Shoemaker Family, About Philadelphia , Abington

B eb i cati u n .

THIS L ITTL E FA M I L Y S K E TCH I S A F F ECT I O NA 'I ‘ E L Y DE DICA T E D

T s O M Y cou m,

R OBE R T H E M A K E R S O ,

WH O DU R G A L ON G L E H A S E V E R E L A N TE R E S H I S F A M I L Y , IN IF , F T IN T I N

H S R Y D G M U H R E S UE R M BL V I TO , OIN C TO C IT F O O I ION ,

A N D

WH O W H GR E A UR E S Y A N D H E E R UL ES S H A S E VE R R E E L Y PL A E D , IT T CO T C F N , F C

TH E INFO R M A TION H E H A D A T T H E DI S POS A L OF 01 H E R S .

T . H . S .

! I t W1 “ be s een th at it was o ngmally I ntend ed to l l lustrate this l l ttle w o rk t h some o f the o ld ho mes of the famil but I t wa s afterw ard fo und t a so r e l t I ts cos t that the id e a y , o dd g at y o Was abandoned hou h the te xt was unchs turbe d , t g j

R E F P A C E .

FR OM the frequency and nu mber of question s asked

famil about ou r y, there appears to be an awakening interest among its variou s members to know a little of the history of their ancestors . It has therefore seemed well , for the beneﬁt of such inquirers, to place in a compact form su ch information as a number of years of research has furnished me with . It has not been at all my intention to attempt a genealogy of the

- family, but simply to lay the corner stone for others , who may wish to build thereon their own particular I lines . have started with the earliest possible data obtainable of those of the name, and so speciﬁed the various earlier branches, of which I have a knowl

it edge, that should be comparatively easy work for any of their descendants to trace their lines back and

make connection with the emigrants . The frequ ent repetition of Christian names in the different lines and generations necessitates great care and watchfulness on the part of those who may take up the subj ect , and the verifying of all su ch data , or errors will occu r .

M A OE M A E R . TH O S H . SH K

G E R M A NI’ ‘ OWN rd 18 , Fourth month 3 , 93 .

T E N T C O N S .

C H A P T E R I .

K R I E GS H E I M

T C H A P E R I I .

J A COB S HOE M A KE R

T C H A P E R I I I .

PE TE R S HOE MA KE R

C H A T R I V P E .

G E OR GE S HOE M A KE R

C H A T E R V P .

NA TUR A L I ! A TI ON OF OU R A NCE S TOR S

C H A P T E R V I .

I S A A S ON O F G E OR GE S HOE M A E R S E N . C , K ,

V C H A P T E R I I .

SUS A NNA S HOE MA KE R PR I CE

C V I I H A P T E R I .

R I HAR D A L L S E N C W , 8 C ON TE N TS .

C H A P T E R I ! .

R I HA R D WA L L R . C , J

H A C P T E R ! .

S HOE MA KE R BUR Y I NG - G R OUND

C H A P T E R

E R E H E M A E R R . G O G S O K , J

C H A P T E R

A BR A HA M S H OE M A KE R

T R - C H A P E ! I I I .

TO BY L E E CH

C H A P T E R !

I S A A C S HOE M AKE R

C H A P T E R

DE SCE ND A NTS OF I S A A C A N D DOR OT H Y S HOE MA KE R

C H A T E R ! V I P .

OTH E R S OF TH E NA M E

C H A T E R ! V P I I .

O TH E R I NCI-D E NTS T H E

SCH UMACHER OR SHOEMAKER FAMI LY .

C H A P T E R I .

E E M KR I GS H I .

Who that anti que stories reads Consider may the worthy deeds

Of our progenitours :

mirrours Which should to us be right , Their virtuous deeds to ensue

A nd ! vicious living to eschew .

I F we had no other clue than the original name , there would be little doubt as to the country from whence the Schu macher family emigrated , so pro no unced is its German origin . A very few years elapsed , however, after their arrival here, before it began to be Anglicized into that of Shoemaker, the change being a gradual one , for we can readily believe the emigrants parted with relu ctance from this last relic of the Fatherland . Fortunately, however, we are not required to su rmise regarding them , as reliable

f “ ! in ormation is furnished u s in the List of Arrivals, 9 1 H H )? F 0 T E S OE /WA K E A M I L Y.

’ ff and Besse s Su erings of the People called Quakers ,

1 published in London in 7 5 3 . From the latter we learn that William Ames and

1 6 C resheim George Rolf in 5 7 visited , a village in the f Palatinate, on the right bank of the Rhine, not far rom

Worms . It is now known as Kriegsheim , having been

S 1 2 S changed to that ince 75 . Professor Oswald eiden

o f w sticker, Philadelphia, who has t ice visited the village ,

1 8 18 2 once in 74 and again in 9 , writes me regarding it “ I t is easily reached by taking the railroad from

Worms to Manheim . At the depot of Manheim , you see K riesheim right before you at a distance of less than a mile, and readily accessible by a pleasant cou ntry road .

“ It is a small place, the houses mainly lining the road that passes from one en d of the village to the other .

I w as Some O f the houses look quite old . struck by

O ld w the remnants of alls, that perhaps in former

O ld times served as fortiﬁcations . There is also an stone tower connected with the house O f the B urgo

1 6 master . Knowing that William Penn had in 7 7

K riesheim preached at , in a barn , I took notice of

im o s barns that had an oldish look , bu t it would be p sible to single out any on which to fasten the shadow

! of probability that it was the identical one .

To retu rn to Ames and Rolf : they were ministers TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

t of the Socie y of Friends, and by their preaching soon made converts to their faith among these simple minded people, whose occupation appears to have been that of farming . It was natural that these ministers suffered much persecu tion as a consequence of their labors, as did their little band of converts, prominent among whom were George and Peter Schumacher .

1 66 O f According to Besse, in 3 a ﬁne one shilling was imposed on each person who joined an assem

bly for worship . Among those who suffered were the

“ persons named in the following account : From

feven - George Shoemaker, Bedding worth Rix Dol

: lars And from Peter Shoemaker, Goods worth

! “ 166 feveral fuffered Diftrefs two Gu ilders . In 4 of

refufin A c Goods for g to bear A rms, on which cou nt were taken from George Shoemaker, Pewter and Brafs worth three Gu ilders and a Half : From

! Peter Shoemaker, two Sheets worth three Guilders .

“ 1 666 afo refaid In , the George Shoemaker, Peter

H end rickz ChriftO her Shoemaker, John , and p Moret,

O f had each them a Cow taken away for Fines , for their religiou s Meetings , which fou r Cows were

- worth ﬁfty Rix Dollars, though the Fines demanded

! fixt “ amou nted bu t to y Guilders from them all . The

Diftreffes made in the Foregoing years for refufing 1 2 TH E S E M A E R FA M I L Y HO K .

to bear Arms , and for Meeting together, were com

! 2 puted to amount to 5 0 Guilders . This latter sum was , of course, for all of the little commu nity who

’ refused to obey the laws . This record of Besse s is

O f all the early information obtainable ou r family .

’ Professor Seidensticker s visit in 18 74 to Kriegsheim was pu rposely to try and learn something more relative to the early history of the little settlement, but he fou nd that in 1848 a ﬁre had destroyed the

O chu rch records , so that nothing could be btained in that quarter, no r had the pastor of the village church ,

- or its school master, ever heard of the visit of William

Penn to the place, so there were no traditions regarding

16 them . H earing of their persecutions, Pen n , in 7 7 , I determined to visit Kriegsheim , and quote from his letter regarding it

O R M S 2 th 6th M 16 W 5 of the onth 77 .

refrefhed o u rfel ves which being done , , we returned that Night by the Rhine to Worms, from

F irft whence we the next Morning, (being the Day

C rif heim of the Week) Walked on Foot to , which is abou t six English Miles from Worms . We had a good Meeting from the Tenth till the Third Hou r,

’ 8L the Lord s Power fw ee tly O pened to many of the

Inhabitants of the Town that were at the Meeting ; E A M L 1 TH E S HO M KE R FA I Y . 3

f yea, the Vaught or Chief O ﬁcer himself Stood at the

Door behind the Barn , where he could hear, not f be een ; who went to the Priest told him , that it

H ereticks was his Work , if we were , to discover us

fa to be ch, bu t for his Part , he had heard nothing bu t I what was Good , he wou ld not meddle with u s . n the Evening we had a more retired Meeting Of the

: Friends only, very weighty tender yea the Power ro fe in an high Operation among them , great was the Love of God that ro fe in ou r H earts at the

vifit S Meeting to them ; there is a lovely, weet, f nf tru e e e among them . W e were greatly comforted

in them , they were greatly comforted in u s . Poor

f furrou nded H earts, a little H and ul with Great

’ ’ mighty Cou ntries of Darkness : tis the Lord s Great

fo Goodness Mercy to them , that they do ﬁnely

mo ft keep Natu ral in the Seed of Life . They were

! of them gathered by dear William Ames .

few A years later, when Pen n was fou nding the

invi Province which bears his name, he extended an

tatio n to these Germans to join him in the wilderness,

where at least religiou s toleration would be theirs .

They gladly accepted , and it led to the formation of f the Frank ort Company, which secu red ﬁve thousand I 4

three hu ndred and ﬁfty acres of land about six miles

o f north Philadelphia . O n this spot they located .

