Tom Shaw

Ancestors

Son of Sanford Joseph Shaw and Alice Theresa (Mulholand) Shaw

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Tom Shaw [send private message]

For a Surname comparison see: https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/SHAW

Free Space Profiles

The Floods from Ireland
The Situation Room

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To aid WikiTree in the disposition of my account should I die or become incapacitated, I, Thomas L. Shaw, hereby give my expressed permission to transfer any or all of the private profiles that I manage to the following WikiTreers, whether or not those users are currently on the trusted lists for any of those profiles:

• William Joseph 'Bill' Shaw

Tom's Genealogy Résumé

Tom had a passing interest in genealogy (and history in general) for years but, after the death of his father, Sandy Shaw in 2011, the topic was brought to light while talking with one of his brothers, Bill Shaw, and an uncle, Richard Mulholand. Since that time, his interest has developed into a borderline obsession. He has immersed himself in his family's heritage, and now researches the ancestral lines for all four of his grandparents on an almost daily basis. He makes full use of a vast array of technological weaponry in his continuing quest to smash the brick walls cleverly constructed by his ancestors, but understands that, at the root of it all, the best and most rewarding research is done in person.

In November 2012, while on a trip to Ohio for a family wedding, he took a day trip to Wheeling, West Virginia to research the family of his maternal grandmother, Mary (Flood) Mulholand. With the help of a local librarian, he was put in touch with a previously unknown third cousin from Wheeling, who produced a wall-smashing discovery...an 1873 letter mailed to his great-grand aunt, Maggie Flood, by William Flood, an unknown Irish brother of Tom and his new third cousin's second great-grandfather, John G. Flood. Within a few weeks, he had made online connections with two more Flood relatives; a third cousin in Ireland (on Facebook) and a fourth cousin in England (with a family tree on Ancestry.com).

Tom maintains active subscriptions and accounts on a variety of genealogical search sites, including: ancestry.com, familysearch.org, newspapers.com, fold3.com and findagrave.com; and uses Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree and GRAMPS genealogy software programs to manage and share his data. He has completed both autosomal and Y-DNA tests and submitted those results for comparison with others on Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, Y-Search and GEDmatch. Additionally, he is the creator and administrator of several Facebook genealogy groups, including:

Google Earth® for Genealogists (Closed Group);
County Leitrim (Ireland) History and Genealogy (Closed Group);
County Waterford (Ireland) History and Genealogy (Closed Group);
County Wexford (Ireland) History and Genealogy (Closed Group); and,
Genealogy of the Shaw, Mulholand, Sites and Flood Families (Secret Group)

He also actively participates in a number of other Facebook genealogy groups relating to DNA and the use of technology, as well as several county genealogy groups in the states of Ohio and West Virginia. The Google Earth for Genealogists group, which Tom created and now co-administers with well-known genealogy blogger Lisa Louise Cook and others, now has over 6,000 members. In June 2014, he became one of WikiTree's volunteer leaders and, along with several other leaders, founded WikiTree's Global Cemeteries Project (GCP).

Tom's motto is: "A forgotten past begets a forgotten future." He encourages all people, and genealogists in particular, to seek out their older relatives and ask them about their memories of the past before they, and the opportunities to interact with them, are gone. He also encourages everyone to share their family history with others for the benefit of those that will follow in our footsteps. As described by Wikipedia, "Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members." Based on this description, Tom believes that researchers who hoard and hide their information from others are not true genealogists because they are unwilling to demonstrate what they have found. So, be a "real" genealogist and share!

