James Shaw, of Northowram

Disputed Origins

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shawe-1

Research Notes

There has been a lot of discussion about James Gilbert Shawe of Halifax , Yorkshire being the Child of James Schaw of Sauchie in Scotland and Christian Bruce on this page. I removed the link for the following reasons. ...

1. In 1480 Scotland was a separate country to the sovereign kingdom of England. Recognising that there was some marriages and births that cut across the borders at the time it would have been difficult until 1605 when James the IV of scotland united the countries. If It was a member of the royal court it would have been carefully documented.

2. James Schaw of Sauchie was in the late 1400's commander of the garrison of Stirling Castle during a difficult time in Scotland's history. He was Knighted for his services by the Scottish king . It would have been a dereliction of duty and possibly treason to leave the City and travel to Halifax to have a single child then return the scotland to have his other children.

3. While there is a lot of online sources from family pages around the world indicate him as the child, I cannot find an original document of passage referring to the connection. Such documents would have been:

• *a/ Sassines or legal contracts signed at a marriage or birth or a will where the oldest son would have knighted and gifted land on the death of his father. Both the Schaw family and the Bruce family were somewhat prominent in Scottish history at that time as they were part of the Royal court in Scotland. There would have been some record kept.
  • b/ There are no Historical accounts mentioning him along with his brothers and sisters.

4. There was a separate family name in northern England at the time. This appears to be a more likely source of the Shawe family of England as opposed to the Schaw family of Scotland .