168 The ﬁrst to arrive came in 3 , under the lead of

Francis Daniel Pastorius ; among the number was

Jacob Schumacher . There is no way now of knowing

positively, but most likely he was a brother of George

and Peter, and being single apparently, he probably

O f acted as a pion eer, to report the kind place it was ,

O f e and the advisability his broth rs, with their large

families , coming out . We thus have as the founders f of our amily in this cou ntry the three brothers ,

Jacob, Peter, and George Shoemaker . Jacob, single

in 168 at this period , who came 3 ; Peter, with ﬁve

C in ‘ 168 hildren , three of whom came with him 5 ; and

C George , who , with his wife and seven hildren , sailed

' 1686 in ; though he died on the voyage, the widow

‘ n a d . seven children arrived safely In those days,

when money was scarce, the requisite amou nt to pay

the passage, six pounds per head, was no small tax

on the resou rces of the emigrants . ‘ The picture we have of Kriegsheim is one which I

had made by a photographer of Worms, in the spring

1 8 of 93 , and probably conveys a very good idea of

what the village was in the early times now recorded ,

the changes there being mu ch slower than with us . 1 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 5

I C H A P T E R I .

A O S OE M A E R J C B H K .

I HA VE little knowledge of Jacob and his descend

’ o f ants . A portion the lot on which the Friends

- Meeting H ouse stands , corner of Main and Coulter

Streets, Germantown , was given by Jacob for that

: pu rpose . The following gives the date

“ I st th 1 6 0 In a deed dated Month , 4 9 , Abraham

Isaac O p den Graef conveyed two lots to Jacob Shoe

1 6 maker, and in 93 he (Jacob Shoemaker) conveyed

“ them to Friends . A portion of the wording is , Being

t ﬁf y acres , or a whole lot (three perches square , next x to Jacob Isaac van Bebber only e cepted , which the

and said Jacob Shoemaker, herebefore hath granted conveyed u nto the Quakers, so called , for their meet ing place , and are always to be fenced by the owners The Friends afterwards added very much

“ ! to the original three perches square thus conveyed . In the borough and cou rt records of Germantown is

1 6 2 2 th O f also an item regarding him : 9 , the 9 day

’ th S ilans 9 Month , John , (upon Jacob Schumacher s TH E S E M A E F 1 6 HO K R A M I L Y. complaint) promised before this cou rt to ﬁnish the said Jacob Schu macher ’s barn within fou r weeks next

! coming . How primitive this now appears to us !

N O - fulﬁlment ﬁnes or penalties attached for non , bu t

’ simply the delinquent s promise exacted .

The late Joseph S . Paxson was mu ch interested in his Shoemaker genealogy, which he had traced back to a Jacob and Margaret Shoemaker, but could not discover who Jacob was . After investigation , I became convinced that it was this Jacob , who removed i n

1 7 14— 1 5 from Abington to Philadelphia (Germantown

Meeting Records were at this time kept at Abington). The certiﬁcate reads as follows

“ from ou r Monthly Meeting held at Abington y“

2 8th of 1 2 th Month To ou r friends and brethe rn at philadelphia to whom these may Come .

Whereas ou r friends Jacob S ho o maker with his wife and family hath Removed themselves to you , then ou r sayd friends Jacob S ho o maker and Margaret his wife are in u nity with friends, and have walked orderly and were serviceable in theire place ; more over theire too

theire sons Thomas and Jacob , with daughter Susanna , are clear from all engagements of marriage as far as

we know , and we hope well inclined, and it is ou r

A 18 TH E S HOE M A KE R F M I L Y.

Brie nwall u nto his grandchildren , David and Mary ,

- when they attained the age of twenty one years, or on the day of their marriage . H is widow was his sole

r executrix . Jacob, J . , married Elizabeth Roberts , and had three sons , Thomas, and David and Jonathan , twins ; from Jonathan , who married Sarah Lownes ,

~ comes what I may term the Paxs o n H athway- Pickering

O f line . Sarah Lownes Shoemaker lived to the age

- ﬁ 1 ve 8 2 . ninety , dying in 5 She gave mu ch informa tion to Watson when he was writing his Annals , and he frequ ently quotes her . As showing the great

t change in values in proper y, he states that she told

O him that William Penn ffered to sell her grandfather,

O f James Lownes , the square ground between Arch and Market, Front and Second Streets , for the su m

“ H O W of twenty pounds . H is reply was , long will I have to wait u ntil I see my money returned in proﬁt ?

’ This concludes Jacob s line . F 1 TH E S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y. 9

C H A P T E R I I I .

E M A E R PE TE R S HO K .

’ A J COB S report to his brothers , who awaited it in

Kriegsheim , mu st have been favorable , as the following

“ ! “ from the List O f Arrivals shows : The Francis

Dorothy, from London , Richard Bridgeman , Com

8 M O 1 168 Ol d mander, arrived in Philadelphia , 4th 5 , ( style). Among the passengers were Peter Schuma cher, and Peter his sonn , Mary his daughter, and Sarah

his Cosen , and Frances and Gertrude his daughters .

Penns l vania M a azine Judge Pennypacker, in the y g ,

’ 2 2 : “ vol . iv . p . , gives Peter s history as follows Peter

Schumacher, an early Quaker convert from the Men nonites, is the ﬁrst person deﬁnitely ascertained to

K risheim have come from , the little village in the Palatinate to which so much prominence has been given . Fortunately, we know u nder what auspices he

m n . S i a arrived By an agreement with Dirk p , of

1 6 1 68 Crefeld , dated August , 5 , he was to proceed

with the ﬁrst good wind to Pennsylvania, and there

2 00 receive acres from H erman Op den Graeff, on TH E S E M A E R FA M I L HO K Y.

which he should erect a dwelling, and for which he

! O f I think should pay a rent two rix dollars a year . the judge errs when he says Peter was the ﬁrst person

known to have come from Kriegsheim . There is little doubt Jacob Shoemaker came from that village in

1 68 3 , also Gerhard H endricks the same year ; of the latter there is no qu estion . The j udge has a deed of

’ Peter s written by Pastorius .

Peter Shoemaker, Sen . , seems to have been a man

I n 1 O f considerable importance in the town . 693 he was one of the fou r persons who signed the certiﬁcate

O f Philad el Samuel Jennings , as a delegate from the phia Quarterly Meeting to the Yearly Meeting at

1 0 London . H e died in Germantown in 7 7 , aged

—ﬁ eighty ve years .

r Besides his son , Peter, J . , and his three daughters,

Mary , Frances, and Gertru de, who accompanied him

over, he had two others . The ﬁfth child, a daughter,

1 0 married Dielman Kolb . She died in 7 5 , aged ﬁfty

Pa three years , and is bu ried at Wolfsheim , in the latinate, n ever having emigrated . The issue of this

Kolb marriage were Ann , Peter, Martin , Johannes,

Dielman, and H en ry, fou r of whom became Men nonite ministers , all bu t two eventually emigrating to this cou ntry . The name is usually now spelled Kulp . TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

m The sixth child of Peter Shoe aker , a daughter, mar

1 0 ried Reynier H ermans Van Burklow, who , in 7 4, removed to Bohemia Manor, Cecil Cou nty , Maryland .

Frances , the second daughter, according to Abingto n

2 8th 1 6 0 Meeting Records , married , Fifth month , 9 ,

Isaac Jacob . What became of the two remaining daughters is not now known . This only leaves his son Peter, J r , to be accou nted for . Abington Meet ing Records fu rnish the following

Whereas Peter Shoemaker J r Margaret Op de

° Graeff, both of Germantown in y Cou nty of phila

H avein delphia, g proceeded according to the good order used amongst friends ; in declaring theire I n tentions of marriage did upon the Sixth day of the

1 6 meetin e Second Month 97 , At the publiqu e g house m of friends in Ger antown , accomplish their marriage ,

w ch many friends being present as witnesses , some of e are under writt n .

“ PE TE R SHE W M A KE R S E N J A CO B SHE W M A KE R

H A R M ON OP D E GR A E FF ISA A C PR I S E

“ JJ A CK JA COBUS AR E T K L E N K E N

E E R L E VE R R A S A E L A S OR S P T C , mark F NCI D NI P T IU

GE OR GE SH E WM A KE R JO H A N N E S CUSTI S

! TH O S TU TIN many others . TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

Peter, J r and Margaret had ten children , nine of — whom are accou nted for, viz . , Sarah , who married

Daniel Potts , and removed to H unterdon County, d New Jersey ; Peter 3 , Isaac, Daniel , and John , sons whose marriages are not known ; Mary , who married

Thomas Phipps ; Margaret, who married Benjamin

Wasson ; Elizabeth , who married Joseph Davis ; and

Agnes , who was apparently u n married .

r Peter Shoemaker, J . , appears in different ofﬁces in

0 the town ; among them , u nder date of December 3 ,

1 0 1 “ 7 , it was found good to start a school in Ger manto w n Wo llf , and Arent Klinken , Paul , and Peter Schumacher J r were appointed overseers to collect ! subscriptions and arrange with a teacher . Pastorius was the ﬁrst pedagogu e selected . On Twelfth month

“ 1s t 1 0 3 , 7 3 , we ﬁnd that Peter Schumacher and Isaac

Schu macher S hall arrange with workmen that a prison

! house and stocks be put up as soon as possible . In

“ a deed he is mentioned as a Tu rner . H e seems to

I s t 1 1 have died abou t Fourth month , 74 , his will being

th proven Fou rth month 4 ,

. e It will be remembered that Peter, Sen , was a com panied on the voyage over by his Cosen Sarah she married Edward Eaton , of Cheltenham, Third month

’

18 1 688 . th, Edward s name appears on the ﬁrst tax TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 2 3

16 list of Fifth month, 93 , he being assessed for property

valued at thirty pounds, on which he paid two shillings

O f and S ixpence . H e became apparently a follower

George Keith, and left Friends to join Trinity Chu rch,

Oxford , his tomb being one of the oldest in the grave yard . The inscription reads

E E Here lieth the body of dward aton ,

° 2 who departed this life December y 5 ,

L 1 0 6 . in the year of our ord 7 9, aged 5 years

M R y dear edeemer is above .

