Marcus Shaw was born August 9, 1835, in Berne, Albany County, New York.
The 1860 United States census showed Marcus Shaw (age 25, born in New York, carpenter) married to Sarah J. (age 20, born in Illinois) and living in Mud Creek, Mills County, Iowa. A daughter, Henrietta A. (age 2 months, born in Iowa), also lived with the couple.
Clitherall was the first settlement in the county after the Indian trouble of 1862. It was settled in 1865 by about twenty families of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, as they are usually called. The Mormons claimed to have been directed to Clitherall by a dream which one of the elders had of a land between two lakes, with an abundance of prairie and timber, and convenient bands of Indians whom they were to convert to the Mormon faith, and thus civilize and save them from their paganism. Accordingly, a small band of these good people made the long overland trip through Illinois and Minnesota to Otter Tail county. They brought with them their cattle, sheep, horses and all kinds of tools. The men were nearly all farmers, although there were a number of skilled artisians among them. …Marcus Shaw was a stone mason and plasterer… (History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries, and Institutions, B. F. Bowen, Indianapolis, 1916, Page 559)
The first county commissioners of Otter Tail county were appointed by the governor and, according to law, he was to appoint three, but for some reason only two qualified in Otter Tail county. These two men, Chauncey Whiting and Marcus Shaw, held their first meeting at Clitherall on September 12, 1868, and divided the county into election precincts. (History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries, and Institutions, B. F. Bowen, Indianapolis, 1916, Page 140)
Page 141. A complete list of the county commissioners from 1868 to the present time is as follows: 1868 – Chauncey Whiting. Marcus Shaw.
Page 142. 1869 – Chauncey Whiting, Marcus Shaw (resigned May 20, 1869), E. J. Lacey.
Page 144. Treasurer. Marcus Shaw was the first treasurer (of Otter Tail County) and evidently took office shortly after May 20, 1869, at which time he resigned his place as a member of the board of county commissioners. He was probably elected at the October, 1868, election, although no record has been found to prove the fact. As the first treasurer of the county, Shaw had no precedents to guide him and, to view his management of the office in the most charitable light, he failed to realize the responsibility of handling the county’s money. As a result he became involved to the extent of several thousand dollars, all of which, by his own admission, he appropriated to his own use. When he realized the extent of his peculations and his inability to
Page 145. extricate himself, he placed enough of his own property in the hands of his bondsmen to cover his defalcation – and resigned. His letter to the commissioners shows that he felt disgraced by his "foolishness," as he called it. Resignation of Marcus Shaw. Fergus Falls, July 3, 1873. To the Honorable Board of the Co. Commissioners: Gentlemen: It is with a painful sense of humiliation arising from the circumstances by which I am surrounded that I tender to your Honorable body my resignation as Treasurer of the County of Otter Tail. With shame and mortification I have to confess I have used for my own benefit the public funds intrusted to my charge. It has been like as a worm eating at the carcass a little by little until I have used so much that it is beyond my power to replace, yet not thinking that I had used more than a fourth part of the amount that the settlement sheet of today shows; thus I have disgraced myself by my own foolishness. While I frankly acknowledge my error let me assure your honorable body that the county is not the loser of one dollar only for the time being, as I have placed in the hands of my bondsmen more than sufficient property to meet all demands the county have against me and while reaping no profit for my error which was more of the head than of the heart, I have more bitterly reproached myself for my weakness than your honorable body of anyone else can reproach me. I fully recognize the fact that it is no longer fitting that I should retain the trust which I have thus betrayed or the confidence I have thus forfeited, craving your lenient judgment, asking you to bear in mind that to "err is human, to forgive divine." I remain, Your obedient servant, M. Shaw. (History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries, and Institutions, B. F. Bowen, Indianapolis, 1916)
The 1870 United States census showed Markus Shaw (age 34, born in New York, farmer) married to Sarah (age 30, born in Missouri) and living in Clitherall, Minnesota. Children Willie (age 10, born in Iowa), Clark (age 7, born in Iowa), Charles (age 5, born in Minnesota), Wilber (age 3, born in Minnesota), and Clarance (age 3 months, born in Minnesota) also lived with the couple.
When the board met for the next time (August 8 (1871)) Marcus Shaw was awarded the contract (for the Otter Tail County jail), his bid of four hundred and twenty-five dollars being the lowest of a number submitted. (History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries, and Institutions, B. F. Bowen, Indianapolis, 1916, Page 130)
The first record of the district court meeting in Otter Tail county shows that it met in Otter Tail City, on Tuesday, November 7, 1871, at the "store room of E. G. Holmes." According to the minutes of this session the following officials were present: …Marcus Shaw, deputy clerk… (History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries, and Institutions, B. F. Bowen, Indianapolis, 1916, Page 151)
The 1880 United States census showed M. Shaw (age 45, born in New York, brick maker) married to Sarah (age 37, born in Missouri) and living in Detroit (Lakes), Minnesota. Children Arvilla (age 21, born in Iowa), Clark (age 18, born in Iowa, laborer), Charles (age 15, born in Minnesota, laborer), Willie (age 13, born in Minnesota), Walter (age 9, born in Minnesota), and Chester (age 4, born in Minnesota) also lived with the couple.
