My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS W. SHAW was born May 1, 1796, in Pittsburgh, Pa., where his father, John Shaw, had a nursery. The genealogy of the Shaw family dates back to four brothers — George, a cabinet-maker, of Philadelphia; Peter, a tanner, of Meadville, Pa.; Alexander and John, who settled in Pittsburgh. They were natives of Glasgow, Scotland, where they all learned their trades, Alexander and John being blacksmiths. Just after the revolutionary war they came to America, where they all married and had children. John Shaw lived in Wilkinsburg several years, and then came to Pittsburgh, where he followed the blacksmith’s trade, and ironed the first cannon cast in Pittsburgh. He made a great many hoes for plantation use in the south. In 1803 he moved to Glenshaw, where he followed his trade; also had a flour and saw-mill on Pine Creek; here he died in August, 1839. He was a whig, and an elder of the Presbyterian Church. Thomas W., the subject of this sketch, was eldest of a family of seven children, learned the sickle-maker’s trade with Samuel McIlhaney, and followed the business for forty years, making as many as one thousand dozen per year. The old factory is still standing, and was afterward used as a meeting-house. He married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Scott, and to them were born eight children: Thomas W., Elizabeth, Margaret, Sarah Jane (deceased), Martha, Mary Scott, Ellen K., Catherine Louisa (died in infancy). Since the war he has lived a retired life. He was a whig and is now republican. He has always been a Presbyterian.