William M. Shawhan

 

SOURCE: "A Standard History of Champaign County, Illinois," J. R. Stewart, Supervising Editor, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York, Vols. I & II, 1918

SURNAMES: SHAWHAN

WILLIAM M. SHAWHAN. The first permanent settler [of Raymond Township], William M. Shawhan, did not arrive from Indiana until 1855, and he bought the improvements of a squatter near Linn Grove and the Ambraw Timber. Mr. Shawhan had already acquired a comfortable competency and was also deeply interested in church and school work before he came to Raymond Township. Although he had been engaged in the cattle trade for some yeears, when he settled, with his large family, on section 19,m he did not enter actively into such pursuits, but rather devoted his energies to the work of the Disciples Church. He preached in the cabins of the settlers and was a true missionary of the Gospel. His influence was far-reaching and of the best, and his descendants have profited by it to the present.