Background
Shaw, Henry Wheeler was born on April 21, 1818 in Lanesboro, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Henry and Laura (Wheeler) Shaw.
Shaw, Henry Wheeler was born on April 21, 1818 in Lanesboro, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Henry and Laura (Wheeler) Shaw.
Attended Hamilton College, 1832.
Became real estate broker, Poughkeepsie, New York circa 1860. Earliest examples of humor which were based on rural dialects were printed in local newspapers under pseudonym Josh Billings, circa 1863. Well-known lecturer around country in 1870’son
Author: Josh Billings, His Sayings, 1865.
Josh Billing’s Farmers Allminax for Year of 1870, 1869-1870 (published editions annually until 1880). Josh Billings Struggling with Things, 1881.
Married Zilpha Bradford, February 18, 1845, 2 children.