The Shaw family is one of my oldest in terms of the distance in time that I think I can trace them back, as far as my 10x great-grandfather, Robert Shaw, who was born around 1630. The reason is that the family remained in Mottram for eight and more generations and along the way they have intertwined with my Goddard, Shepley, Rhodes and Ramsbottom families.

For that reason, I have attempted to illustrate the relaionships here.

However, as always there is a health warning. The earlier generations is based on my interpretation of the information on the International Genealogy Index and the further back in time it goes, the harder it is to be certain that it is correct. If I have gone astray, I apologise and welcome any corrections.

Introduction
Discovering that I was decended from the Shaw family was not straight forward. I knew that my great-great-grandfather's first wife was Emily Ramsbottom and that her parents were William and Eliza, but pursuing the maternal line proved difficult. To begin with, there was no sign of a marriage and there still isn't. Neither was there a baptism for an Emily Ramsbottom and when her birth was registered, her mother gave her maiden name as Ramsbottom..

I am now pretty sure that William and Eliza didn't actually marry and this lead to confusion. For example, Emily's baptism did exist, but she was christened Emily, “daughter of William and Eliza Shaw of Mottram, father's occupation printer.” But the picture began to clear and though the family dates back to the 17th century, this narrative focusses on those I am sure of, beginning with Emily's great-grandfather.

William Shaw

The Mudd, Mottram — © Tameside Image Archive

William was born in Mottram in 1764, the third child of William Shaw and Sarah Allen who had married at St Michael and All Angels in 1759. There were two couples called William and Sarah Shaw in Mottram at this time and it is likely that some of the twelve children I have attributed to my William and Sarah will actually belong to the other couple. However, Ann, John and William's baptisms all predate the second marriage.

William married Betty Hall in 1788 and they had seven children between the and 1800. William was a weaver and was a widower by the time of the 1841 census he was living at The Mudd with his son James and his wife and son.

He was still living in the Hague area of Mottram in 1851, but died shortly after the census was taken at the age of 81 and was buried at St Michael and All Angels on on 27 April.

James Shaw
James was William's eldest son and married Betty Hibbert in 1815, but not before they had two children, Mary and Sarah, who were baptised together in March 1814. That they were James' daughters was apparently confirmed with each of them being baptised with Shaw as a middle, although it isn't clear if they were twins, or were born separately.

James and Betty had a further seven children, the eldest being Eliza. She was born about 1819, but wasn't baptised until 1824. She had already had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1840, father unknown and, as mentioned above, she “married” William Ramsbottom who had moved to Mottram from Accrington, Lancashire. There is more information on the Ramsbottom page.

Eliza was living with her older sister, Sarah, in 1841. She had married her third cousin, Samuel Shaw, although again I have yet to find a record of the marriage.

Eliza's brother, John, was another of the family who avoided formal marriage. He had a son, Albert, who was living with his grandparents in 1861. At the time, John was living with boarder, Mary Wadsworth, by whom he had a daughter, Betty, in 1862. The exact parent/child relationship isn't yet clear and all three, including Matthew Wadsworth, are attributed to John for the time being.

Returning to James and Betty, both lived to a good age. Betty died in 1870 aged 76, while James almost made it to the 1871 census, but was buried on 2 April, the day the census was taken.

Charles Shaw
James' younger brother, Charles, married Jenny Shaw which is where the Goddard connection comes in. Jenny was the youngest daughter of Mary Goddard, herself the daughter of my 5x great-grandfather, John Goddard, and his first wife, Alice Holegate.