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William H. Shaw, Homesteader, Mariner, and Slave owner An early settler of the Manatee River Colony was William H. Shaw, a shipper from Key West. In 1842, Shaw filed for an Armed Occupation Act permit to build a homestead on 165 acres of land at the mouth of the Manatee River, which later became known as "Shaw's Point." The ruins of a tabby structure, called the Tabby Ruins, remain today at De Soto Point and are thought to be the remains of William Shaw's home. When Shaw applied for the permit, his household consisted of his wife, four daughters, and four female slaves. The economic success of the early Manatee settlement was due largely to the work of slaves. African Americans provided the labor for building the houses, clearing land, harvesting timber, working the fields and operating the sugar mills. After Shaw established his claim he engaged in transporting government provisions aboard his sixty-nine ton schooner, the Mary Washington, hauling goods such as corn, sugar, lumber, and coffee between ports on the Gulf of Mexico, Havana, and the U.S. east coast. After violent Indian uprisings in 1856, the Shaw family left Shaw's Point and moved back to Key West.
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