Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (21 April 1818 – 14 October 1885). He was perhaps the second most famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States in the second half of the 19th century after Mark Twain, although his reputation has not endured so well with later generations.
Shaw was born in Lanesborough, Massachusetts on April 20, 1818. His father was Henry Shaw, who served in the United S...
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Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (21 April 1818 – 14 October 1885). He was perhaps the second most famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States in the second half of the 19th century after Mark Twain, although his reputation has not endured so well with later generations.
Shaw was born in Lanesborough, Massachusetts on April 20, 1818. His father was Henry Shaw, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1817–21, and his grandfather Samuel Shaw who also served in the U.S. Congress from 1808-1813. His uncle was John Savage, yet another Congressman.
Shaw attended Hamilton College, but was expelled in his sophomore year for removing the clapper of the campus bell. He married Zipha E. Bradford in 1845.
Shaw worked as a farmer, coal miner, explorer, and auctioneer before he began making a living as a journalist and writer in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1858. Under the pseudonym "Josh Billings" he wrote in an...
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