Butte County
Biographies
SAMUEL MARIAN SHAW
SAMUEL MARIAN SHAW.--California is
to a considerable extent a cosmopolitan state, and Butte County is no exception
to the rule. Samuel Marian Shaw is of Scotch descent, and was born near Nevada,
Story County, Iowa, December 2, 1858. His father,
Warren Shaw, was born in Ontario, Canada, and as a young man removed to Iowa,
where he farmed and where he was married to Miss Lydia Griffith, who was born
in Indiana, and was a daughter of Jonah Griffith, who was a pioneer of Iowa,
coming to the state when the country was very sparsely settled. Jonah Griffith
traced his ancestry back to John Griffith, who came to Massachusetts in 1620 on
the first voyage of the Mayflower. The Griffiths were represented in the early
wars of this country, Colonial and Revolutionary.
In 1863 Warren Shaw located in Lancaster
County, Neb., where he took up a homestead of one hundred sixty acres three
miles from the present town of Lincoln, now the capital of the state. After a
time he sold his farm and went to Northern Missouri, where he remained four
years, afterwards returning to Iowa. In 1900 he came to Chico to reside with his
children, but in 1902, having a strong desire to return to his old home he did
so, and died there six months later. His wife, Lydia (Griffith) Shaw, died near
Lincoln, Neb. Warren Shaw was the father of two sons, Orrin A., who lives on Oakway, West Glenn, near Chico, and is engaged in
horticulture, and Samuel Marian, a resident of Chico Vecino.
Samuel Marian, from four until past twelve
years of age, was educated in the public school. After his mother’s death he
came to Iowa and lived on a farm with his grandmother Griffith. He attended the
public school there two years, then went to Missouri and remained with his
father three years, after which he returned to Iowa and started for himself,
working for his uncle Griffith on his farm in the summer, and going to school
in the winter, remaining with his uncle until about nineteen, when he obtained
a certificate for teaching, and for eleven years taught school in Story,
Marshall and Hardin Counties, meanwhile learning the carpenter trade. In 1886
he came to Pasadena, Cal., where he worked at his trade for one year and then
returned to Iowa. He remained there a short time and returned to Pasadena,
where he was married February 9, 1887, to Miss Everetta
Cox, who was born in Marshall County, Iowa. After his marriage he again
returned to Iowa and engaged in farming in Hardin County, raising corn and
feeding cattle and hogs until 1895, when he sold his farm and moved to Radcliffe, Iowa, where he followed the trade of mason and
plasterer until 1898, when he caught the California fever and came to Chico,
where his wife’s father had been living since 1896. He rented seventy-six acres
of the old L. H. McIntosh ranch south of Chico, which was set to almonds,
prunes and peaches. Here he remained two years and then bought ten acres of the
Bey tract, which he set to prunes and peaches. Three
years later he bought the Dr. Rodley peach orchard of
ten acres in bearing peaches, which he afterwards set to almonds. He still owns
both places. He resided on the ranch until 1908, when he bought the corner in
Chico Vecino where he built a comfortable house in
which he still lives, while caring for his other property.
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Marian Shaw had three
children; two are now living. Earl R. was a member of Company A, Second California
Regiment, and now of Company I, One Hundred Fifty-ninth Infantry,
U. S. A.; Stella May, a graduate of Chico State Normal School,
now Mrs. M. B. Lehman of Long Beach, California, and Clinton, who died when
seven years old. Mr. Shaw has been a Knight of Pythias
for ten years, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
25 October 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
1046-1047, Historic
Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies