758 in Plympton, Mass.
     --  ISAIAH SHAW SR., born 10 March 1760 in Plympton, Mass.
     5.  JOB SHAW ("Jobe"), born 1763/4 in Plymouth, Mass.
     --  BENONI SHAW SR., born 1765 in Carver or Plymouth, Mass.
     --  ELKANAH SHAW, born Dec. 1766 in Plympton, Mass.
     --  MARTIN SHAW, born circa 1771.

5. JOB SHAW ("Jobe"), son of Benjamin and Mary Shaw, born 1763/4 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, New England; died in 1820 or perhaps 30 Oct. 1822; buried according to family tradition in Rochester, Monroe County, New York. Our Shaws preserved a family tradition that Job was born in Bridgewater, Windsor County, Vermont, but in fact he moved to Bridgewater after his marriage. The exact date and place of Job's death is unknown. His son Benoni's obituary says Job died when Benoni was 11 years old, which would mean Job died in 1820. Some Shaw genealogists say he died on or about 30 Oct. 1822. However, in a letter to my grandmother dated 6 Dec. 1980, our Shaw cousin Darlene Noble of Amboy, Illinois, wrote, "From my Grand Mother Olive Evitts diary I found that Jobs wife Lucy died 10-30-1822." Olive, born 1845, was a great-granddaughter of Job and Lucy. In fact, Lucy died in 1813. I suspect that someone made the reasonable guess that since it could not be Lucy's date of death, it more likely was Job's. Perhaps that guess is correct. Other genealogists say Job was born 24 June 1760, but that is in fact the date of birth of Job's same-named brother-in-law JOB SHERMAN, who was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts. That date is obviously impossible for Job Shaw, because Job's older brother Isaiah Shaw was born 10 March 1760, about three months before Job's purported birth. Other sources, including family group sheets provided by Verda May (Shaw) Tullis, say Job was born 1763/4, which is probably an approximation based on Job's birth order, between Isaiah who was born in 1760 and Benoni who was born in 1765. One family tree gives Job's date of birth as 24 June 1763, but that presumably is nothing more than the day and month of Job Sherman's date of birth combined with the year of Job Shaw's birth.

Older Shaw genealogies exhibited a degree of uncertainty about Job and his place in this family. For example, William Richard Cutter's New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial (1914), vol. IV, page 2147, says, ""The first federal census, taken in 1790, shows that [Isaiah Shaw] was living in Bridgewater, Vermont . . . . Benoni, Daniel, James and Job Shaw were also reported among the heads of families at Bridgewater, and some if not all of them were brothers of Isaiah." Later researchers were able to confirm that Job and Benoni were Isaiah's younger brothers -- but even so, Benjamin Shurtleff and Margaret Johnson Drake's John Shaw of Plymouth, Massachusetts (1972), page 25, has only a brief note regarding Job, mentioning that he, like his younger brother Benoni, "went up country [Bridgewater, Vt.]," but tracing no lines of descent from them. At a Daughters of the American Revolution meeting during the 1970s, my grandmother Frances (Miller) Shaw happened to meet Margaret Johnson Drake, who naturally was interested in the fact that my grandmother's married name was Shaw, and asked what she might know of our Shaw genealogy. My grandmother then recited the given names in our Shaw line: "Sherman Linn II, Sherman Linn, James Monroe, Manly Sherman, Job, Benjamin, Benoni . . . ." Mrs. Drake immediately understood that her Shaws were the same family as our Shaws, and gave my grandmother a few copies of the typed Shurtleff manuscript on the Shaws that she had edited for the DAR. Our own family records and traditions had only reached back to Job in New York, while Mrs. Drake's manuscript brings our own Shaw line down to our Job and stops there -- although by the time this fortuitous meeting took place my grandmother and great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor had already begun to learn of Job's ancestry from our Mormon cousins in Utah.

Though he was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Job later moved to Rochester in Plymouth County. That is where he was living late in 1787 when he first published his marriage intentions. On 7 Feb. 1788 in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Job married LUCY SHERMAN, born 5 Jan. 1768 in Middleboro, died 18 May 1813 in Victor, Ontario County, New York, daughter of Edward and Lucy Sherman. The "Publishment" of their intention to marry is dated 30 Dec. 1787 in the Middleboro Town Records, Book 4, Part 2, page 73, recorded by Jacob Bennett Jr., Middleboro Town Clerk, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Their "Intention of Marriage" was 12 Jan. 1788 in Rochester, Plymouth County. Their marriage is recorded in Middleboro Town Records, Book 4, Part 2, page 163. The Justice of the Peace who married them was Rev. Joseph Barker. Lucy Sherman's maiden name has been handed down in our family ever since, beginning with my great-great-great-grandfather MANLY SHERMAN SHAW, youngest son of Lucy. In my own branch of the Shaws, the Sherman name is commemorated in the Christian names of my grandfather and my mother's grandfather, and in the middle name of one of my older brothers. The Sherman name is also very popular among the Shaw Station Shaws, and also can be found among female-line descendants of Manly Sherman Shaw -- and even a nephew and probably a grand-nephew of Manly Sherman were named after him and thus inherited the Sherman name. Though we formerly knew nothing of the ancestry of Job Shaw and Lucy Sherman (and knew next to nothing about Job and Lucy apart from their names), we have always known that the name "Sherman" was handed down from Lucy.

According to varying traditions of uncertain reliability, Job and Lucy had no less than five sons and three daughters, or as many as six sons and seven daughters (or five sons and eight daughters). In her old mimeographed family history of Manly Sherman Shaw's family, my great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor said, "Job and Lucy had at least ten children." Also, on a large pedigree chart that my grandmother prepared for the DAR to show that my mother was qualified to join the DAR, Job and Lucy are said to have had nine children. While living in western New York, their eldest child JOHN SHAW (1790-1880) joined the new Mormon religion, later moving with his co-religionists to Illinois and ultimately joining in the great Mormon migration to Utah. Several other children of Job and Lucy also reportedly became Mormons. A few of Job and Lucy's children, as well as some of John's sons, migrated to Illinois and remained there, particularly in Lee County.

According to an old but slightly garbled Shaw family tradition that was recorded on two very similar versions of a typed genealogical chart about the middle of last century, Job "was born at Bridgewater, Windsor Co., Vermont, later moving to Herkimer County and Erie County, New York." Job certainly lived in those places, but he was not born in Bridgewater. By the time of the 1790 U.S. Census, Job and Lucy had left Massachusetts and moved "up country" to Bridgewater, Windsor County, Vermont. The census that year shows Job as the head of a household in Bridgewater consisting of one free white male over the age of 16 (i.e. Job himself), one free white male under the age of 16 (probably Job's eldest child John, born 30 June 1790 in Bridgewater), and two white females (Job's wife Lucy and another woman). Job and his family were still living in Bridgewater at the time of the 1800 U.S. Census, when his household had grown to include one white male under the age of 10 (probably Job's son WILLIAM E. SHAW, born 28 Aug. 1797), one white male aged 11-15 (probably Job's eldest son John), one white male aged 16-25, two white males aged 26-44 (including Job), three white females under the age of 10 (including LUCY SHAW, born 1792, and EXPERIENCE SHAW ("Spede"), born circa 1795), one white female aged 10-15, and two white females aged 26-44 (Lucy and another woman). Thus, by 1800 Job and Lucy had two sons and as many as four daughters (though we can't be sure, since one or two unrelated women may have been boarding with them as domestic servants).

Job and Lucy left Vermont sometime during the first decade of the 1800s. They were still living in Vermont on 29 Dec. 1801, when they had a daughter, LAURA SHAW, but they were living in Savoy, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on 22 Jan. 1806, when they had a daughter, KEZIAH SHAW. They had moved to Rutland County, Vermont, by 31 Jan. 1809, when they had a son named BENONI SHAW. However, by the time of the 1810 U.S. Census they had moved to Ontario County in western New York. Presumably there was a brief residence in Herkimer County, New York, after the birth of Benoni but prior to the 1810 census. The census that year shows Job Shaw as a resident of Bloomfield, Ontario County, where he was the head of a household consisting of two white males under the age of 10 (including his son Benoni, and perhaps JOB SHAW JR.), one white male aged 10-15 (probably Job's son William, then about 12 years old), one white male aged 16-25 (perhaps Job's eldest son John, then about 20), one white male aged 45 or older (i.e. Job), three white females under the age of 10 (including Job's daughters Laura and Keziah), one white female aged 10-15 (probably Job's daughter Experience), one white female aged 16-25 (probably Job's daughter Lucy), one white female aged 26-44 (i.e. the mother Lucy). Thus, by 1810 Job and Lucy apparently had four sons and five daughters -- though it's possible the male aged 16-25 or the female aged 16-25 were domestic servants or farm hands rather than their eldest son and daughter (who may by then have been living or working in other households). Incidentally, the census shows that the Utah Shaw family tradition is slightly in error regarding the time when Job and Lucy moved to Ontario County. Florence C. Youngberg's Conquerors of the West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers (1999), vol. IV, page 2321, says Job's eldest son John "moved with his parents in 1811 to Ontario County, New York," but the census shows they had moved to Ontario County no later than 1810. Could 1811 in fact have been the year the family moved from Bloomfield to Victor? On the other hand, it could be that Job and his family did not "move" to Victor, but instead they became residents of Victor when that municipality was formed in 1812 from territory that originally had been a part of Bloomfield.

Be that as it may, in May 1813 Job and Lucy were living in Victor, Ontario County, New York, in the vicinity of Rochester. It was in Victor where Lucy died on 18 May 1813. After his wife's death, Job remained in Victor, where he was living at the time of the 1820 U.S. Census. According to our family tradition, at some point Job resided in Erie County, New York. Most likely that was after Lucy's death but before the 1820 census. The census that year shows Job as the head of a household consisting of one white male under the age of 10 (his son MANLY SHERMAN SHAW, born 1811), two white males aged 10-15 (including his son Benoni), one white male aged 45 or older (i.e. Job himself), one white female aged 10-15, and one white female aged 26-44. Thus, in 1820 Job apparently had three sons and two daughters living with him. Job does not appear in the 1830 U.S. Census, having died later in 1820 or perhaps a litte later than that (perhaps 30 Oct. 1822 as mentioned above). According to Utah Shaw family tradition, Job was buried in Rochester, New York, though that might mean Victor, New York, in the vicinity of Rochester, where his wife Lucy died and where he was living in 1820. It is possible that both Job and Lucy are buried in Victor Village Cemetery in graves that no longer have headstones or grave markers, or perhaps they are buried in some other old cemetery near Victor.

