Carpus Shaw

As recent articles of Footprints have reviewed, Indiana became a state in 1816 and early pioneers began to settle in what became Greene County about that time. We know that Peter VanSlyke came to Indiana in 1816 and bought 1,000 acres of land, paying $2 per acre in gold. But he returned to New York, leaving his daughter Catherina with her husband John VanVorst to begin farming that land. Peter VanSlyke returned with his wife and other family members, including another daughter Sarah, in 1818.

In 1818, the land east of White River that became a part of Greene County was still a part of Daviess County. Before Indiana became a state, the population of the territory was so sparse that the few counties that had been organized comprised large areas of wild country. Knox County was one of the earliest creations and included not only its present land but also all the land west of the West Fork of White River and southwest of the Indian Boundary Line. Thus, all of Greene County west of the West Fork of White River was part of Knox County and remained so until 1816 when it became part of the new county of Sullivan. All the land east of the West Fork of White River had been made a part of Orange County in December 1815 and then a part of Daviess County in 1817. And as the previous Footprints article explained, Greene County was organized in 1821 and included all the land within its current borders.

And to this land that became Bloomfield, Carpus Shaw arrived in 1819 and fell in love.

Carpus Shaw was born in Lynne, New Hampshire on February 25, 1797, the son of Daniel Shaw and Joanna Perkins Shaw. But his mother died when Carpus was six, and his father died in 1814 when Carpus was 17. So as a young man of 22, Carpus Shaw migrated west from New Hampshire to the wilderness of Indiana.

In settling in the area that later became Bloomfield he soon met Sarah VanSlyke, the daughter of Peter VanSlyke. Sarah, often called Sally, had traveled with her father and other members of her family from the Mohawk River Valley in Schenectady County, New York, in 1818. Sally VanSlyke was 19 years old at the time. Soon, Carpus proposed marriage and Sally accepted. Carpus then had to travel by horseback to Washington, the county seat of Daviess County, to acquire a marriage license.

Carpus Shaw and Sarah VanSlyke were married in what later became Bloomfield on November 29, 1819. Because Greene County had not yet been created, the marriage is recorded as a marriage in Daviess County. But it was the first known marriage of the pioneer settlers in what became Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana.

Carpus and Sarah were industrious and religious, and worked with their neighbors in their cluster of new cabins to build a settlement. The town of Bloomfield was not yet created. These earlier settlers, moreover, yearned to worship, and welcomed the circuit riding preachers that often arrived unexpectedly by horseback. One of the circuit riding preachers was the Rev. Andrew Downing, a Cumberland Presbyterian riding preacher from Kentucky. Downing continually rode his circuit on horseback through the wilderness of Kentucky and Southern Indiana. It most often took him three weeks for him to ride his circuit, preaching in homes, clearings and villages. In preaching in the pioneer cluster of homes that became Bloomfield, Downing was warmly received and began talking to the pioneers about organizing a church. On August 9, 1823, the year before Bloomfield was organized, the Rev. Downing met with a group of many of the pioneers and formed a new Presbyterian Church, ordaining Carpus Shaw and four others as Ruling Elders to lead the congregation in worship. For the rest of his life, Carpus Shaw remained active in the church, now known as the First Presbyterian Church of Greene County. The following year, in 1824, his father-in-law Peter VanSlyke donated land to Greene County for a new county seat, replacing Burlington, and the town of Bloomfield quickly grew.

Their first child, Joanna, was born on February 11, 1821, and insofar as we know, she was the first pioneer child born in Greene County.

Carpus and Sarah Shaw had other children. Margaret was born on July 12, 1824; Catherine Ann “Kate” Shaw was born on March 13, 1826; Melinda Elizabeth Shaw was born October 13, 1828; Mandana Shaw on October 26, 1830; and then Carpus N. Shaw on December 24, 1833. Another child, Almer Shaw, may have been stillborn at an unknown date.

Carpus was an educated man, although it is not clear how he acquired his education. He became a schoolteacher after Bloomfield was created and a school formed. Many years later, Greene County historian and newspaper editor W. D. Ritter, wrote: “In the little old log cabin schoolhouse in the woods across the street east of the Christian Church, in 1832, under Mr. Shaw as teacher, my first day at school was spent. The loneliness of that day cannot be forgot. God Almighty made us so that when a thing is too much for us and we can’t tell it in words, strong crying and tears may save us from insanity. To get me out of the way it would have been only right to send me home.

To teach reading Mr. Shaw used the New Testament--”nothing else is equal to it.”

In addition to teaching school, Carpus Shaw reportedly owned a farm west of Bloomfield that became known as the poor farm. Residents of the poor house on East Main Street in Bloomfield worked on the farm to raise crops and help with their maintenance. There were no other programs for the indigent.

In addition to teaching school and farming, Carpus Shaw also had carpentry skills and was in demand. Although it cannot be confirmed, there may be evidence of his carpentry skills still standing in Bloomfield. His first daughter Joanna Shaw married Joseph Eveleigh, a native of Ireland. They became the parents of Robert E. Eveleigh, a very successful Bloomfield pharmacist. Reportedly, Carpus Shaw helped build a home where Robert E. Eveleigh and his family later lived. It is the yellow brick house that stands at the corner of Cold Springs Road and East Main Street in Bloomfield.

Sarah VanSlyke Shaw died in 1842, and Carpus then married Adaline A. Cressey on March 1, 1848. They had one daughter, Martha A. Shaw, who was born in Bloomfield on December 1, 1848.

Carpus Shaw died on February 1, 1849, and he is buried in the VanSlyke Cemetery at the edge of Bloomfield. The early Greene County historian W. D. Ritter remembered him, saying “Unquestioned financial reliability was one of his honored traits.” After his death, his children found the following poem in his family Bible:

Weep not for me when I retire

To rest in the tomb,

Nor raise for me the vain desire

To keep me from my home.

Weep not for me, thyselves prepare

Through pardoning mercy given

A crown of righteousness to wear

And seek thy home in heaven.

“Footprints” is a series of stories about the people, places and circumstances that make up the history of the Town of Bloomfield on the occasion of Bloomfield’s coming bicentennial. David Holt has researched extensively to write these stories we share with you, and we thank him for that.