H im am i gone to see : A nd all my friends in Christ below S hall soon come after me .

I n Christ i lived dyed .

Through H im I live again ;

M y body here is layed M y soul with Christ shall reign .

George Shoemaker is a witness to his will and one

’ 1 1 of the appraisers of his wife s estate in 7 6 . O n

r the marriage certiﬁcate of George , J . , and Sarah

’ Wall Shoemaker, next to George s mother, comes

Sarah Eaton . The only issue of the Eaton marriage

appears to have been a daughter, Sarah , who , in

1 1 7 7 , married John Harris . From this marriage there 2 TH E S E M A E R FA I L 4 HO K M Y.

seems to have been no issu e, so that the line of Sarah

Shoemaker ends . Sarah Eaton H arris was execu trix of her father ’s

’ 1 0 will in 7 9, and administered to her mother s estate

1 1 1 1 6 in 7 6 ; she died about 7 7 5 or 7 7 . H er will is on record at Philadelphia ; it is long, and among others she mention s her cousins Shoemaker .

This concludes the line of Peter Shoemaker. T .

Maxwell Potts , of Canonsbu rg, Pennsylvania , is at presen t tracing up his line of descent from Peter, J r and I have also u nderstood that Elwood Michener, of

Toughkenamon , Pen nsylvania, has a genealogical tree

’ of Peter s descendants , prepared by his father, the late

Dr . Michener, but do not know how complete it is .

Fu rther information can be had from the Pennsyl vania

’ “ n . z i e . M a a . g , vol iv p 3 9, and Cassel s H istory of the

! Men nonites .

E 2 6 TH S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

them in any records or meeting minu tes . When the

widow died is also unknown . H er name appears on

O f 16 the marriage certificate her son George in 94, and that is the last definite knowledge we have . I find in Abington Meeting Records the marriage of a Catharin e Shoemaker to Peter Cleaver, Third

2 h 1 I t 6 . month 7 , 95 Who this Catharine was cannot make out, as she mu st have been born in Germany, and can only presume she may have possibly been

’ one of George s daughters , an error having occurred in the names in the “ List of Arrivals or the Meeting

Minutes, but this is all su rmise on my part . 2 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 7

C H A P T E R V .

A R A L ! A O OF OU R A E S OR S N TU I TI N NC T .

A MONG the ﬁrst natu ralizations by Act of Assembly

1 8 is one bearing date 70 . It appears in Benjamin

’ 1 2 Franklin s editions of the laws , printed in 74 , page

1 10 , and also in the Peter Miller edition , printed in

1 6 2 6 7 , page 4 . It reads as follows An Act for the better enabling of divers Inhabit

o f ants the Province of Pen nsylvania, to hold and enjoy Lands, Tenements , and Plantations in the same

Province . The ﬁrst preamble to the act states that u nder the

Royal Charter all persons not S pecially forbidden can settle in the Province and hold lands , etc . ; but, as appears below, there arose for some reason the ques tion as to whether this prerogative was enjoyed by these Germans ; hence the act was S pecially passed for their beneﬁt . The second preamble is,

“ And W hereas divers of the Protestant or R e

o f formed Religion , who were Inhabitants H igh and

- - t Low Germany, about Five and Twen y years ago, (ou t H 2 8 T E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. of a D esire to come u nder the Power 81 Protection A d of the Crown of England , and partake of the vantages proposed for the Encou ragemen t of the A d venturers to settle this new Colony) imbraced the

Invitations they had from the Proprietary, to transport themselves and Estates here ; and since they came , did contribute the u tmost of their Power to enlarge this Part of the English Empire, and always behaved themselves as dutiful an d peaceable Subjects , and sev eral O f them have made and subscribed the Declara

tions and Test by Law appointed , instead of the Oaths of Supremacy : And the Rest are ready an d willing to do it when required of, admitted so to do .

Now, for as mu ch as the Valu e of Lands in this Province being generally but the Effects of the Peo ples Labou r, their Plantations are deemed by ou r

Laws, but as Chattels to pay Debts , and as strangers have been rendered capable to hold w hat they pu r chased as fully and freely as if they had been natu ral born subjects of this Province ; but since the Repeal

O f the late Laws made (after the Example of other Govern ments) for Encou ragement of the Peopling and

81 settling of this Colony , some doubts Qu estions have arisen whether the said Germans are capable to hold what they pu rchased as afore said ; For Removing of 2 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 9

which Doubt, B e it Enacted etc, etc, That Francis I Daniel Pastorius, Peter, Jacob, George, and saac

- Shoemaker etc , (there being seventy three others),

S and every of them , who hall within six months after

1 0 the ﬁrst day of September 7 9, at some Cou rt of

Quarter - Sessions o f the Peace for the said County of

Philadelphia etc, make and subscribe the Declarations and Professions of Faith allowed to those that cannot swear instead of the Oaths of Supremacy Alle

iance g , or shall otherwise qualify themselves as the

! Cou rt shall require . The act goes on to state that

it shall enable them to be capable of holding lands ,

etc . , with all the advantages that would accrue to them , the same as if they were “ free and natural born Sub

! ects j of this Province . Thus did ou r ancestors by a special act become citizens of the Province of Pen n

sylvania . 3 0 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

C H A P T E R V I .

S AA S ON OF E OR E S O E M A E R S E N . I C, G G H K ,

TH E ﬁrst O f the seven emigrant and fatherless chil

w as dren to enter matrimony Isaac, the fourth child of

George Shoemaker, Sen . H e married Sarah, daughter

of Gerhard H endricks , a prominent Friend , and on e

the S of the signers of ﬁrst protest against lavery, as 8 will appear later . H endricks had drawn Lot No . in

the Pastoriu s division of the town . It extended from

Main Street to Bristol Township line . H is house he built about a quarter of a mile from Main Street, on

Win o ho ckin the g g C reek , the lane leading back being w kno n u ntil the last few years as Shoemaker Lane, and of cou rse now being built u p . The house was of stone and frame , and stood until torn down in

1 0 . 84 by Mr Mehl , and from its passing to Isaac,

’ through his wife , became known as Shoemaker s

’ H ouse . (See its picture in Watson s Annals . ) The picture we have here is very similar, and was secu red

by Mr . Watson for Samu el M . Shoemaker, of Balti

M r more . . Watson had previously secu red the old

R 1 TH E S HOE M A KE FA M I L Y. 3 family Bible of the H endricks family from a family

H exhart named , of Germantown , one of whose mem bers had been employed by the early Shoemakers .

It has a great many Shoemaker records in it, but had in some way passed out of their possession into that ! of their hired man . It was published in urich in

’

1 8 . 5 3 , and now , thanks to Mr Watson s intervention , is in the possession of M rs . S . M . Shoemaker, of Bal

. 18 2 timore It was during the correspondence , in 4 , about the Bible that M r . Watson wrote as follows

“ Since writing , I have concluded to have a copy made for you of the Old Schumacher homestead , the place

1 68 2 bu ilt in , so marked upon the lintel of the door, at which place William Pen n stood on a small rock I near the door, and preached to the people . t was

situated in a beautiful natural meadow , and the whole I makes a pictu resqu e picture . have paid one dollar

for the drawing for you r use . I recommend you , as f it will be of su ﬁcient size, to have it framed as a

parlor picture, and on the back of it, on the board , to

paste the leathern remains of the Bible, and to write the history and description o f the family relics so pre in served ; so do I similar cases . Possibly its frame could be made of some of the old oak of the house by my seeking for it, i n the same frame in the corners 2 TH E E F 3 S HO M A KE R A M I L Y.

could be worked the wooden boards of the old Bible .

(M r . Watson alludes to the old binding, which he sent down to Mr . Shoemaker with the Bible in its n ew cover . ) Mrs . Shoemaker very kindly sent the pictu re up from Baltimore for me to have a copy made . The

- house in the right hand corner is the original one . On a large rock still stands a house , now known as the

“ ! Rock House, which is probably on e of the others we see ; most likely it was used as a tenement - house

— for the work people . O f later years the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad , who own it, have had it plas

re d - te S . , thu s covering the ancient tone work When the British forces had possession of Germantown du ring the Revolutionary War their cavalry occupied huts erected in the meadow around these houses . I n the Bible the records which interest u s most are ,

16 8 2 nd o A D 7 of October, the I th Month was born to me a daughter named Sarah H endricks . Another,

“ Cresheim Isaac Shoemaker born in Germany , mar ried Sarah H endricks , born in the same town , in Ger many, but they were married in Philadelphia, Penna .

“ w Another, Isaac Shoemaker died the t elfth day of

“ February Another, Sarah Shoemaker, his wife and Widow died the ﬁfteenth day of June

U nderneath these dates is this : This is in the hand TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y . 3 3

n writing of Be jamin Shoemaker , son of Isaac and Sarah

Shoemaker . signed Benjamin Shoemaker, Grandson

of ditto . The various records of the issu e of Isaac and Sarah Shoemaker are full and complete . In

’ another portion of Mr . Watson s letter, quoted above ,

“ he says , They were all Friends , as I found by the

Records of the Meeting , Isaac Schumacher contribu ted

6s 6 6 . £ , Peter Schumacher £ , Joab , (probably Jacob)

- 1 0 . £4 . This to bu ild the Meeting H ouse erected in 7 5

Only fou r individuals gave more . In the Rolls ofﬁce

2 O f - Philadelphia, Book A , page 75 , are a list sixty fou r

individuals , Foreigners , who are natu ralized ; among them I see the names of Peter Schu macher, Peter

r 81 Schumacher, J . , Isaac Schu macher, J . Schumacher . These with the others are naturalized u nder a certiﬁ cate from Thomas Lloyd , Deputy Governor, on the

th 1 6 1 7 of third Mo . , 9 , at which time they must have

u ‘ all been of f ll age, because they then promise faith

r and allegiance to William and Ma y, ﬁdelity and lawful

’ obedience to Wm . Penn a Proprietary , and thence forth are Freemen of the state , for the better securing

of their Estates , real and personal . By an Act of

Assembly in 1 70 8 on the Statute book all of the afore 6 mentioned 4 names , with some additional ones , are

- again declared natu ralized . These sixty fou r names TH E H E K F L 3 4 S O M A E R A M I y.

are the ones alluded to in the last chapter, in the act, as having “ subscribed the Declarations and Test by

! Law appointed . I saac was a tanner by profession , his yard being located on Main Street, j ust below where East

Coulter Street now passes . On the corn er of Shoe maker Lane and Main Street he built, somewhere

1 2 - about 7 5 , a long two story hou se of ston e . After the manner of the old country, its main entrance was

from the end towards the lane, but from the Main w Street side there was a door ay into the cellar, which

- gave the appearance of a three story dwelling . The picture we have of it was made by W illiam B rittain , in 1 8 3 1 ; he was a well - known drawing - master of the town . The original sketch was copied by Mr . C . J .