At some point between 1810 and 1816, Job's daughter Lucy became the second wife of RALPH STRONG, born 1780 in Massachusetts, died 10 Sept 1865 in Mendon, Monroe County, New York. When he was about 20 years old, Ralph settled in Mendon, in the Wadsworth Eleven Thousand Acre Tract on Lot 32. He erected the first distillery in that part of the town. Ralph and Lucy had four children, named Sophia, Harrison (1816-1882), Polly, and Milton S. (1821-1901), all born in New York State. Harrison's eldest son was SHERMAN SHAW STRONG (1849-1910), who apparently was named after Harrison's uncle Manly Sherman Shaw. Lucy's gravestone in Mendon Cemetery says she died 29 June 1824 at age 32. At the time of the 1850 U.S. Census, Ralph and his family were living in Victor, Ontario County, New York. Buried near Lucy's grave in Mendon Cemetery is her brother Benoni Shaw. Benoni Shaw had earlier lived in Brant, Erie County, New York, later moving to Mendon in Monroe County. Another brother of Lucy, Job Shaw Jr., born 1799, married a woman named GEORGIANNA HUNT ("Joan"), born circa 1815 in Ontario County, New York, and he is known to have had four sons and one daughter: Benoni ("Benney"), Job P., James, William, and Julia E. Job Jr., a farmer, his wife and children appear in the 1850 U.S. Census as residents of Brant, Erie County, New York. He died in Brant on 12 Sept. 1858, and is buried in Evans Center Cemetery (also called the Early Settlers Cemetery or Pioneer Cemetery) in the Village of Angola, Evans Township, Erie County, New York.

Now, as indicated above, the number and birth order of Job and Lucy's children is uncertain. One list of their children comes from old family records of Austin Herman Shaw (1884-1967) of Ogden, Utah, a descendant of Job and Lucy's eldest child John. Austin was the son of MYRTILLO SHAW JR. (1858-1942), son of MYRTILLO SHAW SR. (1814-1896), eldest son of Job's son John. Using those records, Adele Adams of Ogden prepared a typed family group sheet in 1967, a copy of which was later obtained by one of our Shaw cousins, Darlene Noble of Amboy, Illinois, who in turn gave it to my grandmother (whence it came into my possession). In addition, Verda May (Shaw) Tullis created her own nearly identical version of that family group sheet using the same family records of Austin Shaw, and Verda provided that family group sheet to my Aunt Eleanor and my grandmother about four or five decades ago. The enumeration of Job and Lucy's children from that source -- five sons and three daughters -- is as follows:

John Shaw, born 30 June 1790, died 3 July 1880, md. 1 Jan 1812 to Polly Maria Fox
Job Shaw, born abt. 1792
Lucy Shaw, born abt. 1794, md. Ralph Strong
Spede Shaw, born abt. 1796, md. Erastus Talman, or Silas Tollman
Keziah Shaw, born abt. 1798, md. John Morgan
William Shaw, born abt. 1800, md. Sarah Aldrich
Manley Sherman Shaw, born abt. 1802, md. Malinda DeWolf
Benson Shaw, born abt. 1804, died single

These dates of birth for John's younger siblings are only guesses (though in some cases are pretty good guesses) of Adele Adams, founded upon the assumptions that the list of children is complete, that the birth order is correct, and that a new child would come along about every two years. However, based on how many children a married couple usually had in that time and place, and considering the data provided by the census records, it is unlikely that this enumeration is complete. Also, since the dates of birth for John, Lucy, William, Job Jr., Keziah, Benoni, and Sherman are known, as is the approximate year of birth of Spede, we know the birth order is wrong -- Keziah was several years younger than William, Job Jr. was two years younger than William, and "Benson" (that is, Benoni) was two years older than Sherman. A further problem is the name of Keziah's husband -- his name was JOSHUA PALMER MORGAN, not "John." Presumably in some earlier record her husband's name was given as "J. Morgan," and at some point the incorrect guess was made that "J." stood for "John." In the 1820s and 1830s, Keziah and Joshua lived in Buffalo, New York, but afterwards Joshua (and perhaps Keziah too) moved to Elgin, Illinois, and died there. They named a son after Keziah's younger brother Manly Sherman.

Even apart from the considerations mentioned above, another important factor should lead us to doubt that this list is complete. With her family group sheet, Verda (Shaw) Tullis included notes in which she mentioned, "One relative gave me names of other children for this family . . . but I have no dates or proof." This alternate tradition enumerates 11 children of Job and Lucy -- six sons and five daughters (or five sons and six daughters, as the sex of one of the children is uncertain):

Patience
Benoni
Welcome
Sarah (Sally)
Joshua
Laura who married Jesse Woodruff
Manley Sherman
William
John
Job (Jr.)
Spede

Besides several additional names, most of the names from Austin Shaw's records are included in this list. However, the birth order is very different (and obviously incorrect), the daughters Lucy and Keziah are absent, and "Benson" appears as "Benoni." The correct spelling is "Benoni," as shown on his gravestone and in his obituary. Job Sr. was the older brother of a Benoni and the grandson of a Benoni. Having seen old census records from that period, I know that the name "Benoni" can look like "Benson." This name appears again in this family: as noted above, Job Jr. named a son "Benona" (Benoni), and Manly Sherman Shaw had a grandson named ALVA BENONI SHAW, known in the family as "Uncle Nonie," one of the Shaw Station Shaws.

Significantly, among my grandmother's genealogical papers is a long handwritten genealogical table of the children and descendants of Job Shaw and Lucy Sherman. In addition, in the 1970s my grandmother gave my mother an old typed genealogical table that shows the descendants of Job and Lucy along with an incorrect genealogy of Lucy. In 1998, our cousin SHERMAN MANLY SHAW of LaMoille, Illinois, provided me with another version of that same typed genealogical table -- the two versions are not identical but are very similar. I believe all three of these tables -- the handwritten one and the two typed ones -- may have been prepared by my great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor. These tables show the same 11 names of Job and Lucy's children as in this alternate tradition, but list the children in a different order (though it seems to me that the maker or makers of the charts did not intend to list the children in the order of their birth). The names of Job and Lucy's children in the handwritten chart are:

Benoni
William
Job
John who raised his younger brother Manly Sherman
Patience
Welcome
Spede wife of Silas Tolman [with double strike-through of the given name "Silas"]
Joshua
Sally
Laura wife of Jesse Woodruff
Manly Sherman Shaw husband of Malinda DeWolf

In the two typed charts, the names are:

Benoni, stayed in western New York state
William, came from New York to Lee Co., Illinois
Job
John who raised his younger brother, Manley Sherman, as their parents died when Manley Sherman was very young
Patience
Welcome
Spede wife of Silas Tollman, Franklin Grove, Ill.
Joshua
Sally
Laura, married Jesse Woodruff, Brunswick, N.Y.
Manly Sherman [with the handwritten words "Shaw - married Malinda DeWolf" added in red ink on my mother's copy of the typed chart].

The handwritten chart shows descendants of Benoni, William, John, and Manly Sherman, but no children or descendants of the other seven children of Job and Lucy. It is the same with the typed charts, with the exception of the daughter Laura, who is (correctly) shown with a son, George Woodruff of Mason City, Iowa.

Examining the names on these charts, Job and Lucy Shaw's daughter LAURA SHAW is one of the more noteworthy. In addition to the old tradition regarding her parentage that is attested in this chart and in the notes of Verda (Shaw) Tullis, my great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor wrote in a letter dated 2 Dec. 1964, "Job also had a daughter Laura who married a Woodruff and they are buried here [i.e. in Lee County, Illinois] near Lee Center." Susan Woodruff Abbott's Woodruff Genealogy (1962) independently attests that Laura was the daughter of "Otto Shaw" (sic) and "Lucy Sherman." "Otto," of course, is a mistake for "Job," apparently a misreading of some cursive handwriting in an old record. Laura seems to have named some of her children after her Shaw relatives (cf. Laura's daughters Lucy Maria, born 1823, and Adelia Keziah, born 1833). She was born 29 Dec. 1801 in Vermont and died 12 Jan. 1855 in Lee Center, Illinois. Laura married on 30 April 1820 in Brunswick, New York, to JESSE WOODRUFF (1798-1876), son of Uriah and Chloe (Willmath) Woodruff of Vermont. Laura and Jesse lived in Erie County, New York, but around 1840 Laura came to Illinois from western New York with her husband and several of their children. Jesse and Laura settled on Section 32 in Bradford Township around 1840, on land that bordered on some of the land owned by her younger brother Manly Sherman Shaw in Section 31. In 1850 Jesse was elected attorney for Bradford Township (1881 History of Lee County, pages 447-448). Later Laura and Jesse moved to Lee Center, where they both died. They and their sons William Henry, born 1821, and Uriah, born 1825, are buried together in Woodside Cemetery south of Lee Center, just a few feet to the north of the grave of Laura's younger brother Manly Sherman Shaw.

Looking at the topmost name on the handwritten chart, Benoni, it must be noted that, as the chart indicates, he did have children and has living descendants. The tradition related by Verda (Shaw) Tullis that "Benson" died single is erroneous. Taken together, the handwritten chart and the two typed charts say Benoni had three children: "Mrs. Francis Woodworth," of 411 Meigs St., Rochester, New York, "Sadie," and "Van Buren," who in turn was said to be the father of a "William" of Angola, Erie County, New York. (Significantly, Angola is located near Evans, where Benoni's sister Spede lived.) In her abovementioned letter of 2 Dec. 1964, Aunt Eleanor related some family traditions regarding the family of Benoni: "There was another son [of Job Shaw] , Benoni, who had a daughter named Frances. I do not know for sure but I think she married a Woodworth and had a daughter Hattie. We know that a Benoni Shaw used to come from New York State to visit relatives here in Illinois a good many years ago." Benoni's obituary in the 6 June 1894 edition of the Fredonia Censor identifies him as "son of Job and Lucy Shaw," says he and his wife "had three children two of whom survive them," and reports that he died at the home of his son Van Buren in Pultneyville, near Mendon, New York. Presumably the charts' "Sadie" was the child who predeceased the parents. The obituary also relates that Benoni Shaw was born 31 Jan. 1809 in Rutland County, Vermont. However, he is listed in the 1850 U.S. Census as "Benonia Shaw," born in New York, a farmer of Brant, Erie County, New York. His wife was Angeline Ellis (1813-1880), born in New York. Benoni and Angeline married in 1838 or 1839 and had three children, including Van Buren Shaw (1840-1926) and Frances Jane Shaw (1847-1930), both born in New York. Frances is the chart's "Mrs. Francis (sic) Woodworth," wife of Lucius J. Woodworth (1847-1871), and I am aware of living descendants of their daughter Hattie E. Woodworth. It could be that the chart's "Sadie" is a mistake for Hattie's sister Sadie E. Woodworth (1870-1954), but perhaps Frances named her daughter Sadie after a deceased sister of that name. Benoni, Angeline, Frances, and Sadie are all buried in the same plot, lot 94, in Mendon Cemetery, Monroe County, New York. As mentioned above, also buried in Mendon Cemetery -- in lot 96, near the Benoni Shaw family plot -- is Job Shaw's daughter Lucy, wife of Ralph Strong. Van Buren Shaw's wife was named Lucy S. (1847-1923), and they had children named Frederick P. Shaw (1867-1924), Lucy Frances Shaw (1873-1900), Mabel Angie Shaw (1883-1906), and Ruth Adell Shaw (1891-1938). Frederick presumably is the son of Van Buren who appears on the charts as "William." Lucy Frances married John J. Birdsall and had an only child Bertha E. Birdsall (1895-1903), while Ruth Adell married James W. Cahill. Van Buren and his wife Lucy are buried with their four children and only grandchild in Pittsford Cemetery, Monroe County, New York.

