Samuel William Shaw, 1840-1919, was born in England. In 1862 he eloped with, and married, Helen York, 1846-1941. The family moved to western Canada in 1883. They travelled to the end of the railway, then near Swift Current, and travelled west by oxcart to Calgary, Alberta. They settled south of the city at Fish Creek (later Midnapore). In 1890 they opened the Midnapore Woollen Mill, the first such mill in western Canada. Mrs. Shaw opened a tailor shop in Calgary to market the mill's products. The family ran the mill until 1905 when it was sold to Buchan and Murray. Mr. Shaw then opened a store in Midnapore called the Midnapore Supply Company.

The Shaws had nine children: Helen Alice Julia (Millar), 1863-1943; Agnes Egerie Louise (Thomas), 1866-1947; Evelyn Flora Lida (Gough), 1869- 1941; Hugh Kinnaird Hunter, 1872-1960, Maltman William Steven, 1874-1960; Elphie Mabel Idalie (Phillips), 1875-1901; Henry Kinnaird Turner, 1878-1896; John Oliver York, 1880-1962, and Irene Julia Daphne (Goodall), 1884-1950.

For further information see Sheilagh S. Jameson's article "The Shaws of Midnapore" in Canadian Cattlemen. -- vol. 8, no.1 (June 1945), p. 12-13, 36-37, 41; and "Samuel and Helen Shaw : Midnapore Entrepreneurs" in Eye on the Future : Business People in Calgary and the Bow Valley, 1870-1900 / Henry C. Klassen. -- Calgary : University of Calgary Press, 2002, p. 343-348.