One of the oldest surviving brick homes on the Island is the Shaw Mansion at 1428 Ball Avenue. It was built for Michael William Shaw, Jr. (1833-1923) and completed in August 1900, just one month before the Great Storm would decimate the island.

The house proudly displays a Storm Survivor plaque beside the front door. The grand home was a reward of the long and successful career of one of Texas’ most respected jewelers.

Shaw was an immigrant from Lampertheim, Hesse, Germany. His mother died when he was very young, and his father Michal Scheug (1801-1846) moved to Galveston in 1837 with his son and three daughters: Mary (1830-1909), Margaret (1834-1872), and Katherine Elizabeth (1836-1912). There he adopted the Americanized surname of Shaw for his family.

Sadly, the elder Shaw died of yellow fever in 1846 leaving his offspring alone to build their lives in America.

Two years after her father’s death, then 18-year-old Mary married Daniel H. Pallais, a watchmaker from New York, who was 13 years her senior. The couple took Michael into their home to apprentice in his brother-in-law’s craft.

The same year, then 14-year-old Margaret married farmer Benjamin Dix Blaney. In 1857 Katherine married Joseph Dibdin Connor, a Baltimore native who was visiting Galveston. Both couples moved to California to seek their fortunes.

After completing his apprenticeship under his brotherin- law’s supervision, Shaw opened his own watch repair and jewelry shop in 1856. He married Frances Pamela Carman that year as well, and they had two children, Ada and Robert. Their marriage was brief.

According to the Texas State Historical Commission, it was during this time that Shaw created a custom walking cane for Sam Houston, embedding it with bits of silver. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in February 1861 and served in DeBray’s Regiment of the Texas Cavalry.

Three years later, Shaw was discharged for health reasons, but he enlisted in the infantry the following year and remained in service until the end of the war. Having lost all of his property during the war, he had to rebuild his business. In 1866, he opened the Shaw Jewelry Company in the famed Moro Castle which was on Avenue B at Tremont Street.

Wanting to give his establishment the advantage of an address that sounded more upscale, Shaw changed the street name on his stationery to “The Strand” rather than Avenue B, after one of the most famous streets in London.

As it happens, the word “strand” also means “beach” in German, which was appropriate for a location straddling the Galveston Bay. He later convinced other business owners to adopt the new street name as well.

On December 4, 1869, a great fire consumed four entire blocks and three-fourths of two other blocks in the business district. Shaw’s shop was among those lost.

He temporarily moved his store into another building he owned, which is still known as the M. W. Shaw Building at 2427 Market Street.

Shaw purchased a new building at 323 Tremont at the corner of Market Street in 1872 and relocated his business for the last time. A block emblazoned with “M. W. Shaw 1856,” which stood at the threshold of his store, is still visible in the sidewalk outside of the Black Pearl Oyster Bar & Grill.

A master craftsman, Shaw manufactured many of his goods from raw materials, but he also carried the best imported lines from Paris, New York, and Philadelphia. For a time, the store offerings included bisques and porcelain goods, but Shaw soon made to decision to concentrate solely on jewelry and silverware.

He added to the wealth gained by his success with investments that included shares of the Montezuma Silver Mining Company in New Mexico, whose principal office was located in Galveston.

After living above his store spaces for most of his career, the jeweler moved into a two-story home at 1427 Winnie in 1876. It was to this home in 1878 that he would bring his new bride, Annie Meyer of Houston.

Together the couple had ten children, eight of whom survived to adulthood: Katherine “Kate” Margaret (1879- 1965); Marshall William (1879-1919); Charles Leonard (1882-1894); William Tenill Austin (named after Shaw’s commanding officer during the war) (1885-1938); Hazel Phillepina (1887-1964); Annie Grace (1888-1975); Charles Trueheart (1890-1959); Viola Hildegard (1892- 1894); Bessie Grafton (1892-1957); and Barbara Annie (1897-1977).

Fire once again struck Shaw’s business in 1880, which had by that time become well known throughout the Southwest, but it presented the opportunity to elegantly refit the store, expand his space and re-open after a short time.

In addition to his own jewelry store, the businessman served on several bank boards and was active in the Galveston community as a member of Woodmen of the World, the Galveston Artillery Company, and Camp Magruder of the United Confederate Veterans.

The combination of prosperity and a large family encouraged Shaw to build a more spacious home, more in keeping with his social standing. He purchased the lot at 1428 Avenue H (Ball Avenue) directly behind his home on Winnie, and he was able to oversee the construction personally.

 

Unlike many of the large residences in Galveston, Shaw’s impressive new home was constructed of brick. Powered by electricity and gas, the five-bedroom home featured three bathrooms, six hallways, an attic, a basement, stained glass and leaded glass windows, ten closets, a pantry, eight mantled fireplaces, and one outbuilding.

The red brick home featured neatly shuttered windows and included a grand stairway that led from the front lawn to the double front door, which was topped by a stylish ellipse window. That window was echoed on the attic peak overlooking Ball Avenue.

Tall, slender walk-through windows led out onto the three porches and could be opened to capture Gulf breezes.

Construction was completed in August 1900, and the family proudly moved into the home with their two livein servants: Mary Simmons and Anny Gartner. Within less than a month, the structure would be tested by the Great Storm of 1900.

Others undoubtedly sought refuge in the home, due partially to its height and strength and also to the fact that it was not built in one of the areas that sustained the heaviest storm damage.

Like most families on the Island, however, they did not remain untouched by the tragedy of the hurricane as a 24-year-old nephew of the jeweler was killed in the storm.

 

Many happier times were to be experienced by the Shaws in the home in the coming years, including weddings of many of their children, and social gatherings with friends and business associates.

In 1916, Shaw retired and turned his lucrative jewelry and silverware business over to his sons.

The former businessman was drinking a glass of milk at the dinner table after an evening meal at home on May 9, 1923, and suddenly sank forward in his chair. He had suffered a heart attack and died immediately.

At 90 years old, he was the oldest jeweler in the state and had been a resident of Galveston for 78 years. His passing made headlines across Texas.

Shaw’s jewelry store continued in business until 1938. His wife Annie passed away in 1927, and the couple are buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery on the Island.

Their home passed at different times to their son Marshall and their daughter Hazel before belonging to the Venable, Pouncey and Hermes families in the 1960s and ’70s.

t was at one time divided into four apartments but is once again a gracious single-family dwelling. The Shaw’s former home on Winnie now operates as a short-term rental.

The Shaw home stands as a reminder of the work ethics of Galveston immigrants and a fascinating example of how many existing buildings share common links in the past.