Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw. Although his reputation has not endured so well with later generations, in the latter half of the 19th century he was a famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States, perhaps second only to Mark Twain.
Shaw was born in Lanesborough, Massachusetts on April 21, 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.
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