- Wister, and is here reprodu ced . In it the gate way at the end plainly shows , while the lady looking over the wall gives an excellen t idea of the height of the grou nd in the yard . The Conestoga wagon and

- O ld stage coach , on the tu rnpike , recall vividly the time scenes of the village . After the battle of Germantown the British used the house as a hospital , under the charge of Dr . I Moore , whose patients ﬁlled every room . t remained in the family u ntil pu rchased by the late George H .

TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

18 Thompson , who tore it down in 43 , and erected on its site Cottage Row . Benjamin , a son of Isaac and

Sarah , was invited to a seat in the Provincial As s embly at the same time as James Hamilton ; after

ac considering nearly two months, he determined to

th cept, and was qualiﬁed Second month 4 , H e

1 1 1 1 60 was mayor of Philadelphia in 7 43 , 7 5 , and 7 ,

1 1 1 6 1 and from 7 5 until his death in 7 , city treasu rer .

’ H is son Samuel , on his father s death, succeeded

. 1 6 him as treasu rer H e was also mayor two years , 7 9

1 1 1 1 and 7 7 , and served two terms in the Assembly, 7 7

1 and 7 7 3 . H e likewise had other positions of tru st .

R evol u Like many Friends , he disapproved of the tio nar y War, and as a consequence his property was conﬁscated . H e went to New York , and was advised by Sir William H owe to retu rn and make his peace

with General Washington , bu t declined to do so . While there he was of much service to American prisoners . A portion of his time he spent in England ,

and had an interview with King George , u nder the

auspices of his friend Benjamin West, who was u nder

O bligation to Samu el for encou ragement in his art

while a boy . The account of the interview with

“ e - George III . , as giv n in Papers of the Seventy six

“ : Society, is as follows In his ﬁrst interview with the 6 TH E E A E R FA M I L 3 S HO M K Y.

‘ King, the King enquired , H ow is it, Mr . Shoemaker, that Pennsylvania is so much in advance of the other

Provinces , though many of them were settled before

? ’ ‘ ’ it May it please you r Maj esty, responded the

‘ be Quaker, with great cou rtliness, I presu me it is

S O cause many of the inhabitants are Germans , or of

’ German birth , bowing at the same time to the Queen ,

who was a German by birth . The King showed by his manner that he was gratiﬁed by the complimen t

‘ paid to his wife, and said , No , Mr . Shoemaker, it is

’ no doubt because they are Quakers , thus, as M r .

‘ Shoemaker subsequently remarked , fully retu rning the The royal couple were pleased he could speak Ger

man , and the queen wept when he spoke of the death

S O of his children , Samuel concluded so kind a hus band and considerate a man could not be a tyrant . It was while he was in London at this time that his é portrait was painted by Thomas Spence Duch , son of Parson Du ché in it his son Edward appears with

him . The portrait is owned by Mrs . Samuel M .

Shoemaker, of Baltimore, who very kindly allowed me to have it copied . The following letter from Samuel ’s wife endorses the faithfuln ess of the likeness .

S A M U E L S H O E M A K E R ( 17 25

H 3 8 T E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

of a you ng man . H owever I have n ever seen better

o f representations the life anywhere, and u ntil I have the originals you are to be with me , and then B . S . will choose to keep them . H e has ﬁxed you in ou r parlor in a good light . Thee knows there is always a variety of opinions in such matters and some think

E . has an English complexion ; he has such a bloom .

I suppose him to have walked from Tottenham Road , which has given him a color, and n ever was a com plexion better imitated or represented than thine , as

! mu ch as a pencil can make it, etc .

1 8 Samuel retu rned to this cou ntry in 7 9, and got back a portion of his property, which was secured to

1 8 him by the treaty of peace of 7 3 . H e died in

l oth 1 800 Philadelphia Tenth month , , in his seventy

S ixth year .

Benjamin W est, in a letter to William Rawle, dated

2 15 t 1 80 London , Newman Street, September , 5 , refers

“ to his death as follows : The death of my much respected friend Samuel Shoemaker I had heard O f before I received you r letter —and I am gratiﬁed to ﬁnd that you are in possession of the Print of the

’ Apotheosis of the King s two children , which his Majesty commanded me to place in the hands of

M r . Shoemaker, as a token of the high respect H is

TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L y . 3 9

Majesty had for his character : the Print is very

scarce . During his residence in Philadelphia he bu ilt a ﬁne

- country seat in Germantown , on Main Street, above

1 60 . Washington Lane . This was erected about 7 During the Revolutionary War it was ﬁlled with tailors and shoemakers , employed in making goods for the

O f army . When the battle Germantown took place

much hard ﬁghting occu rred on the grou nds ; the

spring - house in the rear of the dwelling became a

- V rallying place for the irginia troops , who sought in vain to retrieve the disasters of the day . A number who fell were bu ried near the spring in u nmarked graves . An interesting incident was that regarding

- William Dolby, who at this spot had a fellow comrade k illed by his side . The event impressed upon him so

forcibly the wickedness of war that he left the ranks ,

sought work with Thomas Livezey , the miller, on the

banks of the Wissahickon Creek , and became a con

’ vert to Friends views . H e removed to Delaware , and became a prominent and approved minister in the

Society . Early in this centu ry the property passed into the

hands of James S . Duval , who gave it the name of

“ 18 2 8 the ad a Pomona, an d in had painting m e, 40 TH E S H OE I II A K E R FA M I L Y.

copy of which is annexed . The last owner was Amos

R . Little, who sold it a few years ago to parties who

have since cu t it up into building lots . A writer, in

“ speaking of the time of Samuel , says, There are no

names more cherished at home, and more deservedly

O f known abroad, than those Wister, Shoemaker,

Muhlenberg, etc .

The late Samu el M . Shoemaker, of Baltimore, who stood very high in the community , and was extensively engaged in commercial enterprises, was a grandson of

Samu el the mayor . From the line of Isaac and Sarah H endricks Shoemaker descend what is known as the

- - Shoemaker Rawle Pennington branch, which has been

“ so fully worked up by Charles P . Keith in his Pro

! vincial Cou ncillors that it is unnecessary for me to follow it further here

TH E H J VI A K F 1 S OE E R A M I L Y. 4

C H A P T E R V I I .

S USA NN A S HOE M A KE R PR IC E .

S A A S ho e v SU NN , daughter and ﬁfth child of George maker, Sen married on the fou rth day of the First

1 6 6 month , 9 , at the house of Richard Wall , according to the good order of Friends , Isaac, son of Philip Wm Price . Witnesses , . Jenkins , Richard Townsend , W Richard all , John Roberts, Robert Owen , H owell

James , David Llewellyn , Benj . H umphrey , Richard

Hayes , Saml . Carter, Joshua Owen , Meredith Davis , and others . From this line came the late Eli K . Price,

“ who , in a little volume entitled The Family, has traced ou t this branch of the family better and much in more fully than I could, and to it those desiring formation are referred . A short extract is here given , as it shows that Susanna married a second time upon the death of her husband, Isaac Price ; bu t I have

’ failed , in searching the Minutes of Friends Meetings

’ or the Wills , at the Register s, to learn further of the

Cuerto n marriage . The following is u nder date of

1 1 80 : Third month 4th , 9 H 4 2 T E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

I , Philip Price , of the Township of Darby, in the

Cou nty of Delaware , and State of Pen nsylvania, being

- f now in the seventy ninth year of my age, having chie ly resided in a different n eighborhood from where my forefathers dwelt, I hereby take the opportu nity for the satisfaction of my children , who have been brought up at a distance from where my connections lived , to give

S O an account of their forefathers , far as has come to Pl m my knowledge . I was born in the Township of y o uth , County of Montgomery, and State aforesaid ,

h l h 1 0 t 1t . o n the 5 of the month , 73 My father and mother both died when I was young, u nder eight years

- of age . My great grandfather, Philip Price, is the ﬁrst I of the family have any accou nt of. H e came to this

country pretty early, with the ﬁrst Welsh settlers , bu t

’ ’ O ld - in age . His wife s , my great grandmother s , ﬁ rst name I never heard . They settled on a small place

in Haverford , near where the Bu ck Tavern , on the

Lancaster Road, now stands , about six miles from

- Philadelphia . My great grandfather, when he was ei ht ~ﬁ ve g y years of age , married a second time, to

- ﬁ ve Margaret Morgan , who was said to be twenty , and I have understood that they lived together about

1 1 twelve years , before his decease . H e died in 7 9

2 1 . or 0 . H is widow lived u ntil about the year 77 4 TH E S H OE M A K E R FA M I L Y. 43

- My great grandfather had on e son , my grandfather , named Isaac, and two daughters, one of whom mar ried Reese , of whom there was , and remains , a large I family, the other a Lewis, of whom have had bu t little accou nt . My grandfather, Isaac Price, married

Susanna Shoemaker, one of the ﬁrst settlers , of the & c. Shoemaker family, about Philadelphia , Abington ,

They had three children , but he dying young in life , they were left orphans ; two of them daughters , Mary and Gwinn , who I expect died young , as I never had

1 6 . any account of them . My grandfather died in 70

w r H is wido afterwards married William Cue to n.

