Major William Lewis Shaw
Major William Lewis Shaw, the subject of this sketch, was born near Lexington, Ky., on the twenty-seventh day of September, 1832. His father, Joseph Russell Shaw, was a native of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and his mother, Rachel Corns, was a native of Pike County, Ohio. They were married in Pike County, June 20, 1830.
His boyhood and youth, to manhood, were spent mainly on a farm in Adams County, and his advantages for an education were limited to the opportunities offered in those days by the Public schools.
By special diligence and good use of the time usually allowed the farmer's boy for attending school, he prepared himself to teach in the Public schools. He received his first certificate from J. M. Wells (afterward a prominent attorney of West Union), and taught his first school in what was known as Gilbert's District, in the northwestern part of the county in the Winter of 1852 and 1853. He followed the occupation of a teacher of Public schools and in attending school until 1861. At the breaking out of the Civil War, he was a member of the junior class of Antioch College, then under the presidency of Horace Mann. He left his studies in the early Spring of 1862 and raised a company in Greene County, Ohio. The company was assigned to the 110th O. V. I., and he was chosen the First Lieutenant of it. On August 7, 1862, he was detailed as Aide-de-camp on eGn. Elliot's Staff, Third Division, Third Army Corps, on November 14, 1863; he was promoted Captain of Company E, December 9, 1864. On April 2, 1865, he was brevetted Major for gallant and meritorious conduct on the field. This was Gen. J. Warren Keifer's regiment, and it was in no less than twenty-four battles and engagements, beginning with Union Mills, June 13, 1863, and ending with Appomattox, April 9, 1865. He was discharged June 26, 1865, and returned to Yellow Springs, Ohio, and received his college degree of A. B. From this time until April, 1876, he was engaged in Public school work as a teacher or superintendent till April, 1876, when he was appointed Superintendent of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, at Xenia, Ohio. He remained in this position for two years, until the Summer of 1884, when he was displaced by a change of the State administration. In the Spring of 1885, he was employed by the Commissioners of Adams County to superintend the finishing and opening of the Children's Home, which he did to their entire satisfaction. He is now and has been for some time past the lessee and manager of the Cherry Hotel at Washington C. H., one of the most popular hotels in the State. In all matters for the public good, he is one of the foremost of his city, and is most highly esteemed as a successful business man and an enterprising and public spirited citizen. His political views from boyhood were always very positive and unswerving. His father belonged to the anti-slavery wing of the Whig party. This fact, supplemented by personal observation of the evil effect of slavery on the social conditions of both races, the injustice to the colored man and injury to the material prosperity of the South, confirmed him in his opposition to the institution. At the disruption of the Whig party, he allied himself with the Republican party and has always strenuously advocated its principles. He never sought nor held a political office.
The theological and religious views were Unitarian, and formed along the line of the teachings of Theodore Parker, Edward Everett Hale, Horace Mann, Thomas Hill, and others of like views.
On the twelth day of August, 1852, he was married to Rachel Jane Gutridge, daughter of James Gutridge, a citizen of Concord Township, Highland County, Ohio.
The Hon. John Little, of Greene County, says of him: "There is no better citizen than Major W. L. Shaw. He served his country faithfully and well in the Civil War. As a business man, he ranks among the first."
Gen. J. Warren Keifer, with whom he served, says of him: "He was devoted to his duties as Adjutant General and Inspector General while serving on my staff in the Civil War. He was efficient, intelligent and tireless. There was no better officer of his rank in the Volunteer Army."
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900