John Shaw of Daltoune
Biography
Birth: 1723 in Straiton, Ayrshire
Death: n/a
Probably the son of John Shaw (d. 1740) and Agnes Crawford. (Link) Possibly married to Helen Kennedy (d. 1795).1
In his journal, Boswell refers only to the Laird of Daltoune which doesn't identify Shaw with absolutely certainty, but the evidence seems to fit.
Also known as
Life with James Boswell
Boswell met Shaw at James McAdam's on September 15, 1762. He described him as a man "who, from having a pretty fortune, is reduced to live in a cottage. He is a tall, lean man of tolerable parts, but has that happy absence of feeling which makes men easies under adverse fortune than all the reasoning of philosophy".
Notes
Note 1: The Mort Roll from The commissariot record of Glasgow Register of testamenis, 1547-1800 mentions a relict [widow] of John Shaw, of Daton (Daltoun). Helen Kennedy probably died around November 11, 1795. Alan Hersey has provided me with information on Shaw's year of birth, and has further supported the identification of John Shaw as the Laird of Daltoune.
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