S u They had three daughters , Rebecca, Rachel , and

all sanna , of whom grew up, as they were signers to

’ my father s marriage certiﬁcate, bu t I never had any

accou nt of their marriage .

My father, Isaac Price, being left young, was bound

f O f an apprentice to Gri ﬁth Jones Germantown . On

th 1 2 the 4 month , 7 9, he entered into the marriage

covenant with Margaret Lewis , daughter of H enry

Lewis , of H averford . They lived in much love and

th harmony together u ntil his death in the 4 month ,

- 1 8 . was 7 3 H e taken off with the small pox, after a

short illness . My mother died of consumption , abou t w a month after ards . I had a sister, who also died of T E F 4 4 H S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y.

- I w as the small pox , soon after my father . the eldest child , about seven years old, being left with a younger

brother, named Isaac , who was also removed by death , in his eighteenth year ; so that I was left alone , there being none of the name O f Price descended from my

- great grandfather besides myself and children .

L R E Signed PHI IP P IC .

This Philip Price was the grandfather of the late

Eli K . Price .

6 TH S H K F 4 E OE M A E R A M I L Y.

. I s t 1 68 it appears that Thos Fairman , on of 7 Mo . , 3 , su rveyed for Patrick Robinson 2 00 acres of land ad

o n joining Richard Wall Tacony Creek . They state this land is in the parish of Cheltenham . R . Wall also came from Glou cestershire, and arrived here 4 Mo .

2 6th 1 68 2 , , and probably on the same vessel as Toby

1 0 Leech . Before 7 4 a road was laid out from T .

’ Leech s to Germantown , of which Thomas Godfrey complained , as it divided his land to disadvantage .

Bean has evidently got the date of arrival wrong, as

O f it is the date the certiﬁcate of removal . From the records at Harrisbu rg I learn that Richard

Wall had several tracts O f land granted to him in the

1 682 1 68 1 68 years , 3 , and 4, in Philadelphia County, on m n ues eno i . the Q g , now called Tacony Creek I am inclined to thi nk , from the names of the early settlers

here , that this section was taken up by a little colony of English Friends from Cheltenham , Gloucestershire ,

England , and that the new settlement did not derive

S its name from a ingle individual , as Bean would have

u s believe . The amount of land Richard pu rchased was six hundred acres, most beau tifully located in what is now the heart of Chelton H ills, and covered with many of the handsomest country - seats arou nd Phila

delphia . I have little doubt that he built his house of

TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 4 7

stone, and that it still stands , forming the rear or back

’ buildings of Joseph Bosler s dwelling . At this early

- day, before Friends had meeting houses, it was custom ary to use the dwellings of members of the Society for

’ the purpose of holding religiou s exercises . Richard s was selected for this purpose , being known as Dublin

Meeting, afterwards as Abington . Some extracts from Meeting records show how closely Richard Wall was identiﬁed with the earliest attempts of Friends to organize as a religiou s body in Pennsylvania . The

’ “ ° ﬁrst Friends minutes begin as follows : At y ﬁrst settling of Pennsylvania a gen eral meeting was held

e at Salem about y Affairs O f the Chu rch for both

e e rs ies 1 1th 2 1 68 2 J and Pennsylvania y of Mo .

“ M O - O f This was soon followed by, At a Meeting

Friends in truth O f the Inhabitants about To okany

o et ues ink e p q Creeks , being meet together for y Ser

e o f vice Truth , and y better ordering and Governing

e ! f 85 0 of y af airs of y Church . These Friends , on

rd 16 8 : Tenth month 3 , 3 , passed this minute Monthly

S e e rs Meeting at the hou se of Sarah y . At the re quest o f some ffriends belonging to this meeting ; A meeting was settled n ear Cheltenham at the house of

! ’ Richard Wall . Thus , Richard s house was one of the ve ry earliest meeting - houses in Philadelphia County H E M 48 T E S HO A KE R FA M I L Y.

whose location can with certainty be ascertained , and

its n if my su rmises as to identity are correct , the o ly

- on e still standing . The Boarded Meeting house ,

O f 1 68 2 erected in Philadelphia in the latter part , is

’ spoken of, and , of cou rse, antedates Richard s , but its location is u nknown , while the Bank M eeting was not

1 built until 68 5 .

’ In 1 685 the M eeting at Richard s was made a

1 2 M O 2 d Monthly Meeting , as this minu te shows 3

I - 1 685 . t is agreed that this Mo Meeting for time to come shall be held at three several places , that is to

e e u say y next to be held at y house of Richard Wall , and

e e 81 y next at John H arts , and y next at Oxford so on

“ 2 th 1 68 in course . O n Twelfth month 7 , 7 , A paper

e was read this day Concerning trading with y Indian s

! w ractiz e . ith Rum , that none professing Truth p it

“ 2 th 1 6 0 Another minute was , 9 Mo 4 , 9 , Cert to Richard Wall in order to travel towards Maryland ! This was no doubt a religiou s visit, or he would not have applied to the Meeting for a certiﬁcate . Another of interest,

1 2 8th 16 1 0 Mo , 9 , At this meeting was raised by way of subscription , for the u se of W illiam Bradford printer

e 2 d “ M O th 1 6 8 s . o y sum of £3 Another, 9 3 94, This

e Meeting have collected y sum of 1:3 6 1 73 1011 Towards

e ° y building of y new Meeting house in Philadelphia

TH E M A FA M I 5 0 E S HO KE R L Y. as we will be done ou rselves : macking no difference of what generation , descent, or Colour they are . And those who steal or robb men , and those who pu rchase

alicke them , are they not all . H ere is liberty of Con

w ch 81 science, is right reasonable , here ought to be

e l ickew is e w ch liberty of y body , except of evildoers , is

another case . Bu t to bring men hither, or to robb and sell them against their will , we stand against . In

Eu rope there are many O ppressed for Conscience sacke and here there are many oppressed w ch are O f

a black Colou r . And we, who know that men must

co mitt co mitt not adultery, some doe adultery in

others , separating wifes from husbands , and giving

then to others , and some sell the children of those poor creatures to other men .

“ ! Oh doe consider well this thing, you who doe it, if you would be done at this man ner ? and if it is done according Christianity ? you su rpass H olland 81 Ger

M ackes many in this thing . This an ill report in all those Countries of Eu rope, where they hear off, that

° y Quakers doe here handle men , Licke they handle

e there y Cattle ; and for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come hither .

“ S maintaine And who hall this you r cause , or plaid

? Truel for it y we can not do so, except you shall F 1 TH E S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y. 5

inform us better hereof, viz that Christians have liberty ! to practise this thing . Pray What thing in the world can be worse to warts u s then if men S hould robb or

81 S steal u s away sell u s for laves to strange Cou ntries ,

h d 81 separating o usban from their wife children . Being now this is not don e at that man ner we will be done at, therefor we contradict 81 are against this trafﬁ ck of men body . And we who profess that it is not lawful to

lickw is e steal , must avoid to pu rchase such things as are stolen , but rather help to stop this robbing and stealing if possible , and su ch men ought to be delivered

e e ou t of y hands of y Robbers and set free as well as in Europe . Then is Pensilvania to have a good report, in stead it hath now a bad one for this sacke in other

e Cou ntries . Especially whereas y Eu ropeans are de

e sirons to know in what manner y Quakers doe rule in

81 their Province , most of them doe loock upon us with

But an envious eye . if this is don e well , what shall we say is done evil ?

“ If once these slaves (wch they say are so wicked

and stubborn men) should joint themselves , ﬁght for

81 mas tris s es their freedom and handel their masters , as they did handle them before ; will these masters 81 mas tris s es tacke the sword at hand 81 warr against

these poor slaves , licke we are able to belive , some 2 TH E S E F L 5 HO M A KE R A M I Y.

will not refuse to doe ? or have these negers not as

much right to ﬁght for their freedom , as you have to keep them slaves ?

? Now consider well this thing, if it is good or bad and in case you ﬁ nd it to be good to handle these

at 81 blacks that man ner, we desire require you hereby

lovingly that you may inform u s herein , which at this

time never was done , Viz . that Christians have Liberty

to do so , to the end we shall be satisﬁed in this point,

81 s atisﬁ e lickew is e our good friends and acquaint

terrou r ance in ou r natif Cou ntry, to whose it is a or

fairfull thing that men should be handeld so in Pen

silvania .

“ This is from our meeting in at Germantown , hold

° y 18 of the 2 month 1 6 88 to be delivered to the

arrel s monthly meeting at Richard W .

“ ! GE R R E T H E ND E R ICKS

“ DE R ICK O P D E GR A E F F ‘ j‘

FR A NCI S DA NIE L L PA STOR I US I

! “ ABR A H A M O P D E G R A E F !

’ - in- Gerhard Hendricks Isaac S hoemaker s father law .

J r Dirck Op den Graeff.

I F rancis Daniel Pastorius . M r h am O . S r é A b a p den Graeff Peter hoemaker , J married argaret

Op den Graeff. TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 5 3

The Germantown Friends having thus eased their consciences, the missive came before the Monthly

! R i ert Meeting, held at the house of g Worrels . The disposition which they made of it is as follows

° “ At our monthly meeting at Dublin y 3 0 2 M O

1 688 ° , we having inspected y matter above mentioned

81 ﬁ nd e considered it, we it so weighty, that we think it not Expedient for u s to meddle with it here, bu t do

° e rather co mitt it to y consideration of y Quarterly meet

e ° te nno r ing, y of it being n early related to y truth .

e “ behal fe on of y monthly meeting .

