The Unforgotten -- William D Shaw

Welcome to my series about the unknown, yet unforgotten people I encounter through genealogy research. These are individuals for whom few records remain—many who likely didn’t reach adulthood, left no descendants, and are otherwise lost to time. Some stories survive only because one person cared enough to write a few lines in a fading newspaper. Today’s post begins with one such man—William D. Shaw—whose brief notice preserved the memory of two people who might otherwise have vanished entirely from the historical record.

In May 1859 he published in the newspaper, a death notice for a man named Sewell Cavin, who had been in his employ for nearly two decades, as well as the death of a beloved Cherokee woman who had tragically drown in the Grand River.

The Arkansian - 21 May 1859

Further research reveals that Sewell Cavin did indeed purchase 4 parcels totaling 320 acres of land in Washington County, Arkansas, along Moore’s Creek and Muddy Fork, at the junction of what is now Fat Nash Road and Bethel Blacktop near the Rheas Community in the years 1838 and 1843.

Adjoining Sewell's land and purchased on the same date in 1843 was an 80‑acre parcel belonging to Michael Asher.

And in Washington County there is a marriage record for Michael Asher and Lucretia Caven three years later in 1846.

That same year, also in Washington County, Elizabeth Cavin married William Buchanan, and then ten years later in 1856, Martha Cavin married Marcus Buchanan. Martha named her first child, born in 1857, Sewil (sic)—likely in honor of the man whose name appears in the death notice. 

In the 1850 census, Martha—then age 17—is enumerated in the household of William Cavin, age 61, and Mary, age 58, in Marrs Hill, Washington County, Arkansas.

These records leave me wondering: was Sewell an older unrecorded son of William and Mary, remembered only in the quiet ways families keep their dead alive, by naming a son after him.

No additional records for Sewell Cavin have surfaced so far.

Unfortunately, the only records I have found for a Cherokee woman by the name of Jane Ketchum, are all dated well after the date of her death.

Even if very little of Jane’s story remains in the written record, the fact that Sewell died in the manner he did on the day after her demise, shows how deeply she mattered to him. Even without documentation, the impact of her life is unmistakable.

And this brings me back to Mr. William D. Shaw. Several records indicate that he was involved in Indian affairs. He appears to have been associated with the Western Creek Agency, and he was also active among the Cherokee at Fort Gibson. While no census record can be found confidently as him. He does appear in several military‑related accounts as a blacksmith, in the testimony of various government proceedings and the Gilcrease Museum preserves a note requesting that he "pay Drew and Fields $17.46" in part of their John Drew Manuscript Collection. I also found a surviving letter in the Gilcrease Museum’s online collections revealing that Shaw corresponded very personally with John Drew, they were more than mere associates, they were family friends.

Other records in the Gilcrease collection mention Shaw alongside the name Lanigan. Researching these names together gave me the bigger picture. They were the proprietors of the Mercantile at Fort Gibson. 

Times Record, Fort Smith, Wed, Feb 5, 1913, Page 6

The online library of Texas Tech also has a letter from Alfred B Green returning their license to "trade with the Cherokees".

Living amongst the natives in Indian Territory very few typical genealogy records have been found. So, I decided to search more diligently in old newspapers and in doing so have been able to piece together a much more complete picture of his life and more importantly his family, individuals who would otherwise be lost and forgotten: his very own son, Houston R. Shaw, who died in 1843 after a three‑week illness, his wife, Delilah Rogers Shaw who died 26th Feb 1857 and another son Robert G. Shaw, who died in Nov 1859.

Perhaps this is why Shaw published the death notice for Sewell Cavin—because he had known the ache of personal loss and understood how fragile remembrance could be in a time when society was less connected, and records could all too easily be forgotten to history.

Arkansas Intelligencer
Van Buren, Arkansas • Sat, Dec 30, 1843Page 3

The St Louis Republic, Fri Dec 23, 1859

The St Louis Republic, Thur March 19, 1857

Weekly Arkansas Gazette, Sat March 14, 1857

Every so often, a small clue—a name, a line of print, a forgotten notice—reveals a life worth remembering. This post begins with one such clue: a death notice written by William D. Shaw, a man whose own story began as elusive as those he tried to preserve.

In gathering these fragments, we do what Shaw once did: we carry their names forward, so they are not forgotten.