Also to be noted is that these traditions show confusion over the Christian name of the husband of Job's daughter EXPERIENCE SHAW ("Spede"), who was born in Vermont around 1795 and died in Illinois between 1850 and 1857. Spede was another member of this family who settled in Lee County, Illinois. The family group sheet from Verda (Shaw) Tullis gives the name of Spede's husband as "Erastus Talman," but next to that name Verda pencilled in "Silas Tollman." "Spede" was an affectionate form of "Experience," and Spede's supposed husband "Erastus" in fact stands for her son, not husband, ADRASTUS W. TALMAN. (It should also be noted that one sometimes finds Spede's name misspelled "Stede," an old transcription error.) In 1822 in New York, Experience married SILAS PEPOON TOLMAN (or Tollman), born 29 April 1791 in Stockbridge, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Ebenezer and Dorcas (Ayres) Tolman. Silas, who served as a drummer-boy in the War of 1812, was one of the early settlers of Lee County, Illinois, leaving New York in the fall of 1837 with his wife and children. After a journey of about eight weeks, they arrived in Lee County (then Ogle County), at first wintering with or near Spede's younger brother Sherman in Inlet Grove, and then in the spring of 1838 moving north to the future site of Franklin Grove (formerly called Chaplin or Chaplain) in China Township (Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County (1893), pages 216-217). "In the spring of 1838, which set in so early that wild flowers bloomed in March, Silas P. Tolman, his wife Mrs. Experience (Shaw) Tolman, and son Adrastus Tolman, moved to the present site of Franklin Grove." (History of Lee County (1914), Frank E. Stevens, vol. I, page 308) In 1839, "Silas P. Tolman located a few rods east of where the Methodist Episcopal church stands [in Franklin Grove], and bought from A. Vroman a claim to half a section." (History of Lee County (1881), page 580) The 1914 History of Lee County, page 68, says Silas joined with Christian Lahman on 3 May 1853 to lay out the town of Chaplin. According to the 1881 History of Lee County, page 585, the "new town" of Franklin Grove "was laid out in 1853, by A.W. Tolman, C. Lahman, and F.D. Robertson. The land in the northern part was owned by Tolman, the other by Lahman." In late 1854, the town's name was changed from Chaplin to Franklin Grove, in honor of the youngest son of John Dixon, founder and namesake of Dixon, Illinois. Franklin Grove was formally incorporated on 11 May 1857, at which time Silas' son Adrastus was elected one of the town's trustees.

The 1850 U.S. Census shows "Silas P. Tolman," age 58, a farmer of China Township, Lee County, with his wife "Experience," age 55, born in Vermont, and their son "Adrastus," age 26, born in New York. Experience died probably circa 1855, because according to Lee County records, on 15 May 1857, "Silas P. Talman" married "Clarinda Brewer." The 1860 U.S. Census, however, shows "Silas P. Tollman," age 65, a farmer in China Township, Lee County, with his second wife "Malinda," age 60, supposedly born in Vermont, whereas the 1881 History of Lee County, page 591, says "Silas P. Tolman and his wife, Clarinda" were admitted as among the very first members of the Franklin Grove Presbyterian Church by a profession of faith on 1 Jan. 1861, the date of the church's formal organisation by the Rock River presbytery. In the 1870 U.S. Census, Clarinda is said to have been born about 1810 in Massachusetts, and is shown living in Franklin Grove with her stepson Adrastus and his family. Silas died at age 72 on 14 May 1863 in Franklin Grove, and he and his two wives are buried together in Franklin Grove Cemetery -- a small gravemarker next to Silas' gravestone has the initials "M. T.," which presumably stands for "Malinda Tolman." It seems that "Malinda" was either the first or middle name of Clarinda.

Spede's son Adrastus was born 5 Dec. 1823 in Evans, Erie County, New York, and married on 25 Dec. 1850 to CHARLOTTE YALE, born 20 Dec. 1831 in Camden, Oneida County, New York, daughter of Lee County pioneer Nathaniel C. Yale, who settled at the future site of Franklin Grove in September 1836. The marriage record of Adrastus and Charlotte identifies the groom as "A.W. Talman." Adrastus and Charlotte lived in Franklin Grove, China Township, Lee County, where they had six sons and one daughter. Several of their children are buried in Franklin Grove Cemetery. Adrastus and Charlotte both died in Franklin Grove, but their gravestone is missing. Biographical details of Silas and Adrastus, and Nathaniel and Charlotte, were supplied to the 1893 Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County by Lucy Brayton (Tolman) Cook (1865-1929), daughter of Adrastus and Charlotte. According to Lucy, her parents were still living in Franklin Grove at the time of the book's publication, in a frame house built by Silas -- the second frame house built in Franklin Grove. In the Centennial Souvenir -- Franklin Grove, Ill., History (1836-1936), Adrastus is said to have died 18 March 1912, and is identified as the son of Silas P. Tolman and "Experience (Shaw) Tolman." This source also gives the birthdate of Adrastus as 20 Dec. 1822 in Evans, New York, rather than 5 Dec. 1823.

Despite the at times uncertain and conflicting traditions regarding the names and number of Job and Lucy's children, it is most probable that all 13 of the children attributed to them were really theirs. Certainly there are no chronological difficulties in Lucy having that many children from 1788 to 1813. Both traditions appear to have been preserved independently, and both agree that Job and Lucy had sons named John, Job, William, Manly Sherman, and Benoni/Benson, and a daughter named Spede -- but the traditional names of the other son and daughters also appear to be authentic. We cannot be sure of the exact birth order of all 13 children, however.

The known and traditional children of Job and Lucy Shaw are:

     --  JOHN SHAW, born 30 June 1790 in Bridgewater, Vermont.
     --  LUCY SHAW, born 1792 in Bridgewater, Vermont.
     --  EXPERIENCE SHAW ("Spede"), born circa 1795 in Bridgewater, Vermont.
     --  WILLIAM E. SHAW, born 28 Aug. 1797 in Bridgewater, Vermont.
     --  JOB SHAW JR., born 1799 in Bridgewater, Vermont.
     --  LAURA SHAW, born 29 Dec. 1801 in Vermont.
     --  JOSHUA SHAW, probable son, born circa 1801-1813.
     --  PATIENCE SHAW, probable daughter, born circa 1801-1813.
     --  WELCOME SHAW, probable son or daughter, born circa 1801-1813.
     --  KEZIAH SHAW, born 22 Jan. 1806 in Savoy, Berkshire County, Mass.
     --  SARAH SHAW ("Sally"), probable daughter, born circa 1801-1813.
     --  BENONI SHAW ("Benson"), born 31 Jan. 1809 in Rutland County, Vermont.
     6.  MANLY SHERMAN SHAW ("Manley"), born 23 April 1811 in Ontario County, New York.

6. MANLY SHERMAN SHAW (or "Manley"), son of Job and Lucy Shaw, born 23 April 1811 in Ontario County, New York, probably in Bloomfield, Ontario County, near Rochester; died 25 April 1891 at home in Lee Center, Lee County, Illinois; buried 27 April 1891 in Woodside Cemetery near Lee Center. Sherman Shaw was one of the pioneer settlers of Lee County, and his name appears frequently in the early records and histories of the county.

Our family records show uncertainty regarding the year of Manly Sherman Shaw's birth. In some of our records, his year of birth is given as circa 1802, in others circa 1806, but there can hardly be any doubt that 1811 is the correct date. The date of birth given on his grave monument is 23 April 1811, but in an old mimeographed history of the family of Manley Sherman Shaw, my great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor wrote that he "was born April 23 of either 1811 or 1817, and we have yet to learn where." Aunt Eleanor's uncertainty about the date reflects confusion between the similarly shaped numbers 1 and 7 as apparently written in an old Shaw family record she had seen. My grandmother once said that Manly Sherman himself may not have been sure of the year of his birth, but upon consideration of all the evidence I believe it is we, his descendants and kin, and not him, who were uncertain. As for the dates of 1802 and 1806, those are merely approximations or guesses. What happened is that earlier Shaw genealogists, including Adele Adams of Ogden, Utah, had assigned hypothetical years of birth to the lists of the children of Job Shaw and Lucy Sherman, based on the reasonable assumption that a new child would come along about every two years. Uncertainty about the number and birth order of Job and Lucy's children led Adele Adams to propose 1802 as Sherman Shaw's year of birth, but led others to propose 1806.

However, if we set those two years aside and consider what every other available record says, we find that the year must be 1811. For example, the 1881 History of Lee County, written 10 years before Sherman's death, says he was born in 1811 in Ontario County, New York. Again, the 1914 History of Lee County, Illinois says he died at the age of 80 in 1891, which yields a year of birth of 1811. However, if the correct year were 1802 or 1806, then his place of birth would not have been in New York, but would have to have been Bridgewater, Windsor County, Vermont, or Savoy, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where his parents were living in those years. Again, the U.S. Censuses for 1860, 1870, and 1880 consistently and invariably show his age to be such that he must have been born precisely in 1811, whereas the 1850 Census indicates 1813 as his year of birth, which is much closer to 1811 than to 1806 or 1802. We may also exclude 1806 for the simple reason that Sherman's older sister KEZIAH SHAW was born 22 Jan. 1806. Finally, the Lee County Register of Deaths, in a record dated 21 May 1891, says Sherman was born in New York and died in Lee Center, Illinois, at age 80 on 25 April 1891, which means he was born in 1811. Consequently there can be no reasonable doubt that the proposed years of birth 1802 and 1806 are erroneous and should be disregarded. As always, care should be taken when consulting genealogical websites, and that is especially true regarding the date of Manly Sherman Shaw's birth. I have found that some websites, as well as the Mormon International Genealogical Index, even list Sherman Shaw twice among the children of Job Shaw: first with a date of birth of 1802 or 1806, and then a second time with his correct date of birth. There is, however, no evidence that Job and Lucy had any other son named Sherman besides Manly Sherman Shaw. We may with complete assurance agree with Verda (Shaw) Tullis, who wrote to my grandmother in a letter dated 10 Dec. 1980, "Regarding the birth date of Manly Sherman Shaw, what Eleanor Baylor had would be more correct. The lady who made up the sheet of Job's family [i.e. Adele Adams] had only our direct ancestor John Shaw's full birth date and she proceeded to estimate other births every 2 yrs. Later I found 23 Apr. 1811 in Lee Co. history at S.L. Genealogy Library as Manley's birth so that is what I have on my revised sheet."