Tom's Personal Biography

I was born on August 10, 1957 at Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, Ohio. My parents, Sanford J. "Sandy" and Alice (Mulholand) Shaw, and my older brother, Greg, resided at 516 South Lincoln Street in Kent, Ohio. The following year, our family moved to Columbus, Ohio for a brief period, then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1959. In 1962, we returned to Kent and my parents bought a house located at 329 North Willow Street. Our family attended Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Kent, and in 1963, I started in the first grade at the parish's elementary school. In 1965, I took a job as a carrier for the local newspaper, the Record Courier. Over the next four years, my route grew to cover all of the northeastern neighborhoods of the City of Kent, including a large portion of the main campus of Kent State University (KSU). While growing up in Kent, my Dad and I were active in Cub Scouts, little league baseball and golfing. In 1968, our little league baseball team, Mastercraft Construction, came in second in the city tournament. That same year, I placed second in the city's junior golf tournament held at the KSU Golf Course, but you know what they say about second-place finishers! :)

The following year, my parents opened a bar and restaurant, the Village Inn and Village Pizza Shop, in Louisville, Ohio, about 40 miles south of Kent. It soon became obvious that a daily commute of 80 miles would be too much for everyone, so our family moved there later that summer. Our first residence in Louisville was a house located at 309 West Gorgas Street. My parents worked hard to build up their businesses, and I helped out by working as the janitor, cleaning the tavern every morning. That fall, I started school at Louisville Junior High School. In 1971, we moved to another home located at 300 North Mill Street. The next year, my Dad suffered a major heart attack that forced him into a prolonged retirement. My Mom took control of both of the businesses and, over the next twelve years, the bar and pizza shop became known as two of the most popular establishments in Louisville. In June 1975, I graduated from Louisville High School, and a few months later, I left home to start college at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus.

During my first two years at OSU, I lived in on-campus dormitories. In my freshman year, I lived in Room 1251 of Morrill Tower. My roommates were Jeff and Joe, from East Liverpool, Ohio, and Rolando, who was from Panama. In 1976-77, I roomed with Rolando in Room 239 of Bradley Hall. During the following year, Rolando and I teamed up with three other former suitemates from Morrill Tower: Gary, from Coshocton, Ohio; Chip, from Parma Heights, Ohio; and, Dave, from Dayton, Ohio. We all banded together and rented a house located at 247 Chittenden Avenue. Having learned the fine art of cooking from my Mom, I offered to buy groceries and cook dinner for the crew every night, as long as the rest of them took care of keeping the house clean. Everyone pitched in $30 per week, but even on a budget of $150 per week for five hungry college students, we all ate like kings!

Shortly after midnight on January 26, 1978, a blizzard of historic proportions descended on central Ohio, eventually covering most of the other midwestern states in the U.S. as well. That morning, residents of Columbus woke to an arctic landscape outside. Overnight, the temperature had plummeted to zero behind a 40 to 60 MPH wind, bringing heavy snow and wind-chill factors ranging down to about 35 degrees below zero. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be) I had a test in my geology class that morning. So, after piling on layer after layer of clothing and a knock-off Air Force parka, I set out for campus. Nearly a half an hour later (a walk that would usually take less than 15 minutes), I arrived at Orton Hall and read a handwritten sign on the door saying that classes had been cancelled due to the weather (for the first time since the University had opened!). Fortunately, the building was open, so I went inside and thawed out for awhile before making the treacherous return trip home. On the way, I made a vow to myself (which I kept!), that once I had finished with college, I was going to move to a place where I would never have to experience weather like that again!

For my last two years at college, Gary, Chip and I lived together in a house located at 51 West Northwood Avenue. In August 1980, I graduated from OSU with a B.S. in Natural Resources, with a specialization in strip mine reclamation. Unfortunately, the economic climate at the time was such that most recent college graduates were having a difficult time finding their first career opportunity, and I was no exception. I moved back to my parents' house in Louisville and resumed working at the bar and pizza shop. Over the next two years, I sent out resumes to over 200 companies, but only received replies from about five of them. Finally, in early 1982, a phosphate mining company offered to fly me down to north Florida for an interview. Although the interview did not lead to a job offer, I took advantage of the opportunity visit with my Dad (who was now wintering in Lakeland, Florida on the advice of his physician), my uncle Tom 'T.R.' Shaw, and my cousins, Jim and Dick Shaw. Shortly after returning to Ohio, I decided to move to Texas with two friends from Louisville. In July 1982, we took off in my old Mercury Monterey and headed for Brenham, Texas, where some other friends from Louisville had moved to previously.

To be continued...

Timeline

Sources

1. All information from the personal recollections of Thomas L. Shaw.