Shoemaker Family    

THE SHOEMAKER FAMILY.  One of the earliest settlers of the county, and one now represented by a large family, was George Shoemaker, who came from Virginia and located at Cochran’s mills, in what is now Burrell township, about the year 1800. His wife was Margaret Miller. They were the parents of ten children— Isaac, John, Peter, Daniel, George, Jesse, Joseph, Catharine (Blogher), Margaret (Hind), and Hannah (Uncapher). Of these all are now deceased except Daniel, who resides at Rosston, and has three sons, I. W., L. J. and A. L., all of whom are ministers of the Baptist church. Peter Shoemaker married Sarah Ringer and settled at Oakland, where he followed farming and was a very successful and widely known man of affairs, until his death, which occurred in 1872. He was the father of twelve children, ten of whom grew to maturity, and eight of whom are now living, as follows: Isaac, in Mahoning township; William, in Clarion county; Catharine (Young), in Madison township; Mary (Montgomery), in Manor; Jesse and George on the old homestead; Joseph B. and Sarah in Madison.

George Shoemaker, son of the original pioneer progenitor of this family, was a minister of the Gospel and founder of the church of Brethren in Christ, which was formed by a body who seceded from the Dunkards. This church was organized at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county, about 1834, and for a number of years, chiefly through the labors of Rev. Shoemaker, flourished very fairly, but since his death in 1867 a portion of its adherents have merged themselves with the Free-Will Baptists. George Shoemaker married Lydia Newcomer. Their son Jacob attained national celebrity as the founder of the Philadelphia Elocutionary College. An older son, John, now lives in Kansas. Joshua, who is a minister, resides in Madison township, and Sarah (Neff) in Westmoreland county.

Solomon Shoemaker, father of George Shoemaker, the well-known old resident of this county, was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1770, and emigrated from there to Armstrong in the fall of 1799. Prior to his becoming a pioneer here he had married Miss Elizabeth Uncafer, who was also a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and born in 1774. Upon their arrival here Mr. Shoemaker entered 340 acres of land, and built upon it a cabin in which he and his wife lived until 1806, when he completed a stone house, which served them as a more comfortable home. This house, the first of its kind erected in the township, is still standing, but is commencing to show the ravages of time. In it Mrs. Shoemaker cooked over the great fireplace all of her married life, never owning a cook-stove. In this old house, too, she used the spinning-wheel, and spun the flax from which she made all of her own, her husband’s and her children’s clothing. She died in 1846, and her husband in 1854, after rearing a family and passing through the hardships and privations peculiar to the life of the pioneer. There were born to them six children, three sons and three daughters, whose names were: John, Joseph, Catharine, George, Margaret and Elizabeth. The three last named are living.

George Shoemaker was born May 26, 1804. He now owns a portion of his father’s old homestead farm, which he has cleared and brought into a fine state of cultivation, principally by his own labor. He lives upon this land, about 225 acres, in a house which he built in 1834. Mr. Shoemaker married in December, 1826, Miss Elizabeth Grimm, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1808. The fruits of this union were six children, whose names, with dates of birth are as follows: Jacob, born September 21, 1827; John, November 1, 1830 (died in 1864, leaving a wife and three children); Catharine, February 11, 1834; Elizabeth, August 23, 1838; Mary, June 22, 1845, and Solomon, April 6, 1847.

The parents of Mrs. George Shoemaker, Jacob and Margaret (Silvees) Grimm, were both born in this state, and were early settlers in Westmoreland county where they lived until their deaths. They had twelve children, of whom Adam, Margaret and Elizabeth are living.

History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania 1883: Chicago. Waterman, Watkins & Co.  Read this book online - Free Trial  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.