THOMAS SHAW. Among the honored citizens of Chartiers township, the name of Thomas Shaw occupies a prominent position. He is a successful agriculturist and worthy representative of an old pioneer family. His grandfather, Joseph Shaw, was born of Scotch parents in Ireland, where, in early manhood, he married a Miss Sankey, and coming to America, he settled in Chartiers township, Washington Co., Penn., where he reared a family of children. John Shaw, father of subject, was born in 1804, on the pioneer farm in Chartiers township, Washington county. In early manhood he married Sarah Harsha, a native of the same county, and settled on the home farm, where the following children were born: Esther Ann (who died in infancy), Jane (who died in infancy), William D. (who enlisted in Company A, Eighth-fifth Regiment, P. V. I.. served three years, two months and ten days, and is now living in Adams county, Iowa), Joseph (residing in Chartiers township), John H. (who died at the age of fourteen years), an infant and James; (twins, the former deceased and the latter a veteran of Company B, First Virginia Cavalry), Sarah Jane (who married J. L. Henderson, and died leaving four sons and one daughter), Harrison Marshall (who died at the age of seven years of typhoid fever), Thomas (our subject), Rebecca Agnes (who died in youth), Robert Theodore (a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, now a physician and surgeon of Silver Plume, Colo.; he has served as a member of the Legislature from his county), and Harriet (who was married about 1878, to David Bedow; she had one child, and died in March, 1880). Mrs. John Shaw died of apoplexy in 1869. She was a daughter of John Harsha, a son of early pioneers of Washington county, and of Scotch- Irish ancestry. He was a hunter in Kentucky in the days of Daniel Boone, learned the trade of chairmaker in his native State, and was married to Esther Ann McMillan, a native of Chartiers township, also a member of an early pioneer family. They both died in Washington county. John Shaw was a Democrat until 1840, when he joined the Whigs, and upon the organization of the Republican party became as enthusiastic Republican. He was a member of and elder in the United Presbyterian Church at Chartiers Cross Roads, and died in February, 1879. Thomas Shaw, the subject of this biographical sketch, was born September 20, 1844, on the farm owned by his father, and where he is now living. He attended the district schools of Chartiers township and October 26, 1876, chose a bride in the person of Hallie M., daughter of John and Jemima Grounds, early settlers of Washington county, and residents of Mt. Pleasant township. One son was born of this union, Wilbert Lawrence. Mrs. Shaw died June 27, 1879, and on March 16, 1881, Mr. Shaw married Jennie W., daughter of E. J. and Ann (White) Agnew, prominent pioneer settlers of Washington county, and residents of Chartiers township. Mr. Agnew has been an elder in Hickory and Cross Roads Churches for many years. Three children have been born to our subject and his wife, viz.: Sarah Ann Gertrude, Franklin Agnew and Lizzie Edna. The home farm contains 200 acres of well-cultivated land and in connection with the general management of the place Mr. Shaw devotes much attention to stock raising, making a specialty of Holstein cattle, Shropshire sheep and Chester-White swine. In politics, he votes the Republican ticket; and he and Mrs. Shaw are members of the Chartiers Cross Roads United Presbyterian Church in Chartiers township, in which he is an elder, an office also filled by his father in the same church for many years.

Text taken from page 1304 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed February 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published February 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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