James Shaw (abt. 1733 - abt. 1783)

Husband of Rebecca (Butler) Shaw — married about 1752 in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died about 1783 at about age 50 in Lost at sea

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Christopher Childs [send private message]

Biography

Lt. James Shaw, a mariner, was a member of the Martha's Vineyard coastline defense in the early phase of the American Revolution; he may also be the James Shaw who served aboard the ship Duke de Chartres of the Massachusetts Navy from 13 January through 10 June, 1777^[1]. He was lost at sea at some point in 1781 or 1783 (both years appear on a DAR marker in an Edgartown cemetery; Charles Edward Banks, in his History of Martha's Vineyard, offers the latter year). James married Edgartown native Rebecca Butler about 1752; their descendants include Vineyard whaling captain Howes Norris, subject of the book In the Wake of Madness by Joan Druett.

No record other than the Edgartown DAR memorial has been found for the death of this James Shaw. It is known that at some point between 1780 and 1783, a James Shaw was a naval prisoner of the British, his name recorded aboard the ship Old Jersey anchored at Wallabout Bay – later the site of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The captured at Wallabout Bay included men taken in engagements with American privateers, and such a vessel would seem a likely venue for a Martha's Vineyard mariner. The British records do not, unfortunately, reveal anything about the eventual fate of the prisoners.^[2]

Research Notes

IMPORTANT NOTE [update 20 April 2020]: The birthdate of Lt. James Shaw is believed to be at least roughly as indicated on the DAR marker in the old Westside Cemetery, at Edgartown: 1733. His parentage has still not at this date been firmly established. Other birth years found online (1738, 1739, 1741), and any claimed parentage, are to date without foundation in any searched record.

Research by Shaw descendant (by a different line) Deborah Shaw^[3] reveals that Ebenezer Shaw (Edgartown MA 1756-1781; Edgartown VRs), son of Jonathan Shaw (abt. 1733-bef. 24 Oct 1763) and Abiah Smith (abt. 1733-1787, Edgartown; married 2d on 24 Oct 1763, Thomas Pease 1725-1794) was, like James, stationed on Martha's Vineyard in 1776, defending that island's coast. Ebenezer died on a prison ship in 1781, and is buried in Westside Cemetery in Edgartown.

Ebenezer's grandfather was the senior Jonathan Shaw (b. 1702/3), whose wife was Sarah Rich (b. 1712, a daughter of Thomas Rich and Mercy Knowles). It is possible that Ebenezer may have been a nephew of James; Charles Edward Banks theorized that James was perhaps a brother of Jonathan – which would make James an uncle of Ebenezer – and it would make sense that an uncle and a nephew might enlist in the same unit of coastal defense. If they perhaps went on to serve together on, say, a privateer that was taken by the British, both might have wound up on a prison ship... and both might have perished on that ship, whether at sea, or in port, thanks to the terrible conditions that likely prevailed there.

NOTE: The incorrect, default assignment of the parentage of this James to John Shaw, Sr., and Martha Knowles of Eastham and later of East Haddam, Connecticut – which appears in various places online – is attractive partly because it leads to a potentially popular connection of James's line with William & Mary Brewster of the Mayflower. However, research clearly indicates that the son James of the Eastham/East Haddam Shaws was born in 1739, probably in Connecticut, and is in fact the Revolutionary War Capt. James Shaw of Wilbraham, Hampden, MA, who is buried in that town.^[4]

Lt. James Shaw of Edgartown cannot have been born in 1739, as he must have been at least close to age 20 when he married Rebecca Butler by "about 1752": this date, offered by Charles Edward Banks in his History of Martha's Vineyard, is essentially proven by the birth of their daughter Deborah in 1753. It is as noted above possible that James was (as Banks cautiously theorizes, albeit without proof) a brother – or perhaps other relation – of the Jonathan Shaw who came out of Plympton (who was born of parents other than John Shaw, Sr., and Martha (Knowles) Shaw, and who married Abiah Smith at Edgartown in 1754); or, James may be of a different line entirely. The Brewster tie runs through the Knowles line, and an alternative parentage could threaten that connection; a link to Mayflower passenger Edward Doty via different parents is one faint possibility but like other options remains undocumented. Further research is ongoing.

Note further that only the 1733 birth year, or something close to it, makes sense given that James Shaw married Rebecca Butler – a woman born in about 1730: any of the later birth years mentioned above would make him anywhere from 8 to 11 years younger than his spouse; they would have him married by age 11 to 14 in "about 1752"); and they would have him fathering (recorded) children by about age 12 to 15. (Original 2016 notes and 2018-2022 updates by James Shaw descendant Christopher Childs.)

Sources

1. ↑ US, Massachusetts, Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1801, Vol. 14, p. 50, accessed via Fold3.com; https://www.fold3.com/image/720199034?rec=685493414 (by subscription)
2. ↑ American Prisoners of the Revolution: Names of 8000 Men; "After April 1780, the Jersey was the receiving ship where names were entered into records"; http://www.usmm.org/revdead.html#anchor268677
3. ↑ Re: John Haldershaw, Holdershaw, Shaw, Eastham MA, Frankfort ME, DShaw2091, Classification: Query, Posted: 03 Nov 2018; https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.shaw/6791.1.1.1.1
4. ↑ "Miss Georgia Stuart of Utica, N. Y., has furnished some very interesting records from old bibles. John and Martha Shaw had: George, Sep. 16, 1780; Martha, Apr. 1, 1733, died Dec. 8, 1748; John, June 18, 1735; James, Nov. 19, 1739, and Martha, May 22, 1744.... The Nathan Stewart bible is the authority for most of the records of [this] family."; Stewart clan magazine, by Edson, George T. (George Thomas); Clan Stewart Society in America, Inc; Publication date 1922; Publisher [Filley, Neb. : G.T. Edson]; footnote citing Nathan Stewart Bible; https://archive.org/details/stewartclanmaga00incgoog/page/n62/mode/2up

• Birth and death dates (no image of gravestone; source for exact month & day of DOB unknown; primary source for years of b. & d. is evidently a DAR memorial at Edgartown, and/or Edgartown VRs): Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 April 2020), memorial page for James Shaw (3 Dec 1733–1783), Find A Grave: Memorial #65353461, citing Old Westside Cemetery, Edgartown, Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Charles Baker (contributor 47201082); http://findagrave.org/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=65353461

• Marriage and possible relationship to Jonathan Shaw: The History of Martha's Vineyard Dukes County Massachusetts in Three Volumes, by Charles Edward Banks, MD., Published by George H. Dean, Boston, 1911; Reprinted Higginson Book Co. Salem, MA, Vol. 3, pp. 430-31, http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/charles-edward-banks/the-history-of-marthas-vineyard-dukes-county-massachusetts-volume-3-kna/page-34-the-history-of-marthas-vineyard-dukes-county-massachusetts-volume-3-kna.shtml

• Family relationships: chart created by Sharron Fraser, spouse of James Shaw descendant Peter Childs; digitized version of chart also in possession of James Shaw descendant Christopher Childs .

• General biographical: "John Shaw of Plymouth Plantation in Progress", Ken Shaw, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kenshaw2001&id=I023411