Lorenzo L. Shaw (November 8, 1828 – 1907), commonly known as L. L. Shaw, was an American businessman who was active in coastal North Yarmouth, Massachusetts (today's

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland, Maine, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, Maine, North Yarmouth, it was part of the Massachusetts ...

), in the 19th century. He was the co-founder of Freeman, Shaw & Co., a cotton mill, and of Pumgustuk Water Company.

Career

After moving to

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

from

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, Shaw was a

selectman The select board or board of selectmen is commonly the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms. Three is the most common numb ...

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

. He resigned in 1865, two years after the town's incorporation. In the late 19th century, Shaw and other "dignified citizens", like Doctor James Bates and Barnabas Freeman, often assembled for an evening's chat at Englishman James Parsons' grocery store,''Chamber of Commerce Journal of Maine'', Volume 13 (1901), p. 18 after picking up their mail at the post office next door.''Reminiscences of a Yarmouth Schoolboy'', Edward Clarence Plummer (Marks Printing House, 1926) This was to the east of the former Goff's hardware store at 90 Main Street. In 1871, Freeman joined forces with Shaw to start up a cotton mill, where today's Sparhawk Mill now stands, under the name Freeman, Shaw & Co.''Chamber of Commerce Journal of Maine'', Volume 13 (1901), p. 16 After Freeman retired in 1888, Shaw ran the mill on his own until his death in 1907, during which time the mill's tower was completed.''Yarmouth Revisited'', Amy Aldredge (2013) On June 25, 1878, a diagram of a warping machine

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

filed by Shaw appeared in the ''Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office''. Shaw lived in a

carriage house A ''carriage house'', also called a ''remise'' or ''coach house'', is a term used in North America to describe an outbuilding that was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and their related tack. Carriage houses were often two ...

at the eastern corner of Yarmouth's Main and Bridge Streets. It burned down in 1967, replaced by today's structure at 121 Main Street. He was a co-founder of the Pumgustuk Water Company in 1887, along with Charles H. Weston, John H. Humphrey, Joseph York Hodsdon, E. Dudley Freeman and George W. Hammond. (''Pumgustuk'' means ''head of tide'' or ''falls at mouth of river''.)The Royal River Water Trail
– Royal River Conservation Trust Shaw died in 1907, aged 78 or 79. He is interred in Yarmouth's Riverside Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Lorenzo L. 1828 births 1907 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople People from Holderness, New Hampshire People from North Yarmouth, Maine People from Yarmouth, Maine Burials at Riverside Cemetery (Yarmouth, Maine)