The Weekly Auburnian, Friday June 4, 1886
First Daughter of Mentz
Mrs. Sally Shaw, widow of the late Jacob Shaw died at the home of her daughter Mrs. William G. Soule in Savannah, on Tuesday at the age of eighty-nine years. She was the first child born in the town of Mentz, Cayuga Connty and had an unusually romantic career. She was married in 1815 and was a mother of a large family. The funeral took place this afternoon.
For anyone that wants to see the original article (click here)
It is sometimes difficult to know if a newspaper obit is correct or not. The above would suggest her birth year was about 1797, and given the headline caption this caught my eye. Upon closer inspection, her head stone says she died in 1887 but the newspaper heading clearly shows she died in 1886. Her stone says she was 84 and the obit states she was age 89.
I believe she was the daughter of Henry Cook based on census readings. In 1870, Henry has a Sally Shaw in his household. The 1850 census would suggest her name may have been Nancy Sally.
While census readings indicate she was born in MA or NJ, her obit says she was the first child born in the Town of Mentz. If this article holds true, it may suggest she was the first child born in the present-day town of Montezuma, which was once part of Mentz. However, the 1810 census does not produce Henry, so perhaps they are living together with another family. The first child born in present-day Mentz is believed to be Ezekiel King who was born about Sept. 2, 1800.
