By: Edward Shaw Submitted by: Lida Merz (page 125)
In a copy of the Literary Era (Vol. VI., No. 12, Twelfth month, 1899, page 401),
I see an account of my grand- parents on my mother's side. They were members of
the Wright family. Jonathan Wright, Sr., late of Poplar Ridge, Fayette County,
Indiana, was married at Bedford, Pa., to Susanna Griffith, daughter of Thomas
and Eve Griffith. They soon removed to Menallen, York (now Adams) County, Pa.,
where all their children were born. There were three sons and six daughters:
Thomas, Rachel, Elizabeth, Phebe, Mary, Jonathan (junior), Joel, Susanna and
Rebecca. Grandfather owned a farm and tan yard there.
Their youngest child, Rebecca, was five years old when they removed to Gun
Powder, Maryland. There they owned a small farm, with grist mill, saw mill
and oil mill on Western Run. They were all members of the Society of Friends,
and had settled within the limits of Gun Powder Monthly Meeting. The turnpike
to Baltimore (fourteen miles distant) was laid out through in the famr. They
also owned a large lime kiln. They resided here some eight years. In 1706
[Oct 1803] their daughter Elizabeth went to Westtown Boarding School, near
Philadelphia, Pa.
In the fall of 1801 they removed to Ohio, with the exception of their oldest
son, Thomas, who got an appointment as agent for the Cherokee Indians, in the
state of Mississipi. It was a final separation, as they never met again.
Their daughter Susan was seventeen years old at that time. The family
included two sons-in- law, Benjamin Farquhar and Oliver Mathews. The former
had married Rachel; the latter, Phebe. There were thirteen children in these
two families. Grandmother rode the entire distance on a gentle pony, which
they had bought for the purpose. After a journey of several weeks they landed
in Ohio, at David Falkner's, near where Paintersville now stands. They spent
the winter in this neighborhood, and then purchased a large tract of land on
Tod's Fork, near Center meeting-house. My grandfather gave his daughter Phebe
and his son Joel each enough land for a farm, in sight of Wilmington, Clinton
County, Ohio, then a very small village.
Grandfather built on his farm a small grist and saw mill. His trade was that
of a millwright. They resided on this farm about ten years and then removed
to Cincinnati. They lived there only a few years, and then my grand- father
traded his house and lot on Fourth Street with George Valentine, an Irish
Friend, for 160 acres, or more, of land on Eli's Creek, in Fayette County,
Indiana. Here my grandfather established a meeting. The meeting- house was
built of large, straight, hewn poplar logs. He also built a grist mill and
saw mill on Eli's Creek. My grandmother lived to be seventy-eight years old;
my grandfather, eighty-one years old. They died and were buried at Poplar
Ridge, Indiana.
My father, John Shaw, was born near Quakertown, Bucks County, Pa. His parents
were Samuel and Susanna Shaw. When their children were nearly grown the family
removed to Redstone, Washington County, Pa. When my father became of age he
took passage on a flat or keel boat, at Brownsville, on the Monongahela River,
for Cincinnati, Ohio, where he arrived in the year 1805. Cincinnati was a
small village at this time and contained only a half-dozen shingle roof houses.
Father commenced reading medicine and a little later went into partner- ship
with Jonathan Wright, Jr., in a mixed store on Walnut Street, where the Gibson
House now stands. He became acquainted with William Henry Harrison, who
resided here, and who had been appointed governor of the Northwest Territory.
In 1812, when Great Britain declared war with the United States, Harrison asked
my father to assist, as they had both the British and Indians to fight. Father
said that he could not consistently take life, but if he could be put into a
position to save life, he would go and do what he could. So he filled the
position of nurse and assistant surgeon at Ft. Greenville and Ft. Wayne, and
he said that he helped amputate many a limb.
Elizabeth Wright, who received her education at Westtown, near Philadelphia,
Pa., was one of the first school teachers in western Ohio. She taught in
Highland County, in Clear Creek Settlement of Friends, at Oakland (some three
miles west of Wilmington), and at Waynesville, Warren County. While she was
visiting her parents in Cincinnati, she and my father fell in love with each
other, and I suppose that they were engaged before he went into the government
service, for when peace was declared they soon handed in their intentions of
marriage, at a Monthly Meeting of Friends at Waynesville, forty miles north of
Ciincinnati. The Monthly Meeting granted them the privilege of appointing a
meeting in Cincinnati to solemnize the marriage. Up to this time the few
Friends who were living there met at each other's houses.
Father was acquainted with Nicholas Longworth, a lawyer, who owned a one-story,
hewn log house, with nearly two acres of ground, on the Commons, west of
Western Row. My father drew up a subscription list and raised five hundred
dollars, with which he bought the property of Nicholas Longworth. My parents
were married in this building on the Seventh of Fourth month, 1814. They were
the first Friends married in Cincinnati. They had only three children: Edward,
Thomas W. and Rebecca L. Shaw.
I am the oldest and the only surviving member of the family. I was born in
Cincinnati on the Twenty-ninth of Fourth month, 1815, and was married in this
city in the fall of 1840. I have been a life-long member of the Society of
Friends, and I am the oldest male member of North A. Street Friends' Meeting
of this city.
 The Irish John Wright Mail List 
Related Pages Please place in the Subject Line: WEBPAGE-HISTORY
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