Uncertainty also surrounds Sherman Shaw's place of birth. He was born in New York, in Ontario County, but we can be certain of nothing more than that. The 1810 U.S. Census shows that Job Shaw was then living in Bloomfield, Ontario County. In 1812, the village of Victor was formed from territory that had been a northern part of Bloomfield, and by 1813 the family is stated to have been living in Victor, Ontario County, where Sherman's mother died when he was only two years old. That would narrow down Sherman's probable place of birth to Bloomfield -- though it is unknown whether our Shaw family had moved to Victor or rather the borders were redrawn placing their home in Victor. In the death record of his daughter Delia Shaw Thornton, dated 25 Oct. 1935, his place of birth is said to have been Buffalo, New York, while Delia's mother is said in the same record to have been born in Rochester, New York. Buffalo and Rochester are in the same general area of New York, but neither city was located within the 1811 boundaries of Ontario County, which was then larger than it is today. Buffalo in particular has not been located within Ontario County since 1802. It seems most likely that the tradition of Sherman Shaw's birthplace found in Delia's death record means that he was born in the general vicinity of Buffalo, but within the boundaries of Ontario County as they existed in 1811. It is perhaps significant, however, that Bloomfield and Victor are in the vicinity of Rochester, while Bennington, where Sherman's older brother lived later on, is further to the west and in the vicinity of Buffalo. The tradition recorded in Delia's death record could be a somewhat garbled memory of our Shaw family's residence in Bloomfield, Victor, and Bennington.

John Shaw (1790-1880) and his younger brother Manly Sherman Shaw (1811-1891)

According to Shaw family tradition, Sherman was brought up by John after the death of their parents.

We know almost nothing of Sherman's younger days in New York State. In her mimeographed history of the family of Manley Sherman Shaw, my great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor mentioned Job Shaw's eldest son JOHN SHAW (1790-1880), and wrote, "Apparently their parents died when Manly Sherman was quite young, for family tradition relates that he was brought up by John." Their mother died in 1813, but we don't know when Job died -- he was still alive, a resident of Victor, New York, at the time of the 1820 U.S. Census. The obituary of Sherman's older brother BENONI SHAW indicates that Job died in 1820, when Benoni was 11 years old and Sherman was 9 years old. If the death date of 30 Oct. 1822 is correct for Job, then Sherman lost his mother when he was just two years old and his father when he was 11 years old. His older brother John was 23 years old in 1813 and 32 years old in 1822, and therefore naturally would have become the guardian of his younger siblings who were still minors. The obituary of Sherman's older brother Benoni perhaps sheds light on this matter, for it says that after his father died, Benoni "was then taken and brought up in a family by the name of Fox." That is probably the family of John Shaw's wife POLLY MARIA FOX. Sherman's parents lived in Victor, Ontario County, New York, and during the 1820s Sherman's older brother John lived in Victor and Bennington, New York, so it is very likely that Sherman also lived in those places around that time. A Shaw family tradition preserved by our Mormon Shaw cousins, and handed on from them by Aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor, is that Sherman's father Job is buried in Rochester, New York. If so, then it could be that Sherman also lived there at some point during those years -- unless "Rochester" in this tradition actually means "Victor, near Rochester." The 1881 History of Lee County, page 425, says Sherman "received his early education in Erie county" in New York. Erie County was formed in 1821, when Sherman was about 10 years old, and includes the city of Buffalo. The story of his early education in Erie County could mean that during the 1820s he lived with or near his brother John in Bennington, New York, in the vicinity of Buffalo -- or it could be that Sherman was then living in Brant, Erie County, where his brothers Job Jr. and Benoni are known to have lived. During the 1820s and 1830s, Sherman's older sister KEZIAH SHAW was living in and giving birth to children in Buffalo, including her son MANLY SHERMAN MORGAN (1829-1911), whom she named after her younger brother. It is possible that Sherman was living in Buffalo during those years, perhaps with or near his sister Keziah.

As it happens, the Mormon descendants of Sherman's older brother John inherited the following very interesting old papers that had belonged to their ancestor, from his days in New York and Illinois:

Addenda. Due John Shaw, five gallons, two quarts, 1 pint whiskey on demand, for value received.
    Victor, New York, 6 October 1820.
                        (signed) James Williams

Victor, New York  deed 40 acres dated June 2, 1821. Henry Champion to John Shaw for $250.00.

School Trustee 1834  rate bill of assessment.

May 13, 1843 gave Phineas H. Young power of attorney to sell or lease 256 acres of land in Bennington,
    Wyoming County, New York.

November 15, 1844 Paid $6.17 tax on 129 acres in Hancock County, Illinois.

Aunt Eleanor's mimeographed family history mentions another important influence on our Shaw family during this period of time: "John and several of his brothers and sisters embraced the Mormon faith, but Manly Sherman evidently was one who did not. It is due to the genealogical prowess of the Latter Day Saints that we have the little bit of information that we do have about Job." During the 1820s and 1830s, the Mormon religion arose in Ontario County, New York, and later was very active in Lee County, Illinois, where many members of our Shaw family settled, so it is unsurprising that several members of our Shaw family became followers of Joseph Smith. For whatever reason, however, Manly Sherman declined to join Joseph Smith's new religion.

In 1835 in New York, Sherman married MALINDA DEWOLF (or "Melinda"), born 18 March 1817 in Cortland County, New York, died 18 June 1892 in Lee Center, Illinois, daughter of Dorastus and Eliza DeWolf. Aunt Eleanor's mimeographed history says they were married in Ontario County, New York. Malinda's family are known to have lived in the same general area of New York as our Shaws, but it is unknown how, when, and where Sherman and Malinda met. What is known is that in 1837, while Malinda was pregnant with their first child, Sherman and Malinda left New York and set out for northern Illinois, then a frontier territory that had recently been opened up to white settlement following the defeat and expulsion of most of the native Indian tribes during the Black Hawk War of 1832. Some of Malinda's siblings came to Lee County (then Ogle County) at or around the same time, and their parents joined them some time later. Sherman's older brother WILLIAM E. SHAW (1797-1833) had preceded him to Lee County. The 1820 U.S. Census shows William as a resident of Victor, Ontario County, New York. He was living in Lewiston, Niagara County, York, when his daughter Hannah was born on 17 Aug. 1829, but by the time of the 1830 U.S. Census he was living in Evans Township, Erie County, New York, where his son Edwin was born on 7 April 1831. William was the first of our family to settle in Illinois, but his adventures were cut short by tragedy, as related in Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County (1893), page 173:

"The name of Shaw is found frequently in the list of old settlers, and we are informed that the first house in Lee Center, proper, was for the first widow in the town, Mrs. William Shaw, whose husband, we are told, met with a tragic death. He, with family, started for Mendota in a sleigh; when nearing Sand Grove, just beyond the Inlet, a wolf was seen running over the snow. In drawing up his gun from the sleigh bottom the trigger snapped and the contents of the gun were discharged into his body, causing death in a few hours."

William died 9 Feb. 1833 and is buried with his wife SARAH ALDRICH in Inlet Cemetery near Lee Center. William was the first person buried in Inlet Cemetery. William and Sarah had two sons, John H. and Edwin I., and three daughters, Hannah Maria (wife of Joseph Gardner), Lucy (wife of Orlando Starks), and Libby (wife of John Daw). They with their spouses and their spouses' families were among the early pioneer settlers of Lee County. Though William met with an unfortunate and untimely demise, those of his siblings and nephews and nieces who followed him to Illinois -- including his brothers John and Sherman and several of John's sons -- had much better luck.

Gravestone of William E. Shaw and his wife Sarah Aldrich Shaw

Inlet Cemetery, near Lee Center, Illinois.

This account of the life of Sherman Shaw is found in the 1881 History of Lee County, "Lee Center Township," page 425:

Sherman Shaw, stock raiser, Lee Center, was born in Ontario county, New York, in 1811; received his early education in Erie county in the same state. In 1837 Mr. Shaw packed his earthly possessions into a wagon and started toward the setting sun. He drove from New York to Lee county in this rude conveyance, bringing two hogs, which followed after the wagon the entire distance. Mr. Shaw is a member of the Baptist church, with which he united in 1841. Was married in 1835, to Miss Malinda DeWolf. Is father of seven children, three of whom are living. Owns quite a large amount of land in different parts of the township. He is one of the landmarks of Lee county, and one of its most respected citizens. He came to the county when the great State of Illinois was almost a wilderness, and has lived to see towns, villages, churches, school-houses and beautiful dwellings rise, as if by magic, where but a few years ago nothing greeted the eye of the observer but a vast expanse of prairie, over which bounded the wild deer and the prairie wolf.

The trek from New York to Illinois would have taken them along the southern shore of Lake Erie, through Pennsylvania and Ohio, and then into Michigan, where, as Aunt Eleanor related in her mimeographed history, "It is understood that their first child, Sophia, was born on the trip, near Niles, Mich." Sophia was "born in Niles, Mich., March 31, 1837, and was but five months old when her parents came to Lee County . . ." (Portraits & Biographical Record -- Lee County (1892), page 342; cf. the biography of Andrew Aschenbrenner in the 1914 History of Lee County, which affirms that Andrew's mother-in-law Sophia was born in Niles, Mich.). From Michigan they continued west, moving through the area along the southern shores of Lake Michigan in Indiana and then into Illinois, until they reached (what would soon become) Lee County in September 1837. Perhaps accompanying Sherman and Malinda, or at any rate arriving around the same time, were two of Malinda's brothers, as mentioned in Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County (1893), "Recollections of Bradford," page 176: "Frank DeWolf whose sister, Malinda, married Sherman Shaw, a good 'mother in Israel,' who left us not long since for a better home, and Nelson DeWolf, came in 1837."

To the above relation from 1881 may be compared this brief account of the life of Sherman Shaw extracted from the biography of his grandson Sherman L. Shaw which was published in the 1914 History of Lee County, Illinois (Vol. 2, Frank E. Stevens):

[Sherman L. Shaw] comes of Scotch ancestry on the paternal side, . . . . His grandfather, Sherman Shaw, arrived in this county in 1836 [sic -- 1837] and was one of the three first settlers in this part of the county. Only four years before had the Black Hawk war occurred and there were yet many evidences of Indian occupancy in all this section of the country. The forest stood in its primeval strength and the land was unclaimed and uncultivated, but Sherman Shaw resolutely undertook the task of preparing the fields for cultivation and in time was reaping bounteous harvests as a reward of his persistent and practical effort. He died in the year 1891 and his wife passed away in 1892, at the ages of eighty and seventy-five years respectively. They were laid to rest in the Woodside cemetery.

Elsewhere in the 1914 History of Lee County, another brief account of Sherman and Malinda Shaw is included in the biography of their son-in-law Capt. JAMES BENJAMIN HARRISON THORNTON (1840-1930), whose wife is identified as:

. . . a daughter of Sherman and Melinda (De Wolf) Shaw, natives of western New York. The parents went to Michigan in 1836 and in the following year moved to Lee county, Illinois, where in 1839 the father entered from the government the farm now owned by the subject of this review. He made his home upon this property until 1855, when they moved to Lee Center, where they both passed away. Of the eight children born to their union Mrs. Thornton is the only one now living.

