Abraham Shaw (1590–1638) was a colonial American settler, tailor, builder, and miner.

Personal life

With his wife, Bridget, Shaw had three children, including a son, John.

England

Fairbanks lived in West Yorkshire, England, where he worked in coal mines. Jonathan Fairbanks, who would later emigrate to America and live in Dedham with Shaw, was from the same parish. He mined coal in the

Hipperholme Hipperholme is a village in West Yorkshire, England, located between the towns of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax and Brighouse in the Hipperholme and Lightcliffe ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale. The population of this ward at ...

and Sowerby, Yorkshire areas.

Massachusetts

After moving from England to

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, Shaw settled in Watertown sometime after June 1636. His house there burned down in 1636, shortly before he moved to Dedham. Shaw arrived in

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by E ...

in 1637. The first town meeting held in Dedham was on March 23, 1636/37, with Shaw present. He was granted of land as long as he erected a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

, which he intended to build on the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

near the present-day Needham Street bridge. A condition of the grant was that if Shaw ever sold the mill, the town would have the right of first refusal to purchase it back from him. Shaw died in 1638 before he could complete his mill, however, and his heirs were not interested in building the mill. Shaw was involved in several communal projects in Dedham, including building a causeway and a bridge and measuring a meadow. Shaw lived on the opposite side of the river from Fairbanks and the other on the committee to build the bridge, but they would need access to his side so they could use his services at the mill he was building. In November 1637, Shaw received the first grant ever given by the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

to explore for coal and iron. He died before he could use it, which would have entitled him to "half the benefit of coals or iron stone, which shall be found in any ground which is in the country’s disposing."

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Abraham People from Halifax, West Yorkshire 1590 births 1638 deaths People from colonial Dedham, Massachusetts English emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony Signers of the Dedham Covenant Burials at Old Village Cemetery Tailors