George H. Shaw

In any Washington history book, you will read that the first school in Washington was taught by George H. Shaw.  But who was George H. Shaw?

Shaw was born near the turn of the 19th century in Kentucky.  He was raised there and, in his 20s, headed west.  In the winter of 1827/1828, he came upon Washington, which was very sparsely populated at the time.  Shaw began a subscription school soon after arriving.

A subscription school was basically what it sounds like: families would pay a fee to the school's head for their children to get an education.  Teachers did not need any specific requirements to teach back then.  One source quipped that the teacher's only required skill was the ability to create the subscription form.  William Holland and a few other townspeople constructed the schoolhouse, a log cabin only 16x18 feet.  Seats were split logs, and holes were cut in the log walls at each end of the building for windows, which were covered with greased paper.  It is unknown how long Shaw taught in Washington.  His pay during that time was room and board.

It is known he married Penelope Edwards on August 5, 1828, back in Kentucky.

During the winter of 1830/1831, he taught at a very rural school near Magnolia, Illinois, the same type of school that was built in Washington.  Shaw settled on the family homestead, which today is near Route 17 between Lacon and Varna.  Shaw was the first to settle in the area, originally called "Shaw's Point."  It was in the middle of a larger area was called the "round prairie," a somewhat circular flatland surrounded by the Illinois River and its tributaries, pictured below.  There was also a school called Shaw's Point School, built when George & Penelope's children needed an education.

Shaw served during the Black Hawk War as a "private soldier."  When he first left for duty, he sent his family to Washington for protection until proper fortifications could be built on their property.

Holland brought Shaw back to Washington to survey the original town on February 27, 1834.  Shaw served as a deputy surveyor for Tazewell County.  He had also surveyed a road running from Tazewell to Vermilion County in 1833. 

He was subsequently elected as one of the first county commissioners upon the formation of Marshall County in 1839.

Shaw has been further credited with assisting in the formation of the Marshall County school districts.

In 1844, he built a brick house on his homestead that, according to all sources, still stands today as the second oldest home in the county.  One description of the house:

It stands as strong and able to withstand the elements as when the pioneering family built it. Built of handmade brick its walls are two feet thick and there are no windows on either end. Great walnut beams felled from the forest surrounding the home support the two story residence. There are four large rooms each with its own fireplace and between the two spacious rooms downstairs and their counterparts upstairs runs a large center hallway. The woodwork in the home is walnut, much of it hand polished by the three girls and three boys born to that first family.

Shaw remained active throughout his life as an educator, surveyor, and farmer, and died on February 2, 1877, at the age of 80.  There is some evidence that he was buried in the Sparland Cemetery.  Legend has it that Shaw's mother was a cousin of George Washington, and that his father went to school with James Buchanan.