These 1914 recollections of Shaw family history contradict the 1881 account on certain points. The 1881 account should more readily be trusted, as it is earlier and was written down during Manly Sherman Shaw's lifetime. The date of "1836" seems to be a misremembering, and the Thornton biography apparently attempts to reconcile the later "1836" tradition with the earlier and probably more reliable "1837" tradition. Sherman's daughter Sophia certainly was born in Michigan in the early spring of 1837, and it seems unlikely that a trip from the region of Buffalo, New York, to the region of Niles, Michigan, would have taken more than a few weeks. Another contradiction is in the number of Sherman and Malinda's children: the 1881 account says they had seven children, but the 1914 account says eight. Probably the earlier account is correct, though we cannot be sure because the names of only four of their children are known. The other three or four were probably stillborn or died very soon after birth and may never have been named.

Around the same period of time that Sherman arrived in Lee County, his sister LAURA SHAW (1801-1855) also came to Illinois from western New York with her husband JESSE WOODRUFF (1798-1876) and several of their children. Jesse and Laura settled on Section 32 in Bradford Township around 1840, on land that bordered on the property where Sherman settled, and in 1850 Jesse was elected attorney for Bradford Township (1881 History of Lee County, pages 447-448). Later Laura and Jesse moved to Lee Center, where they both died. Laura and Jesse are buried just a few feet to the north of Laura's brother Sherman in Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center. Sherman's older sister EXPERIENCE SHAW ("Spede") and her husband SILAS P. TOLMAN (1791-1863) and son ADRASTUS W. TOLMAN (1823-1912) also came to Lee County in the fall or early winter of 1837. As related above, in 1838 Silas and his family settled in Franklin Grove, China Township, and in 1839 they planted themselves just a few rods east of the old Methodist Episcopal Church, buying from A. Vroman a claim to half a section. Silas and Adrastus played central roles in the founding, organising and incorporation of Franklin Grove. Spede and Silas are buried with their children and grandchildren in Franklin Grove Cemetery. Another of Sherman's older sisters, KEZIAH SHAW (1806-1845), first wife of JOSHUA PALMER MORGAN (1804-1899), may also have come to Illinois from Buffalo, New York -- but if so, she would have settled in Elgin, Illinois, rather than Lee County. Keziah did, however, name her son Manly Sherman Morgan after her younger brother, as mentioned above.

Shown at left is the grave monument of Jesse Woodruff and Laura Shaw, which is situated just a few feet north of the monument of Laura's younger brother Manly Sherman Shaw in Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois. At right are several graves in the Tolman family plot at Franklin Grove Cemetery, Illinois, including the grave of Sherman Shaw's brother-in-law Silas P. Tolman in the bottom left corner. The second of the small grave markers in the front row has the eroded initials "E S T," which presumably stands for "Experience Shaw Tolman," another older sister of Sherman Shaw.

In addition, a few years after Sherman's arrival in Lee County, his older brother John followed him to Illinois. John did not settle in Lee County, but a few of his sons did and left descendants there. John became a Mormon in 1842, and during the following year or two he left New York and settled with most of his family in La Harpe, Hancock County, Illinois. In 1846, John and his wife Polly Maria Fox moved to Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, along with a large group of Mormons, who continued on to Utah in 1848. John and Polly settled in Ogden, Utah, and left a very large number of descendants there and elsewhere in Utah and other western states, including Verda May (Shaw) Tullis, great-granddaughter of John and Polly's son WILLIAM MONTGOMERY SHAW (1826-1902). Incidentally, William M. Shaw named one of his sons MANLY SHAW after his uncle Manly Sherman Shaw. Another of the sons of John and Polly, JOHN LANGDON SHAW (1816-1906), came to Hancock County in the fall of 1844, but moved to Lee County in the spring of 1846 and settled in Bradford Township, the same township where his uncle Sherman lived. John Langdon and Sherman both later moved to Lee Center and resided there until their deaths. John and his wife are buried with their little son John nearby the graves of Sherman Shaw and his family in Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois. John Langdon Shaw's daughter ELLEN A. SHAW (1845-1936) married J. GILES HODGES (1839-1921) and lived with her husband on a farm outside Lee Center. Ellen and Giles are buried in Woodside Cemetery near Lee Center adjacent to several of Ellen's Shaw cousins. Ellen used to visit her aunt MINERVA PEASE (STONE) SHAW of Ogden, Utah, wife of John Langdon Shaw's younger brother AMBROSE SHAW (1824-1908) of Ogden, which was one way our Shaws in Lee Center remained aware of their Mormon cousins in Utah. Ambrose and Minerva's daughter Olive Theresa (Shaw) McCarthy prepared a genealogical manuscript on our Utah Mormon Shaw cousins which her grand-nephew Jay Irvin Hadley has published online. Another source of information on the descendants of Job Shaw and Lucy Sherman is The Shaw Family (1912), a typed manuscript prepared by Job and Lucy's descendant MERLIN J. STONE of Ogden, Utah. A further source is The Shaw Family Tree, an old typed manuscript that was derived from family records of MYRTILLO SHAW (1814-1896), eldest son of John Shaw, son of Job Shaw and Lucy Sherman, and supplemented by records of the Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City, Utah, that were compiled by Mrs. Adele (Bert J.) Adams. The Myrtillo Shaw family records that were incorporated into this manuscript had been inherited by our cousin Louie Scott of Dixon, Ill., son of Grace (Evitts) Scott (1870-1979), daughter of Charles Evitts and OLIVE A. SHAW (1845-1940), daughter of HENRY CHAMPION SHAW (1820-1874), one of the sons of John Shaw and Polly Maria Fox. Grace (Evitts) Scott, who died at the age of 108, was a cousin and acquaintance of my great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor and my grandmother.

Shown at left is the grave monument of Henry Champion Shaw and his wife Jane Waldron in Prairie Repose Cemetery just north of Amboy, Illinois. Many of their children and descendants are also buried in the same cemetery. Henry was a nephew of Manly Sherman Shaw. At right is the grave monument of J. Giles Hodges and his two wives, Hattie C. and Ellen Shaw (and his son Guy) in Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois. The monument is just a few feet to the south of the monument of Ellen's cousin Egbert DeWolf Shaw. In the row behind is the family plot of Sherman Linn Shaw, another of Ellen's cousins. Ellen was the daughter of John Langdon Shaw, brother of Henry Champion Shaw.

John Langdon Shaw's brother SYLVESTER SHAW (1818-1901) had preceded his father and older brother to Illinois, settling in Lee County in 1839. Sylvester lived in Bradford and Lee Center Townships, farming in Bradford and Amboy Townships. With his wife and children, Sylvester is buried near his brother John and his uncle Sherman in Woodside Cemetery. Sylvester's younger brother HENRY CHAMPION SHAW left New York in 1841 and settled in La Harpe, Illinois, and was joined there by his father John about two years after that. In 1846, "Henry C. Shaw came to Binghamton [near Amboy] and engaged in the manufacture of the Doan plow." (History of Lee County (1881), page 284) In 1852, Henry bought a farm in Amboy Township, where he remained until his death. Henry and his wife and children, along with many of their descendants, are buried in Prairie Repose Cemetery north of Amboy, Illinois, and about four or five miles due west of Woodside Cemetery. The descendants of Henry and Sylvester Shaw are known as "the Amboy Shaws." In her old mimeographed family history, Aunt Eleanor mentioned that John Shaw and Polly Maria Fox "are the ancestors of several local families -- the Daniels and Derrs and Ankneys, Mrs. Sam Goode and Mrs. Gertrude Tait and Howard Bates of Amboy, and Mrs. Andrew Delhotal of Lee Center." The Daniels, Derrs, and Ankneys were descendants of Sylvester Shaw, while the Taits, Bateses, and Delhotals were descendants of Henry Champion Shaw. Many biographical and genealogical details concerning Sylvester Shaw and Henry Champion Shaw and their families are recorded in The Shaw Family Tree.

Additional details of Sherman Shaw's life soon after his arrival in Lee County in 1837 -- along with a delightful glimpse of Sherman Shaw's character and wit -- are provided by the following anecdote excerpted from an article in the 5 July 1876 edition of the Amboy Journal. It involves an early settler of Inlet Grove named Charles West, of whom more shall be said below:

Sherman Shaw came in 1837. His claim was in Bradford, but while waiting for his house to be built he lived on a claim of timber land at Inlet; and also for a short time in a house which he rented, standing near the old home place upon John M. Gardiner's present farm, and just across the road from where West then lived. West, on account of his swearing proclivities and general wickedness, was always a thorn in Uncle Sherman's side. One morning he heard rather taller swearing than usual, and upon looking around for the cause, saw West cruelly beating an old sow; he kicked and pounded and whipped as though he intended to kill her. Uncle Sherman was indignant, for we all know hogs have always been a tender subject with the old man; but he was powerless. The old sow stood it until at last, becoming disgusted with such performances, she packed up her bag and baggage and "lit out for tall timber." In the afternoon West wanted his sow, and, after vainly searching the farm over for her, he called to Shaw, and the conversation ran as follows: "Hello Shaw! Have you seen the devil anywhere around here?" "Yes," returned Uncle Sherman "I have." "Where?" "Over in your pasture this morning, pounding a sow."

While Sherman and Malinda were living on that claim of timber land at Inlet, they had their second child, JAMES MONROE SHAW, born 26 June 1838 at a house Sherman had built in the vicinity of Inlet Grove and Palestine Grove (formerly known as Bliss' Grove and renamed Lee Center in 1846). A year after James was born, the family removed to Bradford Township to the north of Lee Center, where Sherman erected the second house ever built in Bradford. The History of Lee County (1881), "Bradford Township," page 448, related that "Mr. Whitmore and Sherman Shaw were the first to build houses within the limits of Bradford. The house of the former was standing as early as the spring of 1839, on land now owned by Mrs. Schott, in the western part of the township. In 1840 Shaw built a frame house on the N.E. corner of Sec. 31. This building is still standing." Also, Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County (1893), "Bradford Township," page 176, mentions that "Sherman Shaw, the grandfather of the present owner of the title," came to Bradford Township in 1839.