“ O . A R Signed , pr J H T.

It then passed to their next higher meeting , as follows

This above mentioned was Read in ou r Quarterly

’ th e 8 8 meeting at Philadelphia, the 4 of y 4mo . , and was from thence recommended to the Yearly Meet

- ing , and the above said Derick and the other two

e men tioned therein , to present the same to y above

S aid meeting, it being a thing of too great weight for this meeting to determine . Signed by order of the Meeting

ANTHONY MOR R IS . 5 4 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

At the Yearly Meeting, held at Bu rlington the ﬁfth da 1 688 : y of Seventh month , A paper being here presented by some German U Friends , Concerning the Lawfulness and nlawfulness I of buying and Keeping of Negroes, t was adjudged not to be so proper for this Meeting to give a positive

Judgement in the case , It having so general a relation to many other Parts , and , therefor, at present they

! forbear it .

- It is not strange that these simple hearted people, who had sacriﬁced so mu ch in order to secu re freedom and religious toleration , should have viewed with sor row the wrong done their colored brethren , and they deserve great credit for the effort made against a wrong that baffled all attempts at its solution by our

two greatest statesmen for nearly centuries . It is

t only just to the Socie y of Friends to state, that after

S recognizing the unrighteousn ess of lavery, the subject w as continually brought u p in their meetings u ntil they cleared themselves of participating in its guilt by for

1 bidding members after 7 74 holding slaves, and they never ceased protesting and using their in! uen ce against the institution until the Emancipation Pro cla

“ ! mation truly made all men free and equal .

The protest is in the handwriting of Pastorius, and H E A L TH E S OE M A K R F M I Y. 5 5

“ Whittier, in The Pennsylvania Pilgrim , aptly de

’ scribes his (Pas to rius s ) despondency at its failure to produce results , and in it tells how his wife , Anna , comforts him by comparing it to a century plant, which they were then looking at .

‘ S ee this strange plant its steady purpose hold ,

A nd , year by year , its patient leaves unfold , ﬁ Till the young eyes that watched it rst are old .

But some time , thou hast told me , there shall come

A sudden beauty , brightness , and perfume ,

Th - e century moulded bud shall burst in bloom .

‘ S o may the seed which hath been sown to - day

Grow with the years , and , after long delay ,

’ Y ea Break Into bloom , and God s eternal

A nswer at last the patient prayers of them

Who now , by faith alone , behold its stern ! ’ Crowned with the owers of Freedom s diadem .

“ M f eanwhile , to feel and su fer , work and wait

R Th e emains for us . wrong indeed is great

But love and patience con quer soon or late .

“ ‘ A ! ’ Well hast thou said , my nna Tenderer

’ Than youth s caress upon th e head of her

Pastorius laid his hand . S hall we demu r TH E E A E F I L 5 6 S HO M K R A M Y.

‘ Because the vision tarrieth ? I n an hour

d - ! W e ream not of the slow grown bud may ower, A nd what was sown in weakness rise in power ! ’

- Then through the vine draped door whose legend read ,

' ‘ PR OCUL E S T E PR O PH A N 1 ! A nna led To where th eir child upon his little bed

L ‘ ’ ‘ ooked up and smiled . Dear heart , she said , if we M ust bearers of a heavy burden be ,

O ur boy , God willing , yet the day shall see

‘ When , from the gallery to the farthest seat

S — lave and slave owner shall no longer meet , M ’ But all sit e qual at the aster s feet .

A few years after the marriage of his grand daughter, Richard Wall fou nd his health failing and made his will , as follows

“ In the name of God , Amen , the ﬁfteenth day of

the ﬁrst month, Anno Domini I Richard Wall ,

being weak in body, bu t of perfect mind and memory, thanks be the Lord for it, do hereby make and ordain

this my last W ill and Testament, that is to say , Prin ci all p y and ﬁrst of all , I recommend my soul and spirit u nto the hands of ou r faithful Creator and Saviour, my body to be buried in a Christian like, and decent

m execu manner, at the discretion of y dear wife , and

8 TH E F 5 S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y.

u they meet . Item I freely give and beq eath unto friends of Cheltenham Meeting a certain tract O f land containing about six acres , lying and being at the

d South West end O f the 3 my plantation and this piece of land I give for a bu rying place , and for the only and sole use of friends of the now mentioned m Cheltenha M eeting . And I do herewith constitute,

- make , and appoint, the above said my grand daughter

Sarah Shoemaker, my only Executor, requiring that this my last will and testament may in all points be accomplished , and fulﬁlled . In witness whereof I have

hereunto set my hand and seal .

“ ! A R A L L The mark of RICH D W .

Witnesses .

A M L A R S RICH DS ON .

VA R R E N M O I S .

A R O S E RICH D T WN ND .

th 1 0 1 PH 1L A D E L PH 1A F eb 9 7 . Then personally appeared before me the within named Samuel Richardson and Richard Townsend and f upon their Solemn a ﬁrmation , did declare they saw the

S withi n Richard Wall ign , seal , and publish, and declare

w the ithin writing to be his last Will and Testament, TH E S HOE M A KE R F A M I L y. 5 9

and that he was at the doing thereof of sound mind

and memory to the best of their knowledge . “ Before J M OOR E

e ral R eg ister G ne .

There does not appear to have been an inventory

S O ﬁled , that we do not know what his personal estate

consisted of. It will be noticed as odd that in the ﬁrst

“ execu part of his will he speaks of his dear wife , and

“ trix , and then at the end names Sarah Shoemaker,

! my only Executor . To whom letters testamentary I were issued do not know , as the will was not pro

bated until three years after his death . It was, how in d ever, quite customary those ays to retain wills a

’ long time before taking them to the register s . As the will was made eleven days before his death , I presume

S he was too weak to ign it, other than by making his

mark , as it is scarcely likely he was unable to write . From the Abington M eeting Records I copy this

D 1 M O 2 6th 1 6 8 Richard Wall Sr, ied 9 , bu ried on

2 8th h the at Chelten am .

“ 1 2 M O 2 nd 1 0 1 th Joan Wall Died 7 , bu ried on the 4 at Cheltenham The bu rying—ground in which they

were interred will be spoken of in a later chapter . 6 TH F 0 E S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y.

C H A P T E R I X .

R A R A L L R ICH D W , J .

A R A L L S E N . RICH D W , , appears to have had only one I f. child, a son , named after himsel n some notes left

d r by the late Isaac Shoemaker, he states that Richar , J . ,

S married Rachel, ister to Toby Leech . While there is no way of proving this, it seems very probable , as the families came from the same place in England, and

’ according to H olmes s original map , ﬁrst came two

’ ’ tracts of Wall s land , then one of Leech s , then on e of

’ ’ O f Wall s , then on e Leech s, proving their close con n tio n ec . From a su rvey returned into the su rveyor ’s ofﬁce is the following : “ By order and direction from the Proprietor and

1 th M 6 2 0 O 1 8 . Governor, the of the 9 I hereby certify ’ f i nto his Secretary s O ﬁce , that I have caused to be su r veyed and set out the 3 o th of the I st Mo u nto Richard

Wall Jun r, Renter, O ne H undred acres of land in the

Cou nty of Philadelphia, in the township of Chelten

! “ ham , Beginning, etc . , from thence by land of Richard 1 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 6

S enr Wall , etc . This would prove he came over with , or abou t the same time as his father . I Richard Wall , J r died ntestate , leaving an only child, Sarah , a minor, to whom all his estate descended .

Richard Wall , Sr . , took out letters of administration ,

20 th 168 dated Fourth month , 9 . (See Administration

Book A , page From the fact that the daughter,

Sarah , was the only heir, it is fair to presume that his wife had died previously . 2 M F 6 TH E S HOE A KE R A M I L Y.

C H A P T E R X .

S OE M A E R R - R O H K BU YING G UND .

I T will be remembered that Richard Wall , Sen . , i n his will provided six acres for a bu rying ‘ g ro u nd ; the spot be selected is beau tifully located on Cheltenham Ave

nue , o r, as the country folks called it in times past ,

- Graveyard Lane . About a half acre of the six left for the purpose is enclosed with a stone wall , and all in

be excellent order, thanks to the care and attention stowed O u it by Robert Shoemaker and the trustees who have charge of it under appointment of the Meet

- ing . Almost in the centre are two large box bushes , u nder which tradition says lie the bodies of Richard

w as Wall and Joan , his wife . The story fu rther that l stones origina ly marked the spot, but I have failed to locate them , even if covered with earth , having probed with a long iron rod when the grou nd was soft to a depth of several feet .

It is said a log meeting- house at one time stood

alongside of the grounds . If this was so , all traces , even of the fou ndation , have gone , so it cannot be

TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 63

veriﬁed . The grou nds have always gone by the name

O f - the Shoemaker Burying Ground , but as we have

seen in the will , it is not strictly a family one , though as a matter of fact the majori ty of those interred there

bear the name or are allied to it by marriage . Abou t one hundred and ﬁfty years ago Cheltenham Meeting

' was absorbed by Abington Meeting, and since that

time the grou nd has been held by trustees (special) ap

pointed by the Meeting . Of late few interments have

taken place Within its limits . The earliest stone is that

2 rd 1 1 of Isaac, dated Eighth month 3 , 74 . Friends in those days did not approve of marking

- the last resting place of the departed , so that there are comparatively few stones . For the following list of those named Shoemaker interred here l am indebted to Robert Shoemaker :

“ 1 1 8 2 d 81 74 , Mo 3 , Isaac , son of George Sarah

1 Shoemaker, aged 4 .

“ 1 8 7 5 , Elizabeth, wife of Isaac . ! Not the Isaac abovej

1 6 2 7 , Amy, Widow of Abraham .

