My Genealogy Hound

Hiram M. Shaw, proprietor of the Grant House, of Rolla, Mo., was born in Washington County, N. Y., in 1827, and is the son of Hiram and Lois (Miller) Shaw, and grandson of Thomas Shaw, who was born at Middleburg, Mass., May 1, 1753. Hiram Shaw, Sr., was born in Lee, Mass., November 1, 1794, and was a contractor and builder by occupation. When a young man he went to Hampton, N. Y., where he married, February 10, 1820, Miss Lois Miller, who was born January 25, 1798, in Hampton, N. Y. She was a sister of Rev. William Miller, who predicted that the world would come to an end in 1843, and all his followers were known the world over as “Millerites.” Mrs. Shaw, however, was not a follower. Hiram Shaw was a soldier in the War of 1812. He died in 1852, and his wife died January 14, 1886. They were the parents of five children, only three now living: Lois E., wife of Levi W. Manchester, who resides on the old homestead of Hiram Shaw; Hiram M., and George T., who is in San Francisco, Cal., engaged as a lumber merchant. Hiram M. Shaw was educated in the common schools of his native county, and remained with his parents until twenty years of age, when he commenced learning the carpenter’s and builder’s trade, remaining three years before he was responsible for his work. He worked as a journeyman for a short time, after which he commenced on his own responsibility, erecting farm houses in his native county. In 1855 he followed Horace Greeley’s advice, and started westward, landing at Dubuque, Iowa, where he took a clerkship in the Julian House for two years. In the year 1860 he went still farther west, and at last found himself at Pike’s Peak, Col., but in January, 1862, he returned to Dubuque, Iowa, and in the fall of the same year he came to St. Louis, Mo., where he entered the Government service at Jefferson Barracks. He here superintended the building of the hospitals, and after the war was employed to superintend the erection of warehouses and magazines for the navy. After remaining in the employ of the Government for four years, in 1867 he became a resident of Rolla, and here followed agricultural pursuits for one year. February 1, 1869, he leased a small frame house and commenced keeping hotel. He remained in this house until 1876, when a stock company was formed to erect a new brick hotel, with Mr. Shaw the principal stockholder. They erected a three-story brick, 35x70 feet, and in 1883 an addition of 38x75 feet was added. The house was named Grant House, and is one of the best equipped hotels in South Central Missouri. It contains thirty sleeping rooms and an opera hall. The entire building cost about $25,000, Mr. Shaw being the one who planned the design. In 1857 he married Miss Josephine A. Hunter, a native of Fort Edwards, N. Y., and to this union were born three children: Lois J., Kate E., (deceased) and Josephine A. Mrs. Shaw died in July, 1866, and January 29, 1874, Mr. Shaw married Miss Mary A. Clark, who was born in Fair Haven, Vt., and who bore him three children: Olive Helen, Hiram Miller and Oliver Clark. Mr. Shaw is a man who thoroughly understands the hotel business, and has been instrumental in making the Grant House what it now is. He keeps the best hotel in South Central Missouri, and his house is widely known as being a first-class hotel in the fullest sense of the term. He is an affable and pleasant gentleman, and his wife and daughter Lois are most estimable ladies, looking carefully after the interests and comfort of the guests of the hotel. Mr. Shaw is a Republican in politics; was a member of the school board six years, and was president of the board for the same length of time.