The foundation of the (Becker County) court-house and jail was built by T. J. Martin and Marcus Shaw in July, 1884… (A Pioneer History of Becker County Minnesota, Jessie C. West, Pioneer Press Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1907, Page 726)
The 1885 Minnesota census showed M. Shaw (age 49, born in New York) married to Sarah (age 42, born in Illinois) and living in Detroit (Lakes), Minnesota. Children Clark (age 22, born in Iowa), Charlie (age 20, born in Minnesota), Wilbur (age 17, born in Minnesota), Walter (age 12, born in Minnesota), and Chester (age 8, born in Minnesota) also lived with the couple.
The 1900 United States census showed Marcus Shaw (age 65, born in August 1834 in New York, plasterer) married to Eliza (age 50, born in February 1850 in Michigan) and living in St. Joseph, Missouri. A daughter, Nina (age 10, born in May 1890 in Missouri), also lived with the couple.
Marcus Shaw, second son of Wilson Shaw and wife Emily Waring, was born Aug. 9, 1835 in Berne, N.Y. Went with his father’s family when they removed from Albany County to Carlton, Orleans County, in 1837. Learned the trade of plasterer and stone mason with his father. In Aug. 1855, he removed to Omaha, Neb., where he lived two years. He married Cordelia E. Whiting in 1856. In 1857, they removed to Pacific City, Iowa, where his wife died. On Aug. 12, 1858, he married Sarah J. Rockwell, who was born in 1841, at Nauvoo, Ill. He lived at Manti three years, two of which he served as town clerk. He joined the church of Later Day Saints (not to be confounded with the Utah church) which had colonies at Manti and Platte River, Taylor County, Iowa. He was ordained elder in the church and sent to Platte River as superintendent of the colony, which was managed on the co-operative plan – the industries of the colony comprising a grist mill, saw mill and farm lands. He resigned after holding the position one year and advised disorganization the scheme not being practical. He was immediately selected as one of three to go to Northern Minnesota to select a site for colonization and for furthering the work of the church. He was ordained Presiding Elder of the Minnesota district and he, with his family, commenced their journey by wagon in the Fall of 1864, stopping the first winter at Red Wing, Minn. In the Spring they removed to Otter Tail County. He lived in this part of the State until 1885, when he was divorced from his wife and removed to Kansas City, Missouri, since which time he has lived at Ottumwa, Iowa, Chicago, Ill., Lamoni, Iowa, and at present resides at St. Joseph, Missouri. While living in Minnesota he was the first commissioner appointed by the Governor to organize the County of Otter Tail. He was Assistant Register of Deeds, Clerk of Court one year, County Treasurer four years. By his wife, Sarah J. Rockwell, he had the following children: Henrietta, Arvilla, Clark Ambrose, Chas. Emery, Wilber Thyer, Ernest, b. Sept. 1870, d. 1873. Walter Trail, b. April, 1873, d. 1888, Chester Cook. In 1886 he married Mrs. Eliza Bentley, who was born February 8, 1850. To them has been born one daughter, Nina D., b. May 22, 1890. (A History of the Hinmans and Kindred Families, Dr. Adin Vincent Hinman, 1907)
The 1910 United States census showed Marcus Shaw (age 74, born in New York, contractor) married to Eliza A. (age 60, born in Michigan) and living in Independence, Missouri.
Marcus Shaw died September 18, 1921, in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
Elder Marcus Shaw Dead. Was 86 Years Old and an L. D. S. Minister Here 30 Years. Elder Marcus Shaw, 86 years old and for thirty years a resident of Independence, died at (?) o’clock yesterday afternoon at the Independence Sanitarium. Elder Shaw was born in the state of New York. Thirty years ago he and his wife, Mrs. Eliza Shaw, came to Independence, where he lived until a few months ago, when he went to St. Jospeh, Mo., to live with his daughter, Mrs. Nina L. Dunfee. Mrs. Shaw died July 4, 1919. Elder Shaw is survived by four sons, Clark A. Shaw of Detroit, Minn.; Charles E. Shaw of Chicago, Ill.; Wilbur T. Shaw of Buhl, Idaho, and Chester C. Shaw of Joliet, Ill., and one daughter, Mrs. Dunfee of St. Joseph, Mo. Funeral services were held at 2:30 o’clock this afternoon at the Stone Church and burial was at Mound Grove Cemetery. (Independence Examiner, Monday, September 19, 1921, Page 1)