In the year following, Sherman and Malinda had their third child, a son named EGBERT DEWOLF SHAW, born 6 Aug. 1841 in their frame house in Bradford Township. "Egbert Shaw is said to have been the first white child born within the township." (1881 History of Lee County, ibid.) About four years later, Sherman and Malinda had a daughter, ADELIA ELIZA SHAW ("Delia"), born 15 Dec. 1845 in Bradford Township, presumably in the same house where Egbert had been born -- though Aunt Eleanor in her mimeographed family history said she had not been able to determine where Delia was born. Delia and her husband later inherited and lived on her father's farm in Bradford Township where her brother Egbert and probably she herself were born. As discussed above, besides Sherman and Malinda's children Sophia, James, Egbert, and Delia, there were three or possibly four other children who were presumably stillborn or who died soon after they were born. Given the chronological gap between the births of Egbert and Delia, one of those children may have been born between them, say circa 1843. We do not know the names of these other children nor where they were buried, nor even if they were given names. Perhaps they were buried in Bradford Cemetery, located in Section 29 on the southwest corner of the southeast quarter of the township, where many of the early settlers of Lee County are buried, though that cemetery is not in especially close proximity to Sherman Shaw's farm in Section 31. They may rather have been buried on their parents' farm and received wooden grave markers that long ago decayed.

These two photographs that I took in March 2008 show some of the land Manly Sherman Shaw and his family once farmed in Section 31 of Bradford Township, Lee County. On the left, an old barn sits off Pin Oak Road, on the west side of the road a few miles north of Lee Center, and perhaps a little to the north of Sherman Shaw's land. In front of the barn are the ruins of another structure, perhaps a house or a barn. On the right, two barns are situated just off the east side of Pin Oak Road, somewhat closer to Lee Center and definitely on Sherman Shaw's land. The lot with the small stand of trees is suggestive of property that may once have had a house on it. I don't know where Sherman Shaw's old frame house once stood, nor where the house of his daughter Delia and her husband Harry Thornton used to be.

This map is an enlargement of Bradford and Lee Center Townships, from a facsimile of a large 1863 wall map of Lee County that I inherited from my grandmother. Bordering on the west of Bradford and Lee Center Townships are, respectively, China and Amboy Townships. The original farm of Manly Sherman Shaw in Section 31 of Bradford Township is marked in red. Additional Shaw land is shown in Section 30 as well as Section 32, where it borders upon the land of Sherman Shaw's brother-in-law Jesse Woodruff. Another plot of land in Section 13, in the upper right corner of the map, is assigned to "S. Shaw," which I believe is probably the Bradford Township farm of Sherman Shaw's uncle Sylvester Shaw. Some of the land of Sylvester's brother Henry Champion Shaw can be seen in Section 2 of Amboy Township in the lower left corner of the map.

During those early formative years in Lee County's history, these parts of Illinois were very much a more than half-wild frontier region. The following memories of Lee County pioneer settler Ira Brewer, recorded in Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County (1893), "Recollections of Bradford," pages 175-176, paint a picture of the state of affairs in Bradford and Lee Center Townships during the 1830s and 1840s:

"We have to remember that the first settlers came here and located on Government lands, and of course all the property that was subject to taxation was what little personal property was owned by the settlers. The laws were inadequate to the circumstances of the people, so that the people had to become a law unto themselves. Hence we see the need of the 'Grove Association,' and the 'Society for the Furtherance of the Cause of Justice,' to see that things were done honestly. I could name many of the stern old pioneers who were instrumental in keeping early settlers and the affairs of our county in good condition. . . . The older settlers had the larger part of the grove. When it was good sleighing there was liable to be some claim jumping by settlers, in the way of hauling timber from other claims. Then it was the duty of the president of the Grove Association to order a meeting, and the clerk to mount a pony and give the settlers notice. But the worst cases were when some persons would jump a home claim."

Manly Sherman Shaw was one of those "stern old pioneers" that Ira Brewer had in mind. The 1881 History of Lee County, "Amboy Township," pages 284-296, relates at some length the formation and activities of the Grove Association mentioned by Brewer. The association's constitution is dated at "Inlet, Ogle county, Illinois, July 10, 1837," not long before Sherman's arrival in what would soon become Lee County. At the 16 March 1839 meeting, the association's boundaries were defined as extending "south half way from this [Inlet] grove to Knox, half way to Dixon, half way to Malugan, half way to Palestine [i.e., Lee Center] and half way to Franklin Grove." During the association's meeting of 2 March 1839, two disputed land claims between Sherman Shaw and Roswell Streeter were decided in Sherman's favor. At the regular election of 20 March 1841, Sherman Shaw was one of five committeemen elected for the Grove Association. On 17 Feb. 1843, Sherman was one of five committeemen appointed to visit members of the Grove Association who had not yet signed an association bond and to "obtain their signatures if possible." Though we cannot be sure, it's likely that Sherman Shaw participated in the Grove Association's resolute actions during the spring of 1845 that thwarted a claim-jumping scheme of a settler named Perkins, who had attempted to cheat a poor settler named Anderson out of his land at Perkins' Grove (1881 History of Lee County, pages 295-296, which calls it "one of the most notable exploits under the old regime").

In addition to his activities with the Grove Association, Sherman Shaw had a hand in helping to subdue Lee County to the rule of law. From 1843 to 1850, much of northern Illinois was terrorised by gangs of outlaws known as "the Banditti of the Prairie," who were responsible for numerous thefts, robberies, counterfeiting, threats, extortions, and vicious murders throughout Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri. The Banditti had one of their main hideouts in Inlet Swamp, and several of the early settlers of Inlet were members of the criminal gang, including some of the magistrates. In fact the Banditti may even have subverted all of Lee County's government at the township level. "At one time, every township officer was supposed to have been a member of the banditti; being in the majority they could, of course, elect their own men to office." (1881 History of Lee County, page 416) The troubles at Inlet led to the founding of Lee Center in 1846, as many settlers left Inlet and moved to Palestine Grove so they wouldn't be in so close proximity to the criminals' hideout (cf. the 1914 History of Lee County, page 371). Some of Inlet's settlers were induced through harassment and threats to cooperate with the Banditti. One of the criminals was none other than the old thorn in Sherman Shaw's side, Charles West, then serving as Inlet's constable. In the fall of 1844, West had robbed a peddler named Miller at Troy Grove, but when some of Miller's stolen goods were found in West's house, he was arrested and turned state's evidence (1881 History of Lee County, page 298).

In response to this serious danger to peace and public order, 72 prominent citizens of Lee County met on 4 Nov. 1844 and formed "An Association for Furthering the Cause of Justice" -- what Ira Brewer recalled as the "Society for the Furtherance of the Cause of Justice." The 1881 History of Lee County, page 300, lists the following officers of the association:

Moses Crombie was elected president, Ira Brewer clerk, and George E. Haskell treasurer. The president appointed the following vigilance committee: Corydon R. Dewey, Sherman Shaw, George R. Linn, C.I. Hitchcock, Sylvanus Peterson, G.A. Ingalls, Harmon Wasson, and John C. Church.

Sherman Shaw's friend and associate George R. Linn later became the father-in-law of Sherman's son James. "G.A. Ingalls" above is a misreading of "C.F. Ingalls," that is, Charles F. Ingalls. "C.I. Hitchcock" would be Charles I. Hitchcock, a resident of Lee County who was probably related to Rev. Luke Hitchcock. This list should be compared with the one given in the same volume on page 417, in the section entitled "Lee Center Township":

Among the residents of Lee Center township who took an active part in the suppression of this band of outlaws were C.F. Ingalls, Rev. Luke Hitchcock, Dr. Adams, Moses Crombie, Sherman Shaw, Lewis Clapp, Benjamin Whittaker; also a Mr. Starks and sons, whose full names we are unable to ascertain. By their shrewd manipulations and persistent efforts this organization succeeded in either capturing or driving from the country most of the prominent members of the gang, so that after 1845 the citizens of Lee Center, as well as elsewhere, experienced a feeling of security.

An article published in the Dixon Evening Telegraph in 1951 provides a similar list of names: "A group of settlers in Inlet Grove, namely, Sherman Shaw, Charles Ingalls, Rev. Hitchcock, Dr. R.F. Adams, Moses Crombies, Louis Clapp, Benjamin Whittaker, and a Mr. Starks and his sons, resolved to rid Inlet Grove of these 'banditti.' Through their heroic efforts, these men freed Inlet of the banditti." Mr. Starks is most likely the Charles Starks who was one of the prominent members of the Inlet Grove Association, though he might rather be the E.W. Starks or the Samuel S. Starks who a few years later held elected offices in Bradford Township.

In April 1850, Bradford Township was formally organized and township elections were held. Sherman Shaw was one of three township highway commissioners elected at that time, receiving 29 votes (1881 History of Lee County, page 447). He continued to reside with his wife and children on his farm in Section 31 of Bradford Township until 1855, when they moved into a house in Lee Center not very far south of Sherman Shaw's farm. About 15 years later, Sherman bought a fine stone house from its owner, a pioneer settler of Lee County named Garrett M. La Forge, who built it in 1862 but had decided to leave Lee Center. My mother and I had the opportunity to tour and photograph this house on 29 Aug. 1998, while the owners at the time were at work on maintenance and renovations as they prepared to move in. On 13 July 2011, I had a second opportunity to visit and photograph the house and to meet the current owners.

An 1872 engraving of the old Shaw home in Lee Center, from a greeting card that was printed a few decades ago which had belonged to my grandmother. The yard to the left is "laid out in formal flower beds," as mentioned by my great-aunt Eleanor (Shaw) Baylor. I believe this depiction comes from an old gazeteer of Lee County.

Sherman and Malinda lived in that house for the rest of their lives, as related in Aunt Eleanor's mimeographed family history:

Manly Sherman engaged in the livestock business and was the owner of quite a little farm land. He moved eventually to Lee Center, where he purchased (for $8800.00) the stone house on Lot 48, People's Addition, from Garrett LaForge, and lived there until his death. Malinda had a "green thumb" (inherited by her daughter Delia and by her granddaughter Adeline Thornton Pomeroy) and the yard at the Lee Center home was laid out in formal flower beds. A conservatory was built at the back of the house where her house plants were kept.

Aunt Eleanor's mimeographed history also relates that after the untimely death of Sherman Shaw's son James Monroe on the day after Christmas 1876, James' "widow and her children moved in with Manly Sherman and remained with them until the death of the latter and his wife." Not only Sherman and Malinda died at the Old Shaw Home in Lee Center, but also their granddaughter Emma Adelia Shaw, who fell sick and died at the tender age of 10 on 6 Nov. 1883.

This is the oldest photograph of the old Shaw home in Lee Center that my grandparents had in their possession. I think that is Mary Rebecca (Linn) Shaw standing on the porch of the house, or perhaps her daughter Grace. This is a view of the eastern exposure. The front of the house, facing the street, is the house's right side in this picture.

