My Genealogy Hound

FRANK E. SHAW, an agriculturist, breeder of fine horses and cattle, and a capitalist, resides in a beautiful home on Central avenue, Dunkirk. He is a son of Robert T. and Martha C. (Whitney) Shaw, and was born in the town of Charlotte, this county, on November 19, 1840. He comes from an old American family and is a nephew of Henry W. Shaw, better known as Josh Billings. Grandfather Hon. Henry W. Shaw, well known in New England, and a distinguished citizen of the United States, a member of the Massachusetts Senate and Legislature for twenty-five years and also a member of Congress from the Berkshire county district, was elected in 1820, when only twenty-four years of age, and took his seat the youngest member of that body at that time ever elected to Congress. He was a firm friend of Henry Clay, and his political manager in New England from 1816 to 1840, but his vote favoring the Missouri Compromise killed him politically in New England. He was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Harrisburg convention that tried to nominate Henry Clay for president. William H. Harrison secured the nomination and Mr. Shaw left the party and never rejoined it. His father, Dr. Samuel Shaw, was a celebrated surgeon of the “Green Mountain State,” and represented the Rutland district in Congress about the year 1810, and at the close of the war he was appointed surgeon for the hospitals at Greenbush and had charge of them until the government abandoned them. He now sleeps beneath the sod in the beautiful cemetery at Castleton, close to the scene of his early life. He was contemporaneous with Ethan Allen, and at twenty years of age was established in his profession all over the northern portion of the State and was known far and near for his skill. His personal strength, too, was a matter of renown, and it was said that he could throw any man in the State in a wrestling match. Grandfather Henry Shaw, read law in Albany and married Laura Wheeler of Lanesboro, Massachusetts, who was a descendent of the Beecher family. Her sister was the wife of Chief Justice Savage. Robert T. Shaw was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and in 1835 went to Norwalk, Ohio, where his father owned a large tract of land. He remained there until 1839, when he came to Chautauqua county, and settled in the town of Charlotte, where he owned a farm. He was a gentleman of superior education, and died in Mitchell, Indiana. Mr. Shaw married Martha C. Whitney, and had several children. Mrs. Shaw survives and lives at Sinclairville and is now in her seventy-second year.

Frank E. Shaw was reared in Sinclairville and received his education in the Ellington academy, until in 1860 he went to California, and engaged in mining and staging for six years and then returned home and gave his attention to farming and breeding fine road horses. He is now the owner of three farms in the town of Charlotte, on which are fine herds of Jersey cattle. Great pains have been taken in their selection and breeding, and while there are larger herds in the country, there are none finer or more purely bred. One of the best dairies of the country is attached to these farms which is demonstrating to the farmers of that locality that when cereals and succulents prove an unprofitable crop, they may turn to this branch of agriculture with expectation of success. When the Martin Anti-fire Car Heating Apparatus was found to be successful, Mr. Shaw took an active interest in it, and with Messrs. Chute and Martin, formed a company with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars to manufacture it for the market. He had had a wide experience with the public of western New York and elsewhere and took with him to the company a valuable experience, and to his astute sagacity is largely due the rapid development of the appliance and its adoption by so many roads throughout the country.

Mr. Shaw is now the vice-president and treasurer of the company, which has one of the finest factory buildings in the country. Their business exceeds half a million dollars a year and at least five thousand cars are supplied with their improvement. He moved to Dunkirk in 1887 and has since resided here.

On the 5th of August, 1879, he married Ada L., daughter of John Beardsley, of Norwalk, Ohio, and has two sons and one daughter: Robert Francis, Edith and Frank E., Jr. The oldest son, although still young, seems to have inherited his grand-uncle’s faculty for dispensing wit and humor at will, and is a very bright boy. Mr. Shaw is a republican and takes an active interest in matters relating to the government, having been chairman of the county committee for some time. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and is Past District Grand Master.