James Shaw died at his home at 320 East 8th Street Wednesday evening. He was 83 years old. He leaves to mourn his untimely decease his wife and one daughter besides other relatives. The funeral will probably be held Sunday. Burial will be made in the Fort McPherson National cemetery.

The North Platte Semi-Weekly Tribune, 38(94):1, Friday, December 1, 1922

James Shaw passed away at his home on East eighth street early this morning after an illness of a number of days. He was 82 years of age and had been a resident of this city for the past ten years. Mr. Shaw was a retired soldier and a member of the G. A. R. He leaves to mourn his death besides his wife, a family of three sons, all of whom live in this community. The funeral will be held Sunday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock from the Maloney Chapel and will be in charge of the American Legion. Interment will be made at Fort McPherson.

The Evening Telegraph, Friday, December 1, 1922, page 1.

James Robert (JR) Shaw was born in Covington, Kenton, Kentucky, the son of John Shaw of Olmsted Falls, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and Mary Cox, who was born in County Roscommon, Ireland.

He enrolled as a corporal into Captain Jeptha Garrard's 6th Independent Ohio Cavalry at Cincinnati on September 18, 1861, at age 21 years. Captain Garrard had been asked to raise a cavalry unit that was meant to join other companies from other states whose task it would be to guard General Stoneman, chief of cavalry. Garrard's unit was the only one successfully raised. The cavalry unit was then selected by General Van Allen of the 3rd New York Cavalry to be attached to his regiment as Company L. "It joined its regiment at Camp Bates, near Pottsville, MD, early in December 1861 and crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, March 1, 1862. The next day it engaged in its first fight at Berryville, Virginia, driving Ashby's cavalry several miles after a severe skirmish. At Winchester it made a successful dash at Stuart's cavalry and on the day following was ordered back to Washington to form part of Burnside's expedition to North Carolina. After landing at New Bern, NC, on May 12th and being the only cavalry regiment, it was kept busy all summer scouting, raiding and fighting." While participating in Potter's Raid, at Street's Ferry, New Bern, NC, on July 22, 1863, JR Shaw was "dangerously wounded" in the right shoulder. He was operated on the next day and eventually was discharged because of his wound on September 15, 1863. The wound never healed and when he was 78 years old, his arm was amputated.

During the years after the war, he moved to Ohio, where he married Mary Boone Beard at his parents home in Olmsted Falls on March 25, 1868. They had 8 children and eventually moved to Nebraska, where he and his family claimed a homestead and built a sod house on the prairie. Because of his disability, he could not farm. He became a photographer. He and his wife, Mary, later built a house in North Platte and lived there the rest of their lives. They had eight children.