Benjamin F. Shaw, born on March 31, 1831, in Waverly, New York, was a prominent editor and influential figure in Lee County, Illinois. As the editor and proprietor of the Dixon Telegraph, Shaw played a crucial role in shaping public opinion and advocating for the Republican Party. He began his career in printing in Rock Island before acquiring the Dixon Telegraph in 1851. Shaw was also active in politics, serving as Clerk and Recorder of the Lee County Circuit Court and as State Canal Commissioner. His efforts were instrumental in advancing various civic projects, including the Hennepin Canal and advocating for Dixon’s development.
Benjamin F. Shaw, the well-known editor and proprietor of the Telegraph, the leading Republican organ of Lee County and one of its best newspapers in every way, has long exercised a marked influence on the affairs of this section of the county. Not only professionally but also as a citizen of progressive views and notable public spirit, he has the dearest interests of his country at heart, is influential in its political life, and in all that tends to promote the social, moral, and educational condition of his community. In connection with the weekly newspaper is the evening Telegraph, the leading daily newspaper of this section of the State.
Mr. Shaw was born in Waverly, N.Y., March 31, 1831. His father, Alanson B. Shaw, was born in Bradford County, Pa., in 1801, and was of Scotch blood, his father being one of four brothers who came to this country from their native Scotland in the days before the Revolution. One of the brothers, for whom our subject was named, fought in that great struggle of the American Colonies for freedom. The father of our subject married Philomela, daughter of Zephon Flower, an early settler of Athens, Pa., who had come from Connecticut. He was a Revolutionary soldier and was one of the last on the Revolutionary pension rolls, living to the advanced age of ninety-six years.
When he started out in the world in his youthful days, Benjamin F. Shaw made his way from his native State to Iowa, which at that time was a Territory. He remained there for a period of two years, and then recrossing the Mississippi River to Rock Island, he took the first steps that have led him to a high position in the editorial profession by acquiring, in that then village, a good knowledge of the printing business. In the fall of 1851 he came to Dixon to take charge of the printing office of the Dixon Telegraph, of which he subsequently became the owner by purchase, and has since edited it with marked success, devoting his energies to making a newspaper that should educate its constituency and be a potent factor in the upbuilding of city and county. This he has accomplished and the journal, which owes its strength and high reputation to his genius, takes the lead in advocating whatever will be for the highest good of the community. In all matters pertaining to the advancement of society, education, and politics, our subject takes a keen and discriminating interest, and through the columns of his paper, which has a wide circulation both in Dixon and the neighboring districts, he has many times been instrumental in securing for the city various advantages of a nature more or less important. As before mentioned, the Telegraph is one of the accepted organs of the Republican party, whose policy is set forth in a clear and able manner in its editorials, which are noted for their vigor and independence, although they are never offensively partisan.
Mr. Shaw has by no means confined his talents to his profession but he has taken a conspicuous part in public life, and has held various prominent offices with honor to himself and to his constituency. He has been a leader in the councils of the Republicans of this section since the organization of the party. He was one of the editors that met at Decatur in the winter of 1856 to call the first Republican State Convention, and on that occasion he was in consultation with Abraham Lincoln on the Committee on Resolutions. In 1860 our subject was elected Clerk and Recorder of Lee County Circuit Court, was re-elected to the same office in 1864 and served until 1868, carrying the same energy and business acumen into the administration of the affairs of that office that have ever characterized his management of his newspaper. In 1876 Gov. Cullom appointed him State Canal Commissioner, and he served six years as one of the Board of three Commissioners who had charge of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the Illinois River improvements, and other Illinois public works. He has always been a warm friend of the city of Dixon and has been most earnest and liberal in advancing its interests, both personally and through his paper. When the late Col. Noble was appointed one of the commissioners to locate a soldier’s home in Illinois, he requested Mr. Shaw to accompany him to the meetings of the commissioners in Springfield and Chicago to act on behalf of Dixon’s claims as a suitable site for the proposed building. Mr. Shaw has always been an earnest worker in the Hennepin Canal enterprise and was, indeed, the Secretary of the first Hennepin Canal meeting ever held, which was nearly a quarter of a century since in Rock Island. Unsolicited on his part, he was in December 1891 appointed Postmaster at Dixon.