The Shoemaker Family – George Shoemaker
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.
Source: Page(s)
615, History
of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago:
Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed December 2000
by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by Jeffrey Bish for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any
presentation, without prior written permission.
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