John Shaw

John Shaw (177317 September 1823) was an Irish-born American officer in the United States Navy. Personal life A third-generation Anglo-Irishman, John Shaw's father and father's father were both officers of the British Armed Forces. The family of his mother—Elizabeth Barton—were also English emigrants to Ireland. John Shaw himself was born in Mountmellick, Kingdom of Ireland in 1773. In 1790, 17-year-old Shaw and his brother left Ireland for the fledgling United States, arriving in New York City before heading to the nation's capitol of Philadelphia. On 9 August 1798, Shaw married the Philadelphia Quaker, Elizabeth Palmer, with whom he had two surviving daughters: Elizabeth Shaw married Francis Gregory and had seven children; her younger sister Virginia married William F. Lynch and bore two children. After the death of Elizabeth, Shaw wedded Mary Breed of Charleston, Massachusetts in her hometown on 13 October 1820. Shaw died from illness in Philadelphia on 17 September 1823 at the age of 50. Pre-Naval work Having discovered a taste for life on the ocean, Shaw sailed from the US in 1791 and worked aboard ships, making four round-trips to Guangdong through 1797. During his second trip to Qing-ruled China, Shaw was on aboard the ship Sampson when it repelled an attack by British Malayan proas in the Bangka Strait; on his third voyage, he served as third officer, and by his fourth excursion to East Asia, Shaw was his ship's first officer.