Title: The Shaws Multiplied
Author: Doris Howe
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 9781449711849
Genre: Biographies and Memoirs
Pages: 111
Reviewed by: Lisa Brown-Gilbert
Hollywood Book Reviews
Author Doris Howe’s, The Shaws Multiplied, shares a heartfelt, spiritually stimulating and altogether inspiring memorialization of the members of the Shaw Family; including Douglas and Amanda Shaw, their ten children, as well as their extended families. The book traces their lives through a collection of narrated memories echoing the experiences of their long past but not forgotten lives.
With an expanded family equaling 133 living descendants, the excerpts in this book aid in connecting the family while bringing into focus the historical beginnings of the Shaw family which started the roots for their expansive, Shaw family tree. The history of the family is brought forth through recollections from surviving family members, which altogether, serves to paint a richly detailed mosaic of their lives, rife with memories of faith, humor, love, trials, tribulations, adventures and triumphs.
Starting out, the book focuses on acquainting readers with the Shaw’s and their humble beginnings in life. The genesis of this family starts with the marriage of Douglas Shaw to Amanda Ellen Rice in 1890. Thereafter, they moved to Des Moines, Iowa where their family tree began to grow as they began to have children together. The subsequent chapters in the book provide insightful excerpts from the family presenting a history which delves deep into the past, providing eyewitness accounts of many familial experiences as well as providing insight into family connections.
Altogether, The Shaws Multiplied by author Doris Howe did well to connect readers with the expansive lives of this fruitfully expanded family. As well it also served to show the importance of maintaining connections to blood relations as well as accepting all branches of your family tree as part of your family.
Overall, this is a well written, thoughtful and a welcoming read which I did enjoy. Author Doris Howe did a phenomenal job of creating a literate archive of family history. I was fascinated by the many excerpts of life-borne experiences, and by the end of the book felt well acquainted with this family’s historical roots. This made for an absorbing read, ripe with varied personalities, inspiring examples of strong faith, as well as interspersed with relevant Biblical quotes which help to reinforce the enlightenment pervading the book.
Not only was this read permeated with wisdom and the unconditional love of a family, but it also shines a light on relating to your own family. It also exemplified how a strong faith in God worked through the lives of the members of the Shaw family. All in all, this is a read I would definitely recommend for an inspiring dive into lives that served to rouse the heart as well as the spirit.