Andrew G. Shaw, a successful mortgage attorney and conveyancer of 
Oneonta, located in that city November 2, 1840.  He began life in 
that place a young man, and was variously engaged for some years.  
He then became a law student in the office of John B. Steele, 
who was District Attorney and a prominent lawyer at the time.  
From this office Mr. Shaw was admitted to the bar in 1848, and 
immediately afterward opened an office of his own in Oneonta.  
Since that time he has been engaged in practice in this city, but 
more as a conveyancer and collector than as a general 
practitioner.  He has served as Justice of the Peace for 
twenty-seven years, and is at present Notary Public, having held 
this office for many years.  He has also served as Village clerk 
and as a member of the Board of Trustees, also as Superintendent 
of schools under the administration of Presidents Pierce and 
Buchanan.  He was formerly a Democrat, but since the organization 
of the Republican party has been a Republican.

Mr.  Shaw was born in the town of Butternuts, Otsego Co., NY, July 25 
1821, grew up in his native town, and removed to Oneonta in 1840, 
when its population amounted to about 400.  He is a son of Daniel 
Shaw, who was born in the town of Butternuts, Otsego County, and 
there lived and died, his death occurring in 1832, when in the 
prime of life.  His father was Col. William Shaw, who, it is 
believed, was a native of England, but came to America a young 
man, and served as a Colonel through the Revolutionary War.  In 
the latter part of the last century he located in the town of 
Butternuts, Otsego County, established a home in the wilderness, 
and improved a farm, his principal companions being Indians and 
the wild beasts and game of the forest.  Col. William Shaw was 
always a farmer, and died when about seventy years of age.  He 
was married in Connecticut to Lydia Ballard, a native of that 
State.  She died in the town of Butternuts, when within a few 
days of one hundred years of age.  She and her husband were 
Presbyterians.  They were the parents of twelve children, and the 
foster-parents of three others.  Three of their children died a 
few years ago, aged respectively ninety-two, ninety-six and 
ninety-eight years.  All of the twelve lived to be men and women, 
and to rear families of their own.  Daniel Shaw, father of Andrew 
G., was the tenth child, and died of the cholera when forty-one 
years old, his being the first death in the family.  He was 
married in Otsego County to Miss Minerva Smith, who was born and 
reared in Harpersfield, Delaware Col, NY, and died in the town of 
Butternuts, when seventy-nine years old.  She had been married 
once before.  She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
of which her first husband was also an active member.  He was a 
Jackson Democrat in politics.

Andrew G. Shaw is the eldest of three children, the others being 
Adelia, widow of John A. Sturgins, and living on a farm in 
Butternuts, and Ada A., the wife of Dr. Uriah Harmon, a dentist of 
Gilbertsville, Otsego County.  He was married to Melissa McDonald, 
who was born and reared in Oneonta, and is now sixty-five years of 
age.  She is a good wife and mother, and a most worthy woman.  She is 
a daughter of John and Jennie (Houghtaling) McDonald, natives of New 
York State, both now deceased, dying in Oneonta when advanced in 
years.  They were well and favorably known.  Mr. McDonald was a farm 
all his life.  His father, James McDonald, was a native of New york, 
and was born of Scotch parents.  He located in what is now Oneonta 
when a young married man, about 1790, and purchased large tracts of 
land, a portion of which is now included in the site of the present 
city.  In the early part of the present century he built a gristmill 
on the Susquehanna River at Oneonta, and died there when an old man.  
He was a well-known pioneer of this portion of the State.

Mr. and Mrs. Shaw are the parents of one son, Alfred G., who now 
lives in Boston, and is inspector for Mr. Golding, the tool 
manufacturer.  He is not married.  Mrs. Shaw is a Presbyterian.