Hi all, I've been searching for a very very long time for any information on a Robert Shaw, my great great grandfather, who lived in or around Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. I do not know when or where he was born but his daughter, Mary Eliza Shaw, was born around 1866 in or around Nanaimo. Robert Shaw married a Salish native woman named Mary. Her maiden name may have been Joe. She was from the Sechelt area in B.C. Apparently, this Robert Shaw told people that he was of Hawaiian ancestry but I am not convinced of this. I have a picture of his daughter, Mary and she looks more African American to me than anything else and everybody that has seen the photo agrees. I have found out that there were alot of American slaves that went to the Nanaimo area in the mid 1800's. These people apparently were either set free or escaped and came to Canada. My theory is that he may have been one of these slaves and since slavery was a common thing back then, he didn't want anyone to know that he was "black" and so pretended to be of Hawaiian decent. There were stories of him working for the Hudson's Bay Company but I've checked, twice, with their archivist and she said there is nobody by that name or description at all in their records. There are rumours that he may have been buried on Newcastle Island, by Nanaimo, but I don't know of anyone that has been able to find his burial site. If anyone has any information on this Robert Shaw or his family, I would be ever so grateful to receive an email from you. Thanks for your time. Melanie [email protected] -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.8.4 - Release Date: 27/03/2005