Aunt Eleanor's mimeographed family history mentions another notable event in Lee County's history in which Sherman Shaw and his family had a hand: the founding of the village of Shaws, also called Shaw Station because it formerly was a train depot. In her family history, Aunt Eleanor says Sherman's younger son Egbert DeWolf Shaw "lived at Shaws, Ill. He farmed and was in the livestock business with his father. They donated the land which the C B & Q railroad station occupied, and laid out the village of Shaws." Egbert DeWolf and his descendants are known as the Shaw Station Shaws, and one of them, Egbert's grandson KENNETH SHAW, lives on Shaw Road just a few miles west of Shaw Station. Shaws is a few miles east of Amboy, situated at the intersection of Inlet Road (County Highway 5, going north and south) and Shaw Road (County Highway 10, going east and west). In the article "History of Lee County," the 1904 edition of the Encyclopedia of Illinois says, "Shaw Station was platted as 'Shaw' on land of Sherman Shaw October 24, 1878. The place has an elevator operated by Chas. Guffin, a Congregational church, which was built five or six years ago, and a public school." Since 1904, however, Shaws has considerably declined. The railroad no longer goes through Shaw Station and the school is gone. The Shaw Evangelical Congregational Church building is still there, at 2067 Shaw Road, rural Amboy, but is no longer in use. There are probably not more than 20 dwellings, most of them to the southeast of the highway intersection on Main Street (the only street in Shaws). My mother informed me that when she was a teenager, she and her friends would sometimes drive down to the gas station and feed store at Shaw Station to buy snacks and drinks. Though there may not be much to the unincorporated village of Shaws, nevertheless its name and the name of Shaw Road are geographical memorials to Manly Sherman Shaw and his family.

On the left, the sign of Supersweet Feeds, a former feedstore and gas station at Shaw Station that my mother used to visit when she was a teenager. The feedstore was at the intersection of Shaw Road and Inlet Road, shown at right. I took these photographs on a visit with my mother to Shaw Station on 29 Aug. 1998. On a subsequent visit on 13 July 2011, I found that the feedstore had gone out of business and the sign was gone, with only the wood frame remaining.

In her mimeographed family history, Aunt Eleanor concludes her account of the life of her great-grandfather with these remarks:

Manly Sherman eventually lost his eyesight, but it is said he could run his hands over a steer and estimate within a few pounds the weight of the animal. He was a member of the Baptist Church, as was his wife. She purchased a scholarship at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, a Baptist-sponsored institution, which is still good. It entitles the holder to free tuition (tuition at the figure which was in force at the time of issue -- $1.50 a semester!). Nice to know that when Marilyn Baylor attended Hillsdale College there was a relative of the Henry Ford family also attending under a similar scholarship.

I do not know if that scholarship is still valid, as it was when my mother's first cousin Marilyn attended Hillsdale.

Manly Sherman Shaw's death certificate says that he died of "LaGrippe" (influenza). The published newspaper obituary of Manly Sherman Shaw from the 30 April 1891 Amboy Journal reads as follows:

Uncle Sherman Shaw, an old resident of Lee Centre, and much respected throughout the county, died at his residence last Saturday morning, aged eighty years. He was born in York State (sic), and in 1837 came to Lee county, settling in Bradford. He leaves four children: Egbert D. Shaw, Mrs. W.S. Frost, Mrs. Harry Thornton and Mrs. Rebecca Shaw, widow of the late J.M. Shaw. The funeral was from the house at Lee Centre Monday at 10:30 a.m. There was a very large attendance of people from all parts of the county.

His widow Malinda survived him by only a little more than a year. Marking their graves is an impressive granite monument of excellent quality that appears to show hardly a day's wear. Their epitaphs express their Baptist Christian faith and the heavenly hope in which they died. Sherman's epitaph is "In my Father's House are many mansions" (John 14:2), and Malinda's is "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).

Grave monument of Manly Sherman Shaw and Malinda DeWolf Shaw

Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois.

The seven or eight children of Sherman and Malinda are as follows:

     --  SOPHIA E. SHAW, born 31 March 1837 near Niles, Berrien Co., Michigan
     7.  CORPORAL JAMES MONROE SHAW, ("Roe"), born 26 June 1838 near Lee Center, Lee Co., Illinois
     --  PRIVATE EGBERT DEWOLF SHAW, ("Eg"), born 6 Aug. 1841 in Bradford Township, Lee Co., Illinois
     --  (NN) SHAW, probably stillborn or died in infancy, perhaps born circa 1843
     --  ADELIA ELIZA SHAW ("Delia"), born 15 Dec. 1845 in Bradford Township, Lee Co., Illinois
     --  (NN) SHAW, probably stillborn or died in infancy
     --  (NN) SHAW, probably stillborn or died in infancy
     --  (NN) SHAW (??), probably stillborn or died in infancy

7. JAMES MONROE SHAW ("Roe"), son of Sherman and Malinda Shaw; born 26 June 1838 near Palestine Grove (Lee Center), Lee County (then Ogle County), Illinois; died at age 38 on 26 Dec. 1876 in Lee Center, Illinois; buried in Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois. James Monroe was his parents' second child, born while they were living at a house James' father had built in the vicinity of Inlet Grove and Palestine Grove (renamed Lee Center in 1846). A year after James was born, the family removed to Bradford Township to the north of Lee Center, where in 1840 Sherman Shaw built a frame house on the northeast corner of Section 31 of the township. James lived there with his parents and siblings until 1855, when the family moved to Lee Center. The 1860 U.S. Census shows "James M. Shaw," age 21, living with his parents and siblings on 17 July 1860. His parents and siblings still lived in Lee Center at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. However, James Monroe, a month shy of his 23rd birthday, was living in Dixon, Illinois, on 24 May 1861, when he enlisted with the 13th Illinois Infantry, Company A. His younger brother, Egbert DeWolf, age 19, enlisted in the same company alongside his brother on the same day. They signed on for a three-year tour of duty, with James Monroe mustered in at the rank of Corporal and Egbert DeWolf mustered in at the rank of Private. In the old mimeographed history of the family of Manley Sherman Shaw, my great-aunt Eleanor Shaw Baylor wrote, "Letters written by the two boys when they were serving in the Civil War indicate that their nicknames were 'Eg' and 'Roe.'"

The following is the story of the 13th Infantry Illinois Volunteers regiment according to the History of Lee County (1881), pp.159-161 (emphasis added, with the battles in which James M. Shaw and Egbert D. Shaw fought shown in red):

LEE COUNTY UNION VOLUNTEERS -- THIRTEENTH REGIMENT. The Thirteenth Infantry Illinois Volunteers was organized under the Ten-Regiment bill, at Dixon, Illinois, May 9, 1861, and went into camp on the fair grounds at Dixon. On the next day, after going into camp, the following regimental officers were elected: John B. Wyman, colonel, B.F. Parks, lieutenant-colonel, A.B. Gorgas, major. Colonel's staff consisted of A.W. Pitts, commissary, W.C. Henderson, quartermaster, J.L. McCleary, assistant quartermaster, H.T. Porter, adjutant, Dr. S.C. Plumer, surgeon, Dr. D.W. Young, assistant-surgeon, Rev. J.C. Miller, chaplain. The drawing of positions by the companies resulted as follows:

      Dixon  .  .  . Captain H.T. Noble  .  .  Company A
      Sterling  .  .    "    D.R. Bushnell  .  .  "    B
      Amboy  .  .  .    "    M.H. Messinger .  .  "    C
      Rock Island  .    "    Q. McNeil   .  .  .  "    D
      Sandwich  .  .    "    S.W. Partridge .  .  "    E
      Sycamore  .  .    "    Z.B. Mayo   .  .  .  "    F
      Morrison  .  .    "    G.W. Cole   .  .  .  "    G
      Aurora .  .  .    "    -- Gardner   .  .  . "    H
      Chicago   .  .    "    S.W. Wadsworth .  .  "    I
      Du Page   .  .    "    W. Blanchard   .  .  "    K

Officers Roll at the Close of Service. -- Col. John B. Wyman, Amboy, killed in battle of Chickasaw Bayou, December 28, 1862. Lieut.-Col. Benjamine F. Parks, Dixon, resigned June 24, 1861. Major, Adam B. Gorgas, Dixon, promoted June 25, 1861, to lieutenant-colonel, and to colonel December 29, 1862; term expiring June 18, 1864. Second Assistant Surgeon, David H. Lane, resigned November 15, 1862, to accept commission as surgeon in 9th Cav., Mo. Vols. Chaplain, Joseph C. Miller, Amboy. was honorably discharged September 4, 1863.

Company A. -- Captain, Henry T. Noble, Dixon, promoted by the President, July 8, 1863. Second Lieut., Henry D. Dement, Dixon, was promoted to first lieutenancy April 27, 1861, and resigned August 1, 1863. First Sergeant, Geo. L. Aiken, Dixon, was promoted second lieutenant March 1, 1862, and died April 2, 1863. Sergeant, Adanaran J. Pinkham; was promoted second lieutenant June 11, 1863, and was promoted captain August 1, 1863. Sergeant, Henry Van Houton, discharged November 30, 1863, to accept commission as major of 3d Arkansas Cavalry.

The following privates in Co. A were promoted: Sherman A. Griswold, Lee Center, was discharged to be promoted to second lieutenant in 1st Missouri Cavalry; Jedediah Shaw, Dixon, as corporal; Charles W. Snider, Dixon, as sergeant-major; William Irwin, Dixon, as sergeant; Mark Evens, as first lieutenant; Jonathan H. Crabtree, Dixon, as corporal; John H. Brubaker, Dixon, as first sergeant; Henry B. Anderson, Dixon, as corporal, and Alx. Pitts as sergeant.

Although this old account of the 13th Illinois Regiment, Company A, is accurate as far as it goes, it is somewhat incomplete. Still, the itinerary of the regiment's movements and battles tells us something of the trying and harrowing experiences that my great-great-grandfather and his younger brother willingly endured to defend the principles in which they believed. (For a full account of the "Old Thirteenth," see Military History and Reminiscences of the Thirteenth Regiment of Illinois Voluntary Infantry, published in 1892, in which Corporal James M. Shaw is named on p.468 and Private Egbert D. Shaw is named on p.473.) At the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou (a Union defeat) and the Battle of Arkansas Post (an important Union victory), the 13th Illinois Infantry fought under the overall command of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, an eighth cousin of James M. Shaw and Egbert D. Shaw on their paternal grandmother's side. By February of 1863, both brothers were in very poor health -- James Monroe certainly, and perhaps his brother Egbert also, was suffering from dysentery -- so they were granted honorable discharges due to disability. Egbert was discharged 24 Feb. 1863, and James Monroe was discharged four days later, on 28 Feb. 1863. Thus, they partook of their regiment's adventures only through the Battle of Arkansas Post on 11 Jan. 1863.

