Sylvester was a life-long railroad man, like his father. Sylvester married Lydia Gelder on March 15, 1911 in Webster, Iowa.
Also in 1911, Sylvester was arrested (along with his brother, Rollo, and a man named John Landon) for shooting up a train car of Greeks who had been brought to the U.S. to replace American workers. According to the newspaper article, one of the victims was shot in the head. No follow up information has been found.
Lydia and Sylvester's only child, Lawrence E. Shaw, was born on March 11, 1912.
Sylvester ran off with the wife of William Grabill of Harlan, Iowa sometime in 1913. It was a scandal, as the two of them ran around the neighboring states by hiding in boxcars of trains and living as vagrants. A newspaper article recounts this story in 1914, when they were found living in a makeshift tent, begging food and scrounging in the dump. They were arrested for vagrancy. Sylvester claimed they were already married, but it wasn't true. William Grabill had remarried by the time they resurfaced near the Harlan, Iowa dump.
Sylvester married Ruby Luella Jones in Chicago in 1917. She is listed as "Luella Grabill". The Grabill surname is from her first marriage to William Martin Grabill in Iowa.
Sylvester and Ruby lived briefly in Luverne, Rock, Minnesota in 1917, then moved to Los Angeles in 1918, possibly to be near Ruby's family who had moved there earlier.
Sylvester died Dec. 2, 1920 in Los Angeles, California from "Cardiac Decompensation".
Sylvester was a "Rail Road Engineer" at the time of death.
Wife, Ruby Jones only survived two years after his death. She was only 43.
Family Info:
Father: James John Shaw
Mother: Floretta (Etta) Mae Drury
First Wife - Lydia Gelder (Shaw, Arch)
Second Wife - Rubetta (Ruby) Luella Jones
Son - Lawrence E. Shaw
Grave Information:
Avenue 18
Plot 43
Grave 10
Also in 1911, Sylvester was arrested (along with his brother, Rollo, and a man named John Landon) for shooting up a train car of Greeks who had been brought to the U.S. to replace American workers. According to the newspaper article, one of the victims was shot in the head. No follow up information has been found.
Lydia and Sylvester's only child, Lawrence E. Shaw, was born on March 11, 1912.
Sylvester ran off with the wife of William Grabill of Harlan, Iowa sometime in 1913. It was a scandal, as the two of them ran around the neighboring states by hiding in boxcars of trains and living as vagrants. A newspaper article recounts this story in 1914, when they were found living in a makeshift tent, begging food and scrounging in the dump. They were arrested for vagrancy. Sylvester claimed they were already married, but it wasn't true. William Grabill had remarried by the time they resurfaced near the Harlan, Iowa dump.
Sylvester married Ruby Luella Jones in Chicago in 1917. She is listed as "Luella Grabill". The Grabill surname is from her first marriage to William Martin Grabill in Iowa.
Sylvester and Ruby lived briefly in Luverne, Rock, Minnesota in 1917, then moved to Los Angeles in 1918, possibly to be near Ruby's family who had moved there earlier.
Sylvester died Dec. 2, 1920 in Los Angeles, California from "Cardiac Decompensation".
Sylvester was a "Rail Road Engineer" at the time of death.
Wife, Ruby Jones only survived two years after his death. She was only 43.
Family Info:
Father: James John Shaw
Mother: Floretta (Etta) Mae Drury
First Wife - Lydia Gelder (Shaw, Arch)
Second Wife - Rubetta (Ruby) Luella Jones
Son - Lawrence E. Shaw
Grave Information:
Avenue 18
Plot 43
Grave 10
Sylvester was a life-long railroad man, like his father. Sylvester married Lydia Gelder on March 15, 1911 in Webster, Iowa.
Also in 1911, Sylvester was arrested (along with his brother, Rollo, and a man named John Landon) for shooting up a train car of Greeks who had been brought to the U.S. to replace American workers. According to the newspaper article, one of the victims was shot in the head. No follow up information has been found.
Lydia and Sylvester's only child, Lawrence E. Shaw, was born on March 11, 1912.
Sylvester ran off with the wife of William Grabill of Harlan, Iowa sometime in 1913. It was a scandal, as the two of them ran around the neighboring states by hiding in boxcars of trains and living as vagrants. A newspaper article recounts this story in 1914, when they were found living in a makeshift tent, begging food and scrounging in the dump. They were arrested for vagrancy. Sylvester claimed they were already married, but it wasn't true. William Grabill had remarried by the time they resurfaced near the Harlan, Iowa dump.
Sylvester married Ruby Luella Jones in Chicago in 1917. She is listed as "Luella Grabill". The Grabill surname is from her first marriage to William Martin Grabill in Iowa.
Sylvester and Ruby lived briefly in Luverne, Rock, Minnesota in 1917, then moved to Los Angeles in 1918, possibly to be near Ruby's family who had moved there earlier.
Sylvester died Dec. 2, 1920 in Los Angeles, California from "Cardiac Decompensation".
Sylvester was a "Rail Road Engineer" at the time of death.
Wife, Ruby Jones only survived two years after his death. She was only 43.
Family Info:
Father: James John Shaw
Mother: Floretta (Etta) Mae Drury
First Wife - Lydia Gelder (Shaw, Arch)
Second Wife - Rubetta (Ruby) Luella Jones
Son - Lawrence E. Shaw
Grave Information:
Avenue 18
Plot 43
Grave 10
Also in 1911, Sylvester was arrested (along with his brother, Rollo, and a man named John Landon) for shooting up a train car of Greeks who had been brought to the U.S. to replace American workers. According to the newspaper article, one of the victims was shot in the head. No follow up information has been found.
Lydia and Sylvester's only child, Lawrence E. Shaw, was born on March 11, 1912.
Sylvester ran off with the wife of William Grabill of Harlan, Iowa sometime in 1913. It was a scandal, as the two of them ran around the neighboring states by hiding in boxcars of trains and living as vagrants. A newspaper article recounts this story in 1914, when they were found living in a makeshift tent, begging food and scrounging in the dump. They were arrested for vagrancy. Sylvester claimed they were already married, but it wasn't true. William Grabill had remarried by the time they resurfaced near the Harlan, Iowa dump.
Sylvester married Ruby Luella Jones in Chicago in 1917. She is listed as "Luella Grabill". The Grabill surname is from her first marriage to William Martin Grabill in Iowa.
Sylvester and Ruby lived briefly in Luverne, Rock, Minnesota in 1917, then moved to Los Angeles in 1918, possibly to be near Ruby's family who had moved there earlier.
Sylvester died Dec. 2, 1920 in Los Angeles, California from "Cardiac Decompensation".
Sylvester was a "Rail Road Engineer" at the time of death.
Wife, Ruby Jones only survived two years after his death. She was only 43.
Family Info:
Father: James John Shaw
Mother: Floretta (Etta) Mae Drury
First Wife - Lydia Gelder (Shaw, Arch)
Second Wife - Rubetta (Ruby) Luella Jones
Son - Lawrence E. Shaw
Grave Information:
Avenue 18
Plot 43
Grave 10
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