A. F. Shaw, Police Magistrate, Charleston; is a native of Illinois; he was born in Paris, Edgar Co., Feb. 10, 1824; he is a son of Smith and Elizabeth Shaw; his father was born in North Carolina; was raised in South Carolina, and when a young man, emigrated to Tennessee, and from there to Kentucky; he was one of the pioneers of Missouri, from which State he was several times driven by the Indians; he afterward came to Illinois, long prior to its admission as a State, and finally, in 1822, settled in Paris, where he died about sixteen years later; Mr. Shaw learned the saddler’s trade at the age of 15, and followed it till the breaking-out of the Mexican war; he then volunteered in Col. Baker’s 4th I. V. I., and was elected 2d Lieutenant of Co. H; he marched with Gen. Taylor’s army through Mexico, from Matamoras to Tampico, and afterward participated in the siege of Vera Cruz and the battle of Cerro Gordo; returning at the end of a year’s service, he engaged in business in Paris. In 1850, he crossed the plains to California, and engaged in mining; on his return, three years later, he went to Carthage, Hancock Co., Ill., where he carried on the saddlery business till 1856. He was married in May, 1854, to Miss Lucy A. Bunnell, a daughter of William Bunnell, of Charleston; in 1856, he removed to Charleston, and after a short time returned to Paris, where he resided till 1869, since which time he has been a resident of Charleston; he kept the Union House till 1874, when he was chosen Police Magistrate. He has three children living – Franklin F., Oro E., and Bessie N.
