Meet the People in our Neighbourhood
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Allen Shaw, January 18th, 2021 |
Allen Shaw: I’m Allen Shaw, I’m one of the directors at the museum here, and my supposed claim to fame is I’m a direct descendant of Arnold Shaw that was listed in the proclamation of 1758. The history shows that he was here for the census of 1759, which I assume he showed up in 1758, which is the date of this proclamation. This (proclamation) shows my four-father, Arnold Shaw, and his brothers, John Shaw and my oral history tells me that John Shaw returned to Little Compton, Rhode Island at some point in time. There was another brother who also came up, Peter Shaw. He was a land grantee In Falmouth, and my great aunt told me that the Shaws, the “brick” Shaws, were direct descendants of that Peter Shaw. Now there's an Edgar Church in the same grant, he was married to a Grace Shaw, which would be a sister of my forefathers, and there was a Jon Wood over here, who is married to Rebecca Shaw. So actually there were five of them that came up at the same time. My assumption is they were here by 1760. This book gives you a list of all the people here in 1755 when the Acadians were expelled, but also lists the Acadians that returned to help work on the dyke and that was sometime in the 1760s. So, I'm supposedly the last farmer that's working the original grant of 1760. The Moshers and the Knowles’ were here at the same time. But if you look at the map of the land grant that is in this book (Newport, Nova Scotia, a Rhode Island Township
Founded 1760, John Victor Duncanson), they currently farm different farms than were done in 1760. Now, my niece, Sarah Beanlands, is also on the board of directors, and myself being more senior than many I was able to identify to her where all of the Acadian foundations were on the original Shaw farm, because they were not pushed in until in the 1960s. So she did excavations there and she was able to prove that the buildings, contrary to history, the houses were not burned, but the New England Planters when they came up they also inhabited the same buildings. So that's part of my family's oral history. I’m the 7th generation here. So I guess I'm connected to this museum in a lot of ways and when reading this book, I actually found out that one of my ancestors was a druggist in Windsor and he was a shareholder of five or six of the ships that were built here in Newport Landing.
Tacha Reed: Oh, wow!
AS: So anyway, that's my story.
TR: So who is your farm going to pass on to, the next generation of Shaws?
AS: Well, unfortunately my three children don't seem to be interested in farming, so that's the dilemma that I'm faced with, you know so, seven generations is not a record. I know people down in Horton who are already in the ninth generation to be on the same land grant. So it's not totally unique, but it's unusual, so I haven't got that all figured yet, I still have time.
TR: You have time. So you somehow along the way ended up with the waiting room for the Rotundus. How did that end up in your possession?
AS: Actually the way the waiting room for the Rotundus ended up in my procession was I bought the Vaughnie (SP?) and Emily Withrow property just up the road here, 319 Belmont Road, and Vaughnie was a very good friend of my father and I spent a lot of time down there as a child and when they passed on they left word to their descendants that if the farm was to be ever sold that I should have first offer on it. And they also told me that grainery that's on the barn was actually the waiting room for the Rotundus and there's carvings in there and it's the right period and the community history is that that is the waiting room of the Rotundus. Now how it got moved up there, I do not know, but I can remember as a child coming down here to the Avondale wharf and that waiting room was still there on the wharf in 1960 something, so it would have been moved up in the 1960s and it was made into a grainery. Now the roof looks like it's been modified, but the base of it is definitely a period of what the Rotundus would have been doing.
TR: Do you think that the building should be preserved and turned into something that people could visit, or what do you see in the future for the waiting room?
AS: I would like to see that Rotundus building return here. At the moment there's no suitable place for it, but if there is I would definitely like to see it returned here where people could actually visit it, because I mean, it's just a building that has historical significance and it would be most valued I believe if it was placed here, close to this Museum. So I'm hoping someday that we get this all sorted out and we find a location suitable for the Rotundus waiting room and maybe we can restore it to, as it looked in the pictures. So anyway, that's a work in progress.
TR: Did you have anything else you wanted to say?
AS: No, that’s my history. So anyway, I'm enjoying my time on the directorship here at the Museum and it's good to see such a vibrant society and we hope for many good years going ahead.
TR: Awesome, thank you Allen.
Founded 1760, John Victor Duncanson), they currently farm different farms than were done in 1760. Now, my niece, Sarah Beanlands, is also on the board of directors, and myself being more senior than many I was able to identify to her where all of the Acadian foundations were on the original Shaw farm, because they were not pushed in until in the 1960s. So she did excavations there and she was able to prove that the buildings, contrary to history, the houses were not burned, but the New England Planters when they came up they also inhabited the same buildings. So that's part of my family's oral history. I’m the 7th generation here. So I guess I'm connected to this museum in a lot of ways and when reading this book, I actually found out that one of my ancestors was a druggist in Windsor and he was a shareholder of five or six of the ships that were built here in Newport Landing.
Tacha Reed: Oh, wow!
AS: So anyway, that's my story.
TR: So who is your farm going to pass on to, the next generation of Shaws?
AS: Well, unfortunately my three children don't seem to be interested in farming, so that's the dilemma that I'm faced with, you know so, seven generations is not a record. I know people down in Horton who are already in the ninth generation to be on the same land grant. So it's not totally unique, but it's unusual, so I haven't got that all figured yet, I still have time.
TR: You have time. So you somehow along the way ended up with the waiting room for the Rotundus. How did that end up in your possession?
AS: Actually the way the waiting room for the Rotundus ended up in my procession was I bought the Vaughnie (SP?) and Emily Withrow property just up the road here, 319 Belmont Road, and Vaughnie was a very good friend of my father and I spent a lot of time down there as a child and when they passed on they left word to their descendants that if the farm was to be ever sold that I should have first offer on it. And they also told me that grainery that's on the barn was actually the waiting room for the Rotundus and there's carvings in there and it's the right period and the community history is that that is the waiting room of the Rotundus. Now how it got moved up there, I do not know, but I can remember as a child coming down here to the Avondale wharf and that waiting room was still there on the wharf in 1960 something, so it would have been moved up in the 1960s and it was made into a grainery. Now the roof looks like it's been modified, but the base of it is definitely a period of what the Rotundus would have been doing.
TR: Do you think that the building should be preserved and turned into something that people could visit, or what do you see in the future for the waiting room?
AS: I would like to see that Rotundus building return here. At the moment there's no suitable place for it, but if there is I would definitely like to see it returned here where people could actually visit it, because I mean, it's just a building that has historical significance and it would be most valued I believe if it was placed here, close to this Museum. So I'm hoping someday that we get this all sorted out and we find a location suitable for the Rotundus waiting room and maybe we can restore it to, as it looked in the pictures. So anyway, that's a work in progress.
TR: Did you have anything else you wanted to say?
AS: No, that’s my history. So anyway, I'm enjoying my time on the directorship here at the Museum and it's good to see such a vibrant society and we hope for many good years going ahead.
TR: Awesome, thank you Allen.