Shown left to right, Corporal James Monroe Shaw, his wife Mary Rebecca Linn, and Captain J.B.H. Thornton and his wife Delia Shaw Thornton

A few months after his return from the war, James Monroe married on 22 Dec. 1863 to MARY REBECCA LINN, born 1 May 1841 near Lee Center, died 1 Dec. 1917 in Lee Center, daughter of Russell and Abigail Linn, who were among the pioneer settlers of Lee County. During those years, James Monroe's sisters SOPHIA E. and ADELIA ELIZA ("Delia") both married Civil War veterans. Sophia Shaw's husband was Captain WILLIAM S. FROST SR., whose mother Eulalia was a sister of Mary Rebecca Linn's mother Abigail. The Frost and Linn families were neighbors of the Shaws living in or near Lee Center. Capt. Frost belonged to Company E of the 75th Illinois Infantry and took part in the battles of Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Resaea, Lookout Mountain and Kenesaw Mountain. On 29 May 1867, Delia Shaw married Captain JAMES BENJAMIN HARRISON THORNTON, who had originally enlisted as a private in Company A of the 8th Kansas Volunteer Infantry. Thornton's company consisted of staunch abolitionists, and became known for freeing slaves in spite of orders to the contrary. Afterwards he was named captain of Company K of the 12th Infantry Regiment of Colored Troops, in which he remained for two years and five months. Capt. Thornton was in the Battle of Nashville, Tenn., surviving the heat of the conflict without injury. His regiment also took part in the post-battle pursuit of Confederate Gen. John B. Hood to the Tennessee River. He was mustered out at Nashville and returned to his home in Missouri, but went to Lee County, Illinois, in 1867 to marry Delia. After their marriage, they lived in Warrensburg, Missouri, but in 1874 they moved back to Lee County, where they remained for the rest of their lives. My great-aunt Eleanor's mimeographed family history says that Capt. Thornton "met her thru her brother when they served together in the Civil War," which perhaps refers to James Monroe, since he was the elder brother and was of higher rank, though we can't be sure. Capt. Thornton did not serve in the same company or regiment as James and Egbert, but their regiments presumably were encamped nearby at some point and/or took part in the same engagements. Company A of the 8th Kansas Infantry saw action in Missouri in 1862, and the 13th Illinois Infantry was stationed in Missouri in 1861 and 1862, so it may have been around that time that the two Shaw boys met their future brother-in-law.

The 1870 U.S. Census for Lee Center Township, dated 5 Aug. 1870, shows "James Saw" (sic), age 32, with his wife "Mary," age 29, and their children "Sherman," age 5, "Grace," age 2, and "George," age 1. James was then a dry goods merchant in town, and his store clerk, Louis Darzy, age 21, was boarding with them at the time. Aunt Eleanor's mimeographed family history recounts the story of James Monroe and Mary Rebecca's family as follows:

There were five children in this family: Sherman Linn, Grace (Mrs. C.T. Leonard), Emma Adelia, who died when about ten years of age; George Harry Thornton and Arthur Monroe. James Monroe Shaw died Dec. 26, 1876. He had contracted dysentery during the war years, from which he never fully recovered, and had received a medical discharge from service. After his death his widow and her children moved in with Manly Sherman and remained with them until the death of the latter and his wife.

On his grave marker in Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, James Monroe Shaw's age at death is given as 38 years 6 months. He is named as the "son of Sherman & M. D. Shaw," and his epitaph reads, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" (Job 19:25) and "I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:54). On the right of the stone, it reads, "Our Father," on the left, "Our Brother," and on the back, "Monroe my husband," followed by a verse that the ensuing years have rendered illegible.

Shown at left are the graves of James M. Shaw's family, located behind his parents' grave in Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center. In the background is the large black monument of John Langdon Shaw and his family. John was a son of John Shaw, older brother of Manly Sherman Shaw. Shown at right are the gravestones of James M. Shaw and Egbert D. Shaw. Egbert's stone is not in close proximity to the graves of his parents and brother, but is close to the graves of his sisters, nephew, and cousin.

Having suffered the untimely loss of her husband, not quite seven years later Rebecca and her family again experienced the sorrow of an unwelcome and too early death. As mentioned above, Emma Adelia, youngest child of James Monroe and Mary Rebecca, fell sick and died on 6 Nov. 1883 at home in Lee Center, when she was only 10 years old. She was buried beside her father in Woodside Cemetery. Her gravestone names her as the "daughter of J.M. & R.L. Shaw," and gives her age at death as 10 years, 2 months, 2 days. Her epitaph consists of her own words that she spoke to her loved ones: "I would like to get well, but I know Jesus will do what is best."

The gravestones of Emma Adelia Shaw and her mother Mary Rebecca Linn Shaw, Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois.

The five children of James Monroe and Mary Rebecca Shaw were:

     8.  SHERMAN LINN SHAW, born 5 Oct. 1864 in Bradford Twp., Lee Co.
     --  GRACE SHAW, born 19 Dec. 1867, died 18 Dec. 1947, md. Charles T. Leonard
     --  GEORGE HARRY THORNTON SHAW, born 15 Jan. 1869 in Lee Center, died 17 April 1934.
     --  COL. ARTHUR MONROE SHAW, born 12 Dec. 1870 in Lee Center, died 2 Aug. 1942.
     --  EMMA ADELIA SHAW, born 4 Sept. 1873 in Lee Center; died 6 Nov. 1883.

8. SHERMAN LINN SHAW, son of James and Rebecca Shaw; born 5 Oct. 1864 on the Shaw farm, Bradford Township, Lee County, Illinois; died 9 Jan. 1942 in Lee Center, Lee County, Illinois. Sherman's first wife, whom he married on 22 Dec. 1892 in Amboy, Lee County, Illinois, was ANNA KATHERINE MYNARD, born 12 Feb. 1866, died 5 Jan. 1902 of tuberculosis in Lee Center, daughter of Adam S. and Alvira Mynard. They had a daughter in 1894 and a son in 1895. Katherine's death certificate says her age at death was 35 years 9 months 23 days, and states her cause of death to have been "Tuberculosis Palmonalos." After Katherine's death, Sherman remarried on 21 June 1905 in Amboy to GRACE ESTHER BENDER, born 26 Nov. 1878 in Mount Carroll, Carroll County, Illinois, died 12 May 1941 in Lee Center, daughter of Conrad and Clarissa Bender. Sherman and Grace had a baby boy who died at or soon after childbirth in 1908, as well as a daughter exactly one year later in 1909, and a son in 1912.

The following biography of my great-grandfather was published in the 1914 History of Lee County, Illinois (Vol. 2, Frank E. Stevens):

Sherman L. Shaw, residing at Lee Center, is the owner of a farming property of six hundred and sixty acres in Lee, his native county. His birth occurred in Bradford township, October 5, 1864, his parents being James M. and M. Rebecca (Linn) Shaw. . . .

Sherman L. Shaw acquired his education in Lee Center and Dixon College, completing his studies when twenty years of age. He afterward remained at home upon the farm for a time and later rented land. On his grandfather's death he purchased the interests of the other heirs in the property and has since managed his farm, which is devoted to the raising of crops best adapted to soil and climate. He likewise engages to a considerable extent in stock-raising, making a specialty of hogs. The farm is improved with all modern equipments and accessories, and in all of his business career Mr. Shaw has been actuated by a spirit of enterprise, progress and improvement.

Mr. Shaw has been married twice. On December 22, 1892, at Amboy, he wedded Miss Anna K. Mynard, a daughter of Adam S. and Alvira Mynard. Mrs. Shaw died, leaving two children, Gertrude K. and Russell M., the former now a student in the Francis Shinier School at Mount Carroll, Illinois. On the 21st of June, 1905, Mr. Shaw was again married in Amboy, his second union being with Miss Grace E. Bender, a daughter of Rev. C. and Clarissa Bender. They have two children, Eleanor and Sherman L.

Politically Mr. Shaw is a republican, and his fellow townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability, have frequently called him to public office. He has served as town clerk and as member and chairman of the board of supervisors and is now president of the board of education. He is much interested in all that pertains to the general welfare and has cooperated in many movements which have worked for the upbuilding and development of the community. From early life he has been identified with agricultural interests and the unfaltering industry and sound judgment which he has displayed in the management of his farm have gained him place among the most substantial agriculturists of the county.

     --  GERTRUDE KATHERINE SHAW, born 12 June 1894, died 20 Oct. 1920, never married.
     --  RUSSELL MYNARD SHAW, born 8 Dec. 1895, died 12 Sept. 1957.
     --  [INFANT SON] SHAW, born and died 22 May 1908.
     --  ELEANOR SHAW, born 22 May 1909, died 13 March 1974, married Ormand Schmid Baylor
     9.  SHERMAN LINN SHAW II, born 17 May 1912.

9. SHERMAN LINN SHAW II, son of Sherman and Grace Shaw; born 17 May 1912 in Lee Center, Lee County, Illinois; died of leukemia on 14 Sept. 1973 during a medical flight from Rochester, Minnesota, to Rockford, Illinois, pronounced dead upon landing. Sherman married FRANCES MAE MILLER, born 18 Dec. 1917 in Dixon, Lee County, Illinois; died 8 May 1993 in Dixon; daughter of Norman and Bessie Miller.

SHERMAN SHAW "drives on"

When days of jogging come to park
And wheels of life no longer spin,
Your loving memory will light the dark
When stable colors fade and dim.
We only hope that we can convey
Your same warm smile, your winning way . . .

It is our memorial trophy.

     10.  DOLORES FRANCES SHAW, born 15 Aug. 1936 in Amboy, Ill.

10. DOLORES FRANCES SHAW, daughter of Sherman and Frances Shaw, born 15 Aug. 1936 in Amboy, Lee County, Illinois; died 10 Nov. 2007 at Katherine Bethea Shaw Hospital, Dixon, Lee County, Illinois. Dolores was baptised on 28 March 1937 in the Presbyterian Church of Dixon by Rev. Herbert Doran. In the summer of 1960, she received Radio Church of God baptismal initiation in the Rock River in Dixon. On 22 Dec. 1962 in Lombard, Illinois, Dolores married JOSEPH OLAR, born 4 Dec. 1927 in Portland, Oregon, son of Alex and Rose Olar. The minister at the wedding was Pastor Dean Blackwell of the Radio Church of God. Dolores and Joseph lived successively in Elmhurst, Dixon, Peoria, East Peoria, Pekin, and Dixon. They had five sons. Joseph currently lives in central Illinos. After her death, Dolores' visitation was Wednesday, 14 Nov. 2007 at Preston-Schilling Funeral Home, Dixon, Illinois, where her funeral was held the following day, 15 Nov. 2007. Galen Morrison, pastor of United Church of God, Beloit, Wisconsin, presided at the funeral. Later the day of the funeral, her cremated remains were interred in the grave of her parents during a brief graveside service at Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center, Illinois. For much of her life, Dolores operated a sewing and tailoring business, first in Pekin, and then in Dixon. For a detailed biography of Dolores Olar, see Stories and Memories from My Mother, Dolores Olar.

     --  ETHAN JOSEPH OLAR, born 28 Nov. 1963 in Elmhurst, Ill.
     --  JASON SHERMAN OLAR, born 11 Aug. 1965 in Peoria.
     --  JARED LINN OLAR, born 6 Feb. 1968 in Peoria.
     --  DEREK ANDREW OLAR, born 5 Nov. 1970 in Pekin.
     --  CALEB ALDEN OLAR, born 28 July 1974 in Pekin.

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