Great! I have read this column and contributed for two years and rarely see a reference to Irish Shaws! Now that I am leaving for Ireland this afternoon with no more information in my possession, this dialog starts. The two sides of my family are Shaws. I know that my maternal gggrandfather was James Shaw from Connaught and his family was Catholic (other names includes, John, Patrick and Robert. He married a Margaret Leydon from Roscommon in Huddersfield UK. My father's paternal grandfather was a William Shaw. Other names in his family include Charles and Peter. We know that they were also Catholic, but we have no idea where in Ireland they came from. Has anyone come across many Catholic Shaws from Ireland in your research? I am aware that religions were changed quite easily at times, but my paternal Shaws seemed to be very, very Catholic. Adrienne