George E. Shaw was born on February 19, 1859, in Conneaut, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Moses Sarah (Harold) Shaw. He had two brothers, Frank H. and Fred Shaw.(34) He was educated in common schools and at Northeast Seminary. In 1879, he married Emma E. Hills (b. 1861), daughter of Burrows and Mary (Nichols) Hills.
In 1880, George and Emma moved to West Almond, New York, and lived on a piece of land that had been owned by Emma’s father and grandfather.(35) George became a farmer and was at some points also a school teacher.(36) George and Emma had three sons: Leroy “Ray” E. Shaw (b. 1880/1881), Frank C. Shaw (b. 1882/1883), and Glenn H. Shaw (b. 1884).(37)
George was a Prohibitionist in politics. In 1882, he was elected Justice of the Peace for West Almond.(38) In 1886, he was elected Town Supervisor of West Almond, as part of a wave of Prohibition Party candidates that were being elected in Allegany County in 1886.(39) As Supervisor of West Almond, he was part of the Allegany County Board of Supervisors, which at the time functioned as the county legislature. During the 1886 session of the Board of Supervisors, he served as a member of the committee for valuations (which handled matters of estimating the wealth of towns in the county) and of the Committee to Apportion Grand Jurors. He presented and passed a resolution for the county superintendent of the poor to provide a tabulated report of the expenses incurred by the Allegany County Poor House. He supported the passage of resolutions to fund renovations to the county courthouse in Belmont, to raise the salary of the county district attorney, and to set the starting date of future sessions of the board of legislators on the second Tuesday of November.
After his time as town supervisor, George continued working as a farmer and raising his children.(41) Two of his sons, Leroy and Frank would go on to become professors.(42)
He continued to be involved in local Prohibition Party activities, serving on the Allegany County Committee of the Prohibition Party for West Almond in 1906.(43)
At some point in 1906, George and Emma moved to Angelica, New York.(44) In 1909, George sold their 300-acre dairy farm in West Almond.(45)
George E. Shaw died on December 25th, 1916, and was buried in the Until the Day Dawn Cemetery, in Angelica, New York.
Sources:
34 -- John Stearns Minard, Allegany County and its People: A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany County, New York, Ed. Georgia Drew Merrill, (Alfred, New York: W.A. Fergusson & Co), https://archive.org/details/alleganycountyit00mina/page/514/mode/2up, 514; “George E Shaw (1859-1916) - Find A Grave Memorial.”, Find a Grave, Accessed June 5, 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70400782/george-e-shaw.
35 -- Minard, Allegany County and its People, 514; “George Shaw: United States Census, 1910”, FamilySearch.org, Accessed June 5, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5Q9- 51Q
36 -- Minard, Allegany County and its People, 514; “George E Shaw: United States Census, 1880”, FamilySearch.org, Accessed June 5, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZZMDV9
37 -- Minard, Allegany County and its People, 514; “George E Shaw (1859-1916) - Find A Grave Memorial.”, Find a Grave; “George E Shaw: New York State Census, 1892”, Find a Grave, Accessed June 5, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQS4-FPW; “George E Shaw: New York State Census, 1905”, FamilySearch.org, Accessed June 5, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVBC-1ND.
38 -- Minard, Allegany County and its People, 514
39 -- Minard, Allegany County and its People, 514; “3 Supervisors Elected”, The Voice, (New York City, New York), March 18, 1886
40 -- Charles Stillman, Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of Allegany County, 1886, (Belmont, New York: Allegany County Board of Legislators, 1886)
-- Contributed by Jonathan Makeley
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