Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
Edward Shaw
This venerable and honored citizen of Richmond was born at the close of the second war of the United States with Great Britain, April 29, 1815. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Shaw, was a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, whence he removed to Red Stone, five miles east of Brownsville, Washington county, same state, where he spent the rest of his life. His death occurred while he was attending the annual meeting of Friends, at Mount Pleasant, Ohio. To himself and wife, Susannah, two sons were born,—John and Thomas.
The former, Dr. John Shaw, born near Quakertown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 24th day of the 11th month of 1786, removed to Washington county, that state, with his parents, and in 1805 went on a flat-boat down the Monongahela and Ohio rivers as far as Cincinnati, which was then a village, with perhaps half a dozen houses, having shingled roofs. Until this time he has been engaged in farming in company with his father, but he now turned his attention to the study and practice of medicine, being thus occupied when the war of 1812 broke out. He gave his services to his country as an assistant surgeon at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Greenville, Ohio, became personally acquainted with General William H. Harrison, and was greatly relied upon by his superior officers. In 1814 he married Elizabeth Wright, and to the worthy couple is accorded the distinction of having been the first member of the Society of Friends ever wedded in Cincinnati. He continued to practice as a physician, and, in company with David Holoway and Jonathan Wright, was interested in merchandising for some years, the partners having one store in Cincinnati and one in Waynesville, Ohio. In 1820 Dr. Shaw was appointed Indian agent for the Wyandottes at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and also served as postmaster during part of his five years' residence there, his home being within the fort. Returning then to Cincinnati, he resumed his medical career, and also was agent for Judge Jacob Burnett in the sale of city lots. In 1826 he removed to Reading, a village nine miles north of Cincinnati, and there he not only practiced medicine but also carried on a tannery. In 1835 he exchanged the tannery for a farm in Greene county, Ohio, where he later purchased land adjoining and cultivated both, practicing in the meantime. Politically he was a Whig, Free-soiler and abolitionist. He died in Spring Valley, Ohio, on the 4th day of the 9th month of 1851, and was followed to the grave by his wife, who died on the 4th day of the 4th month of 1857. They were faithful members of the Friends' society, and were buried at Waynesville, Ohio, in the Friends' cemetery. They had but three children,—Edward, Thomas W. and Rebecca L. The latter married Jesse M. Hutton, president of J. M. Hutton & Company, proprietors of coffin works, and both are deceased.
Edward Shaw, the only survivor of his father's family, was well educated in his boyhood, notwithstanding the fact that he lived on the frontier. His mother was a woman of exceptional attainments, for that day and place, she having completed her education at the Friends' Westtown boarding-school near Philadelphia, and under her wise direction her children acquired knowledge far in advance of their playmates. He and his brother learned the tanner's trade with their father and for six years managed a tannery for him, and after they removed to Spring Valley, Ohio, they built a large stone building in the tan-yard, which they subsequently exchanged for six hundred acres of western land. Then, for a period the brothers managed a farm near Waynesville, and for about a year were in partnership with H. T. Butterworth, in the dairy business on a four-hundred-acre farm twenty-six miles north of Cincinnati and on the Little Miami river. In 1859 they came to Richmond and engaged in farming in the vicinity until the death of Thomas W., a year or two after their arrival here. In 1863 our subject took up his residence in Richmond, and during the years which have since elapsed he has manufactured and sold, in large quantities, what is known as Shaw's Railroad Liniment. The leading drug-stores of towns in this and surrounding counties keep this favorite household remedy, and in spite of his advanced age Mr. Shaw delivers supplies of the article to the various places which keep it for sale, most of his trips being made with a horse and wagon. He has been a good business man and financier, careful, industrious and economical.
In the eighth month of 1840, Mr. Shaw married Penninah Hill, the youngest daughter of Robert Hill, one of the Wayne county pioneers, and his wife, Susannah. He came here from Guilford county, North Carolina, in 1802, and at one time he represented this county in the Indiana state legislature. To the union of our subject and wife four sons and four daughters were born, of whom Elizabeth died in infancy; Robert H. is employed in the the carpenter department of the Hutton coffin works; Rebecca L. is deceased; John W. is in the employ of the Bowman Dairy Company, of Chicago; Mary E. is the wife of Lewis K. Harris, president of a plow-manufacturing company in Richmond; Henry C. is engaged in the undertaking business in Richmond, with H. C. Downing; William T. died when ten years of age; and Susan B. is at home, and is tenderly caring for her father in his declining years, her mother having passed away the 7th day of the 3d month of 1893. Our subject has the honor of being the oldest member of the North A Street Hicksite church, of the Society of Friends. He was overseer for years, was influential in securing the first-day school in connection with the church, and was its superintendent for a number of years. In his political preference he is a stanch Republican, and is always loyal in his support of all measures calculated to benefit the community or the general public.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899
Edward Shaw was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 29, 1815, a son of John and Elizabeth (Wright) Shaw, natives of Pennsylvania, of English and Scotch descent. His father died in Greene County, Ohio, in 1851, and his mother in 1857. His mother was educated at West-town Boarding School, near Philadelphia, Pa., and was subsequently one of the best teachers in Ohio. His father enlisted in the war of 1812 as nurse and assistant surgeon. At the close of the war he returned to Cincinnati, intending to make it his future home. At that time there were but seven or eight families who were members of the Friend's Society in the place and they had no meeting house, holding their meetings at members' houses. Being a birthright member, Mr. Shaw wished to be married according to the order of the society, and wrote a subscription paper, circulated it among Friends and raised $500, and with it bought of Nicholas Longworth nearly two acres of ground with a one-story log-house on it, on the corner of John and Fifth streets, which was repaired and used as a meeting house for fifty years, when their present two-story brick meeting-house was built. Mr. and Mrs. John Shaw were the first couple married in this house in 1814. Edward Shaw was reared on a farm and in early life learned the tanner's trade in Reading, Ohio. He has the copyright of Shaw's Railroad Liniment, a botanic preparation which is a speedy cure for rheumatism, neuralgia, burps, bruises, headache, etc., and taken internally is a valuable remedy for neuralgia of the stomach, cholera morbus, etc. This liniment is pgaining a wide reputation. Mr. Shaw was married Aug. 27, 1840, to Peninnah, daughter of Robert Hill. She was born Feb. 23, 1817. They have had a family of eight children — Elizabeth, deceased; Robert H.; Rebecca, deceased; Mary E., wife of Louie K. Harris; John, of St. Louis, Mo.; Henry C., William T., and Susan B.
Source:
History of Wayne County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884. Volume 2