’ 1 6 ‘ 7 4, George , of Cheltenham .

“ 1 6 7 4, Dorothy , widow of Isaac . ! Daughter of

Toby Leech , Jr !

1 6 7 4 , Isaac . TH E S E M A E R FA M L 64 HO K I Y.

“ 1 6 7 5 , Elizabeth , daughter of Isaac .

1 7 7 5 , Benjamin , son of Isaac .

“ 1 . 7 7 5 , Arnold

1 8 7 3 , Elizabeth , daughter of Jonathan .

1 8 . 7 3 , Sarah , daughter of George

81 2 1 . 7 79, Isaac, son of John Elizabeth , aged 4

! See account below . !

1 8 2 . 7 , Susan na, wife of William

1 1 . 7 93 , 3 Mo 7th, Mary, wife of Benjamin

“ nd 1 10 2 2 . 793 , Mo , Benjamin , J r

1 1 1 1 . 793 , Mo 4th, Mary Allen Shoemaker

“ 1 1 1 1 . 7 93 , Mo 5 th , Mary, wife of Thomas ! The

’ writer s great - grandmother! h 1 o t . 795 , 5 Mo 3 , Elizabeth , wife of John

18 1 1 . 1 , B enjamin ! H is wife , Mary, died 793 , and was a Comly, of Byberry . !

1 2 6 8 M O 1 2 8 , th , Mary, daughter of Thomas and

2 0 . Hannah , aged years

1 2 . 8 7 , Hannah , wife of Thomas h ’ 1 8 2 M O 1 l t . 3 7 , , Thomas , aged 74 ! The writer s great —grandfather!

“ C 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . 84 , Mo, Ellis , aged ! B rother of Robert!

“ 8 2 6 1 2 1 5 , Mo th , Margaret (Bird), widow of

s Thomas . ! H e had three wive ! A F L 6 TH E S HOE M KE R A M I Y. 5

1 8 1 2 2 d O f 49 , Mo 3 , Martha (Leech), widow

0 O f Robert, aged 9 . ! Gran dmother Robert and Benja

1 min H her husband died of yellow fever in 795 , and was interred in burying - grou nd Fou rth and Arch

Streets !

“

1 8 . 4 5 , Sarah , Widow of Comly

1 f 81 8 O 68 . 43 , Comly , son Benjamin Sarah , aged

This list is not by any means a complete one , as such

S has never been kept, but is made up imply of those names and dates Robert has been able to collect .

Isaac, son of John and Elizabeth Livezey Shoemaker,

1 who died i n 7 79 , married Sarah Mather . In the Ridgway Branch of the Philadelphia Library

L o anian 1 Octavo g 3 is a curious pamphlet . It con

tains an account of the life and death of Isaac, which

“ has been reprinted in Pi ety Promoted . Some ex tracts are as follows “ About ten days before his decease he fell into a

trance in the evening, and after laying for three hou rs , I 1 i n a strong voice said , Oh that could tell you What I w have seen and under ent, it would pierce the hardest heart amongst you , perhaps some think there is no

hell , but I have to tell you there is a hell , and a dread ful one too, and the grinding of my teeth is nothing to

the grinding and gnashing of teeth in hell . And there 6 A E F 6 TH E S HOE M K R A M I L Y.

is a heaven and a sweet one too, where angels clothed

S it in White robes at the right hand of God , singing

at praises to his good name, I have to declare unto you the peril of my soul , bu t some will not believe though an apostle should arise from the dead . You may think

I am not in my senses , but I knew you all as you came into the room , am perfectly in my senses , and God

O hath pened my mouth on you r accoun t, and that you

O might declare it unto thers . Narrow is the way that leads to life , and few there be that ﬁnd it ; bu t broad is the way that leads to destruction and many are going

that way , etc . When all had left his room , he was heard (by friends in adjoining room) ‘ devoutly and loudly desiring that God might be pleased to stop the

’ effusion of blood . Time of the Revolutionary War .

I s t 1 2 th O f . H e died 7 mo . 3 , 7 79, in the 5 year his age

Another cu rious incident attending the death O f a member of the family I ﬁnd related in “ Extracts from

! “ 2 0 8 : the Diary of Elizabeth D rinker, page Samu el

Shoemaker, a son of Benjamin , of Abington , who died some time ago of the malignant fever (yellow) was thought dead by the attendant— who went out for his

cofﬁn , and on his return into the room where the corpse

lay, fou nd him sitting on the side of the Bed endeavor ing to pu t his shoes on . H e asked him where he was 6 TH E S HOE M A KE R F A A/I L Y . 7

going, and was answered to take a walk bu t being de

be sired to lay down and rest himself, complied , and died in reality about an hou r after . Had he remained as ﬁrst found a quarter of an hou r longer, A . Livezey who told ye story, thinks he would have been screwed

! in his cofﬁn . This Samu el was a brother of the

’

- writer s great grandmother, Mary Shoemaker . H is

1 death took place during the epidemic of 7 93 , while his

1 brother Robert died of the same disorder in 7 95 .

’ M - Robert s son , Richard . , related in after years, that at the time his father lay dead he was very ill , and when the u ndertaker came to measu re his father ’s body he took his measure also , in order to save time , as he was a forehanded man . 68 TH E S E M A F HO KE R A M I L Y.

C H A P T E R X I .

E O R E S OE M A E R R . G G H K , J

FR OM here those whose lines are traced are de

s cendants r of George Shoemaker, J . , the eldest of the

emigrant children , who did not marry until he had

been in this country eight years ; probably the bu rden of supporting his fatherless brothers and sisters came

on him . When he did marry, he selected Sarah,

granddaughter and only heir to Richard Wall, as

O ld before mentioned . The venerable marriage cer tiﬁ cate is still in existence , having been handed down in the family . Its last owner was Dr . William L . Shoe

o f maker, Georgetown , D . C . Recen tly he forwarded it to me to copy, photograph, and then deposit in the

Pen nsylvania H istorical Society . This has all been

done, and any who are interested can there see it .

The doctor, in writing, very aptly describes its con

d . ition H e says ,

“ I f you can photograph it, or cause it to be photo

S O : graphed , pray do , but handle it gently it is old

and weak : time hath dealt harshly with it . It is in

’ 7 0 TH E S H OE M A K E I E FA M I L Y.

81 Whereas George Shewmaker Sarah Wall , both

To w nfhi m Co u nte of the p of Cheltenha , in the y of

hilldelﬁa H avein p , g declared theyre Intentions of take inge each other as hu sband 81 wife ; before feverall publique men 81 womens meetings of the people of god called Quakers ; acco rding e to the good orders u sed Amongst ; them who fe proceedings therein ;

81 After deliberate consideration thereof, consent of parteys 81 Relations Con cerned 81 Approved by the faid meetings : Now thefe are ! fer n! to all whom it may concern ; that for the full determination of theire fayd Intentions This fou rteenth day of the Tw elf month one thousand fix hu ndred ninety 81 fou r they the fayd George Shewmaker 81 Sarah Wall A peared in A foll emne A fs embl ey of ye A fo refaid people mett together at the house of Richard Wall , in the Towne ship of Cheltenham afo refaid A cco rding e to the ex ample o f the H oly men of god Recorded in the

r s A fo res d fcriptu e of truth . H e the y George Shew maker takeinge Sarah Wall by the Hand openly declared as followeth , Friends in ye presence of god and you H is people ; I doe take Sarah Wall to be my wife p ro mifing e to be a faithful l o veing husband till death doth Seperate us 1 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 7

And then 81 there in the fayd Assembly the fayd

Sarah Wall did in the like manner ! tom ! as fol

refents 81 loweth , Friends in ye p of god you his

people, I doe take George Shewmaker to be my

husband p ro mifeing to be a faythfull L o veing e wife

fe erat fd till death doth p e u s . And the George Shew

maker 81 Sarah Wall as A fu rther conﬁrmation thereof

did then 81 there to these presents sett ! fern! there

unto 81 we who where presen t at the foll ominizing e

fubs cribed of their Marriage , did with ou r han d ou r

names the day 81 year above written .

“ E R M A E G O G E SCHU CH R .

A R A E M A E R S H SH W K .

“ E E M A M A E ! P T R SCHU KE R SA R A SCHU K R .

“ J O H A NN E S K OE S TE R S A R A E A TO N ’ j‘

“ “ PE TE R C A S S E L L SUS A NNA S CH U M A C K E R I N 1

“ S A M UE L RIC H A R DS ON S A R A SCHU M A CH E R !

TOBY LE E CH E L I ! A BE TH KOE STE R

S S . arah chumacher, the mother of George

“ S S E S wh o 1 ara ( chumacher) aton , cousin of Peter hoemaker , married E E dward aton .

’ S usanna S ch umack erin S af r I , George s ister , who te wards married

Isaac Price .

S ara S e o I S S é (Hendricks) ho maker , wife f saac hoemaker , and ister

l n- law of George . TH E 7 2 S HOE M A KE R F A /II I L Y .

R I C H D TO WN S E ND E L I ! A BE TH LIND

“ EVE R A R D B OL TON M A R IA C A NBY

JO HN RU S S E L L

SA M UE L CA R L

“ TH OM A S CA NBY

“ JOS E PH PHIPS

“ JOSE PH PHIPS J R

“ POW E L L RICHA R DS ON

L L A M L UTL E D E W I I O G .

