Gallaher Family History & Genealogy

According to copy written by her family and printed in a Kansas book, Mary Jane Gallaher was born 35 Dec 1841 in Harrison County, VA (now West Virginia) and lived there until she was 12 years old, when she and her parents (names unknown) moved to Columbiana County, OH. Both parents were supposed to have been born in Pennsylvania, although some records show Virginia and Ireland.

Mary married James Madison Shaw on 31 Dec 1866 in Columbiana County, where they had their first five children: Lillian, Luella, Hal, James and Perry. In 1881 they moved to Chase County, KS to farm and raise cattle. They had two more children there: Brint and Guy. All of the children, except Brint, who died as an infant, grew up in Matfield and all married there, except Harry, who died of consumption as a young man. James was never in very robust health after the ordeals of his Civil War experiences, and died before his 73rd birthday in 1907.

Mary was named administrator and widow of her husband's estate in a probate filed 18 Oct 1907 in Chase County. She was living with her son, Guy Shaw, 26, and his wife, Harriett,17, when the Matfield, Chase County census was taken in 1910. She was 67 and she or whoever talked to the enumerator had changed the information on her mother's birthplace from VA or PA to Ireland. Her daughter Lillian, 42, was living next door with her second husband, William J. Hurst, 55; their son, Clifford, 9; and Lillian's three sons from her first marriage, Arthur Sheehan, 19; Edward Sheehan, 16, and Charles Sheehan,14. The family next to them included Samantha Barkus, 15, who would later marry Leonard Perkins, Mary's grandson.

Mary survived her husband by nine years. She lived with her daughter, Luella Perkins, part of that time, and we have photographs of her in front of their home in Matfield.

Her 1916 obituary reads: "Mrs. Mary Shaw Dead--- Mrs. Mary Shaw died at her home, three miles east of Matfield Green, at 4:00 o'clock Thursday morning following a long illness. Mrs. Shaw, who was about 74 years of age, had been an invalid for the past few years. The funeral was held at 11:00 Sunday morning in the Methodist Church of Matfield Green, interment being made in the Matfield Green cemetery. Ms. Shaw is survived by five children. Her husband died about nine years ago and two of the seven children who were born to them are dead. Her two daughters are Mrs. Lillian Hurst of Willard, Colorado and Mrs. Francis Perkins of Matfield. The three sons are Perry Shaw of North Dakota, Guy Shaw of near Burns, and James Shaw of Matfield. Mrs. Shaw was about 74 years of age and had lived in the Matfield neighborhood since the year 1883. She was known to her many friends and neighbors there for her kind, benevolent character. She was an earnest Christian woman, a good wife and a loving mother. Although she had been in poor health for a number of years previous to her death, yet during all those months of pain and suffering, she remained cheerful and said but little of her own condition, She will be sadly missed by her children and her death brings sorrow to all."