Brackley Mason Shaw, Jr

Brackley was educated in the public schools of Cummington, MA. On leaving school he commenced work in his father's Tannery, where he was employed until the firm Fayette Shaw & Bros. was formed. He then worked for some time as superintendent of his uncle's Tannery in West Cummington. Subsequently he worked for about a year in the Tannery of the Hon. Zadoc Pratt of Wyndom, NY. Afterwards in 1851 he went to Dexter, ME, where he bought and carried on aTannery as a member of the firm Fayette Shaw & Bros.

Brackley was one of the owners of the largest sole tannery business in the US and Canada. Tanning was a family trade and the family owned up to 25 sites at one time through at least 10 different partnerships. The empire boomed during the 25 year period spanning 1854-1886. In 1883 the company of F. Shaw & Brothers suddenly folded due to extraordinary circumstances including over-leveraging and technological breakthroughs in the process of tanning. The Boston Globe (eg - 4 Aug 1883) and the Atlanta Constitution (eg - 5 Aug 1883) ran stories about the failure of the F. Shaw & Bros. Tannery (owned in part by Brackley along with his brothers Fayette and William, who had died just before the collapse). Since Brackley had a home in Quebec, some of the Canadian assets were not seized. The value of the various companies before the downfall were valued at ~$6.2 Million dollars in 1883, which is the equivalent of ~$171.1 Million in 2022 dollars.

Brackley owned a storefront in Montreal which he personally conducted for over 30 years called The Anglo-Canadian Leather Company, Ltd along with Charles Thaxter Shaw, Thomas De G Stewart, Frances G Bush, and Brackley A Shaw (clerk). He was listed as the merchant and used this company to purchase, export, import, manufacture, buy, and sell hides and leather. He also used it to buy, lease, and own timber limits, water powers, saw mills, steam boats, cars, electrical power, as well as operating as a storekeeper. The business was later run by his sons who were associated with G. O. Shaw and saw prosperous times under their tenure.

Brackley had 10 children. He was married three times and had 7 children from his first wife, 1 by his second wife, and 2 by his third wife.