This is a transcription of the Helen (Davison) Shaw biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 63.
Helen (Davison) Shaw
MARY HELEN (DAVISON) SHAW was born on Prince Edward Island, at Charlottetown, March 22, 1840, a daughter of Charles C. and Nancy (McNeil) Davison. Her paternal ancestors came to this country in the early history of its settlement. About the commencement of the Revolutionary war they went to the provinces from Connecticut, being among those who remained loyal to the crown. Her maternal ancestor, McNeil, a Scotchman, married a daughter of the Duke of Argyle. From both her father’s and mother’s ancestors she has derived that inflexible adherence to what she believes to be right, which has so characterized her in all of the relations of life. In early life she came to this country, and in 1867 became the wife of Capt. E. M. Shaw of Nashua, so well known as a successful manufacturer, and more especially as the executive commissioner from this state to the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Religiously she is a Baptist, and active in all church and auxiliary denominational work. Her especial work is that of the W. C. T. U., and this she follows unfalteringly. She has repeatedly held the office of president of the local union of Nashua, and was a delegate at large to the national convention of the W. C. T. U. at Chicago in 1893. She is now one of the trustees of the W. C. T. U. Mercy Home at Manchester. Her only child, a son, Elijah Ray, is now a member of the class of 1897 at the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, at Durham.