Shelby  County,  Indiana
Biographical  Sketches


Anderville   Shaw

          In the following lines an attempt is made to set forth briefly and succinctly the leading facts in the career of a gentleman who has been much in the public view and whose success in two important fields of endeavor has gained for him the esteem of his fellow citizens in Shelby county and an honored standing in the profession to which his attention is now being devoted. Anderville Shaw, attorney-at-law, belongs to one of the old and well known families of Shelby county. He was born February 5, 1863, in Hendricks township, which is also the native place of his father, Jesse Shaw, whose birth occurred on the family homestead in 1840. The subject's grandparents moved to Shelby county from the East in an early day and were among the substantial and well-to-do people of Hendricks township, the grandfather, William Shaw, an intelligent and prosperous farmer, doing much to promote the material interests of his community.  Jesse Shaw was reared on the home farm, and in due time became one of the leading agriculturists and influential citizens of his township.  He served two years as Township Trustee, eight years of Justice of the Peace and for a period of six years was a member of the Board of County Commissioners, besides taking an active interest in the welfare of the county in other than official capacities.  For many years he has been one of the leading Democrats in this part of the state, but his success must be attributed to his progressive ideas as a tiller of the soil, being at this time one of the enterprising farmers of  Hendricks township, where he owns a fine estate of three hundred and forty acres of highly improved land on which are some of the best improvements in the country.
     Esther  Cochran,  wife of  Jesse Shaw, is also a native of Hendricks township, where her parents settled a number of years ago, moving to this county from Ohio. She has borne her husband nine children, seven of whom survived, namely:  Mrs.  Martha  Tucker,  of Shelby county;  William  R.,  is married and is the father of eight children;  Anderville,  of this review;  James,  who lives on the home farm in Hendricks township;  Thomas  H.,  a resident of Shelbyville, whose wife, formerly  Hattie  Stoughton,  has presented him with one child;  Alice,  who married  George  Phillips,  a merchant in the village of Bengal, this county, and  Mrs.  Gertrude  Luther,  whose husband is a farmer of Brandywine township, and who is the mother of three children.
     Anderville Shaw was reared on his father's farm and until the age of twenty-one devoted the winter months to study in the district schools and the remainder of each year to labor in the fields. He remained with his father, assisting with the work of the farm until attaining his majority, and then entered the Central Normal College at Danville, Indiana, which he attended during the spring and summer terms for several years, teaching in the public schools in the winter time.
          Mr. Shaw was an enthusiastic teacher, and during the four years spent in the country schools there was a wide demand for his services from many districts in his own and other townships. At the expiration of the period indicated he took charge of the graded schools at Smithland, Hendricks township, where he served as principal for two years and subsequently accepted a similar position at Sang Hill, in Jackson township tow years, and later at Mount Auburn one year, thus spending nine years of his life as teacher.
          In the year 1893 Mr. Shaw was elected superintendent of the public schools of Shelby county, which office he filled with marked ability and success for two terms, having been chosen his own successor in 1895. After serving four years in this important position and introducing a number of reforms and bringing the schools of his jurisdiction to a high standard of efficiency, he came to Shelbyville and entered the office of Hord & Adams, where he pursued the study of law until his admission to the bar, following which he practiced with his preceptors for several years, remaining with them from 1897 to 1905, inclusive.  In connection with his profession he does a large loan, abstract and probate business, but since 1905, when he removed to the K.of P. building, he has devoted his attention mostly to the law, in which he has quite an extensive clientele. During the past six years he has been attorney for the Mutual Loan and Savings Company, of Shelbyville, which has a capital of one million five hundred thousand dollars, and is one of the largest and most prosperous enterprises of the kind in the county, not a little of its success being due to the judicious counsels of the legal adviser.
          By always proving faithful to the interests of his clients he has been enabled to build up a safe and growing business within a comparatively short time and forge to a conspicuous place among the progressive professional men of the city in which he resides.
          Mr. Shaw keeps in close touch with the leading questions and issues upon which the public is at variance and as a Democrat has rendered efficient service to his part though not a politician in the sense of seeking office or aspiring to leadership.  Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and in matter religious has decided opinions, although not identified with any church.  Mrs. Shaw is a member of the Christian church.
          On January 1, 1896, at Franklin, Indiana, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Shaw and  Frances  E.  Rose,  daughter of  Jacob  and  Harriett  Rose  of Hendricks township, Shelby county, and the eighth of a family of nine children, all but one of whom are living.  Mrs. Shaw was educated in the schools of her native county, is a lady of many amiable traits and enjoys the esteem of her many friends in Shelbyville, moving as she does in the best social circles of the city and being interested in the various charities and other enterprises which usually engage the minds of the intelligent and progressive women of the present day.  Mr. and Mrs. Shaw have one son by the name of  Robert  H.,  who was born on the 8th day of May, 1899.
Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, by Edward H. Chadwick, B.A., assisted by well known local talent, B.F. Bowen & Co, Publishers: Indianapolis, IN, 1909, pages 535-37.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

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