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T

hanks to an email I received from Donna Girard of the Shawbridge United Church, I had the pleasure of meeting a few members of the Shaw family. I learned that the Shaw's family name comes from the Shatten clan of Ireland, but that they crossed over to the region of Argyll in Scotland so long ago that, even though their descendants moved back to Ireland in the 1300's, and left there for Canada in 1827, they still consider themselves to be partly of Scottish extraction. Argyll in Scotland and the Antrim Hills in Northern Ireland are just across the North Channel from each other, and the people probably had a lot of exchange over the centuries.

William Shaw was 22 when he took the decision to come to Canada. In February of 1827 he married twenty-year-old Martha Mori Matthews, sold his interest in the family estate in County Antrim, Ireland, and came to Montreal. Shortly after, they joined other immigrants in Wesleyville, subsequently named New Glasgow, and in Mount Pleasant, the original name of Shawbridge. The names of the other immigrants included Robinson, Scott, Poole, Stevenson, Goodbody and Matthews, the last one suggesting that Martha Mori's family came with them.

It is probable that the Shaws arrived with some money. They acquired a farm that straddled the North River in the Mount Pleasant region north of New Glasgow and built a large house and beside it a bridge that spanned the river. This was the first bridge in the area and as a result it became an important crossover for people moving further north. According to some information, the Shaws charged a toll for its use, which is not surprising, because the bridge had to be maintained. Over the years, the Shaws owned a general store and a brickyard. They housed the post office and were influential in the establishment of a church and a school. William Shaw also supplied the land for the current church, which was built in 1861.

When war came in the form of the 1837 rebellion, Mr. Shaw declined a commission in the army and concentrated on his farm and other enterprises. It is doubtful that he knew A.N. Morin at that time, although it is not impossible. Morin, a lawyer and the founder of the influential French paper La Minerve, was among the first of the rebels, but was also one of the great Canadians who eventually came to lead the government of the United Canadas and contributed to the founding of the country we know today. It was he who registered the new name for this English-speaking region surrounding the church and school that these families had established. He dubbed it Shaw's Bridge after that dominant and important landmark.

Between 1829 and 1848 the Shaws had eleven children, only one of which died in childhood. They supplied the land for the new church, still in use, which was built in 1861, and they lived into the 1890's. Martha Mori died two years before her husband, who lived to see a great fire sweep through Shaw's Bridge in the early 1890's, destroying his house but sparing the church. After the fire, he wrote in his bible that despite his losses his life had been spared.

Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Colin Shaw and Greta Shaw-Stiffel for sharing so much information about their family

Joseph Graham has written a book that features a select number of stories of Laurentian places and how they got their names. To learn more, click here.

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This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the author. © Joseph Graham