The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: MA
Qualifying Service: Captain / Patriotic Service
Birth: 18 Jun 1735 Eastham / Barnstable / MA Death: bef 26 Nov 1804 / Hamilton / OH
Qualifying Service Description:
MILITIA; TOWN REPRESENTATIVE
Militia service as Captain of Militia from Wilbraham, Hampshire, Massacchusetts and as Town Representative. A Captain in the French and Indian War, who then had the role of recruiting and training the militia of Wilbraham. His son, Knowles, served in the militia, including time at Fort Ticonderoga, where he contracted small pox, but survived
Additional References:
MA SOLS & SAILS, Volume 14, pg 55, 60; PECK, HISTORY OF WILBRAHAM, pg 125
Peck, History of Wilbraham, MA,1913, pg 104,105,125
John Shaw was born in Eastham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts on Cape Cod on June 18, 1735, the third child of John Shaw and Martha Knowles Shaw. His older brother and sister both died in childhood. His great, great grandfather, John Shaw, had come to Plymouth Colony in 1627. His mother was the great, great granddaughter of Patience Brewster, who was a passenger on the Mayflower, along with her father William Brewster. Sometime after his birth and before his younger brother, James Shaw, was born in 1739, the family moved west to Hartford, Connecticut. In 1740, sister Sarah was born, and in 1744, sister, Martha II was born.
Sometime later, John, moved to East Haddam, near Hartford, Connecticut, where he married Sarah, and they had their oldest child, Knowles(1757-1831). John then served in the French and Indian War on the staff of Colonel (later General) Israel Putnam. After returning to East Haddam, he and Sarah had three more children; Albin(1764-1829), Huldah (1770-1850) and Salla (1772-1852) before moving to Wilbraham, Massachusetts in 1775 at the age of 40. Their youngest son, John (1775-1834), was born there that same year.
After moving to Wilbraham, Captain John Shaw helped recruit and organize the militia, including his son, Knowles Shaw, who served to reinforce Ticonderoga in 1776-1777. Then on May 23, 1777, Capt John Shaw and Major John Bliss were asked to be the town representatives to “form a constitution of government as other representatives of Massachusetts in one body with council shall judge best calculated to promote the happiness of the state.”
After the Revolutionary War, John and Sarah remained in Wilbraham until 1801, when at the age of 64, he and Sarah moved to Butler County, Ohio, to buy and homestead land on the Great Miami River, together with his sons, Knowles and Albin, and their business partners, Jeremiah Butterfield, Asa Harvey and Noah Willey. Around this time, all of his children and their families moved to Butler County, Ohio.
The Shaw farm possessed the first stone house in the county, a typical “saddle-boy” structure with 18” walls and end chimneys and an unequal extension back. Sometime after 1801 and before the end of 1805, John Shaw died in Butler County. His wife, Sarah’s will of December 5, 1805 lists Salla Shaw, Huldah Shaw Rood, John, Knoles and Albin Shaw. Sarah died in Colerain, Hamilton, Ohio. The location of Capt John and Sarah Shaw’s graves are unknown. All of his children lived in Ohio until they died.
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