Abington Meeting Records contain this notice of the marriage

“ 81 Shoemaker, George Sarah Wall both of Chel

at tenham twp a meet at the H of Richard Wall . Wit

81 Richard Wall , Jacob , Peter Sr, Peter Jr Shoemaker, ! 81 Richard Townsend , Joseph Phips , many others . George and Sarah seem to have started ou t in life by

purchasing one hu ndred acres of land from Toby Leech ,

th Third month 7 , and no doubt becoming

farmers . Just where this tract lay cannot now be well

determined , but it was close to the other land of the family .

A few years later, when the Wall property passed i nto the possession of George Shoemaker, the place

’ began to be known as Shoemaker s , and as a little vil

M 14TH 1694 H S A R A H WA L L 12TH H , I C TI ICAT E GE O R GE S O E M A K E R TO , ONT M A R R A GE E R F ,

TH H F 7 4 E S OE JII A K E R A M I L Y.

2 th 1 2 8 5 , 7 , but she died before her father, leaving two

children , named N ehemiah and Sarah De la Plain . I have failed to trace the line fu rther . The other chil dren of George and Sarah will be spoken of later .

After the death of Sarah , George married a German

w : woman , by whom he had the follo ing children Kath

arine , Sarah , Barbara, Susan , Arnold , Mary, and Sam uel . There is not much known of this marriage, not

n eve the last name of Christiana . It is probable they were married out of Meeting, as there is no mention of it in the records . The late Benjamin Hallowell

“ wrote the following on the subject : George Shoe maker then married a German woman , named Catha rine , who lived in the family before the death of his

ﬁrst Wife . Catharine appears to have been a ﬁne,

’ - co ns titu tio ned strong woman , but his ﬁrst Wife s rela

tions thought the marriage a coming down , and they

’ S he did not receive Katie, as was called , into their

S . ociety, at ﬁrst particularly In speaking fu rther on

“ of his different lines of ancestors , he says , It will be

v obser ed that my parents are from the same ancestor, m George Shoe aker, but my mother from Sarah Wall of the English Aristocracy, and my father from Catha rine , a German Redemptionist . So I have English

ﬁ xed nes s blood, Welsh blood (the origin of of purpose) A E R FA M I L TH E S HOE M K Y. 7 5

and a double portion of Dutch, giving endurance , and

I valu e that from Katie most of all , as giving a large

! frame and a strong constitution . Benjamin Hallowell

will be spoken of farther on . It will thus be seen that George had by his ﬁrst wife

six children and by the second seven , so that it is not

to be wondered at if his descendan ts are nu merous . In all probability the property left by Richard Wall

O f went to the ﬁrst set children , and that the others

scattered to a greater or less extent . The various lines I am most familiar with go back to the ﬁrst marriage .

Of the second marriage was Sarah , her mother, of

cou rse , being Christiana . She married First month

1 th 1 6 O f 7 , 7 3 , Anthony, son John Williams , a grandson

1 6 0 of the emigrant John , who in 9 came to this coun try from Wales . The marriage certiﬁcate of John and Sarah Shoemaker Williams is now in the possession of

M rs . Charles E . Tru mp , of Germantown . They had eighteen children , and the nu merous persons bearing

“ ! the name , designated often as the Limekiln Road

Williams , came from this marriage .

A couple of Revolutionary War incidents are re membered in connection with Anthony which are inter

H e esting . . owned at that period a remarkably ﬁn e

team of three young and spirited horses . While the H L 76 T E S HOE M A KE R F A M I Y . driver was on his way home with them attached to an empty wagon , an ofﬁcer leaped in and told him the team was conﬁscated , and to drive to a certain point .

Now , they were within a few miles of home, so it needed a very slight administration of encouragement, given on the sly, to start them into a fast gait, while the pre tended heroic efforts o f the driver to stop them only added to their speed , until they ﬁnally broke into a f run , when the o ﬁcer, believing himself to be in great danger, leaped out, after which the man quieted the horses down and took them the rest of the way safely .

At another period, just before the battle of German town , during a British raid through the country , they

V isited the Williams farm and took from the stable a

- very ﬁne riding horse, which was a great favorite and

’ pet of Anthony s . Nothing more was heard of him for quite a period of time, when it was learned that he was in the possession of a British ofﬁcer . A short time after the battle , in the middle of the night, a familiar

’ Whinny was heard at Anthony s window , when the fact was revealed that the horse had in some way escaped

t e during the ﬁght and fou nd his way home , where he ceived a warm welcome . Several wounded soldiers later came to the house for assistance , one dying on the premises .

8 TH E S E M A E R FA M I L 7 HO K Y.

C H A P T E R X I I .

A R A A M E M R B H S HO A KE .

R A A M OE M A E R AB H SH K was the eldest son of George ,

r. J , and Sarah Wall Shoemaker, and was born Third

1 6 16 . month th , 9 7 H e was no doubt named for his

u ncle Abraham , one of the emigrant children , and mar

2 6th 1 2 2 ried First month , 7 , Amelia Livezey (spelled in Abington Meeting Records Amely Abra ham and Amelia have left a long line of descendants ; among them was Benjamin , a son , who married Mary

Comly, and who are spoken of later as the grandparents of Benjamin H allowell they were the parents of Robert , also of Mary, who married her second cousin Thomas .

’ — (She was the writer s great grandmother . )

Robert, mentioned above , was the father of Richard

- M . Shoemaker, one of the best remembered residents

ho emakerto wn - of S , whose great old fashioned cou ntry store was the wonder of the country folk , containing

“ as it did everything, from a needle ! almost! to an

! O anchor . It was pen ed abou t the begin ning of the

1 present centu ry and continu ed u ntil about 85 6 . H is

T E A E L H E S HO M K R FA M I Y . 79 house of stone still stands nearly opposite the toll

gate , but now subdivided into three small dwellings .

Richard M . was the father of Robert, Benjamin H

- and Charles B . Shoemaker, prominent business men in

Philadelphia , and conn ected with numerou s charitable

and ﬁduciary institutions . They are often designated

“ ! as the Fou rth and Race Streets Shoemakers . Rob ert seems to have been the only one of his and the preceding generations of George and Sarah ’s line who took any interest i n preserving records of this branch . Living as he has most of his life on part of the original tract owned by Richard Wall , and being inter e sted info r in family history, he saved much valuable m ation , particularly that of a local character, which it

an is now impossible to obtain from y recorded sou rce . This knowledge and his assistance is ever cheerfully given to all applicants who are desirou s of tracing ou t

their family lines . Many were the stories told by the

O ld residen ts about the war times , when the B ritish and

Americans alternately held possession of the country .

’ Martha Leech Shoemaker, Robert s grandmother, u sed to tell him that after the battle of Germantown a party of redcoats (the Ol d lady always called them redcoats) chased an American soldier u p the York Road and TH E E M A E F 8 0 S HO K R A M I L Y.

lace down past their p (the old Leech hou se). H e took a short cut across their lawn and over their porch , in an attempt to pu t the house between himself and his

pu rsuers . As he crossed the porch they ﬁred , bu t he kept on and plunged into the Tacony Creek , close at hand , and she was never able to learn whether he m escaped or was killed . At another ti e a party with the same - colored coats made a raid up the York Road

u and paid them a visit . It was j st after the Seventh

’ day s baking was done, and the tables were loaded with pies and bread . Coming into the house and ﬁnding

S this plenteous pread suited their appetites exactly ,

they were not long in cleaning everything up . They

- l then made a search for the flou r barre , and taking all ! e the ou r there was , they con tin ued th ir raid u ntil they reached the pigsty ; here they captu red the fam

’ il s y supply of winter pork , and being satisﬁed with the varied assortment of edibles , departed without molest ing the family . Another line of Abraham and Amelia was that of a

2 o th 1 0 son William , who on Tenth month , 7 5 , married

Su san na Richardson . They had eleven children . Wil

- liam was a large land own er, and entailing his estate led

w 1 8 to a lawsuit by his grandson Le is , in 3 3 , to try and recover the lot on the sou thwest corner of Ninth and

8 2 H F TH E S OE III A K E R A M I L Y.

I I C H A P T E R X I .

O L E E T BY CH .

TOBY LE E CH became an ancestor of a large num ber of the Shoemaker family through the marriage I of saac Shoemaker to Dorothy Leech . Toby Leech appears to have been a man of much prominence in

. 1 68 2 those days H e arrived here in , probably , as

Bean surmises, with Richard Wall . H e seems to

have had large means, from the extent of his landed holdings and the variou s branches of business he

“ engaged in . In a deed he is described as Gentle

, ’ man o while in a book of his still in existence is his signature and a motto in Latin , written in a business

u like hand . H e took p six hundred and fou r acres

land of in Cheltenham , under warrant, for which a

th 1 06 patent was issued to him Eighth month 9 , 7 in addition , he owned several thousand acres in other

’ lar e o rtio n sections of the State, a part being a g p of

I - Reedy sland . At Cheltenham he had a grist mill ,

- - tan yard , and ovens where he baked sea biscuit, which he hauled to the city and sold to the shippers . His

TH E S E M A E R FA M I L 8 HO K Y. 3

house is still standing . The photograph of it I made du ring the past summer . Between the house and the

O ld - road ru ns the mill race, whose waters are still

— used by what is now a fork factory , j ust below . Buck ,

“ ! “ in his History of Montgomery County, says, The old mansion still stands , and is now the property of

John Thomson . As may be expected , at this period , I it presents a uniqu e and venerable appearance . t

- is of stone, two stories high , forty two feet long, and

— - ﬁve from twenty four to thirty feet in width . The heavy oak balustrades of the stairway and the S ingular architecture of the arch entrance leading from the

! hall into the parlor impress one with their antiquity . The bricks used for the chimneys were brought from

r England , while the heavy oak joists we e cu t from the primeval forests . Toby and his son (Toby, Jr . ) signed the remonstrance addressed to Governor Markham ,

h 1 b 1 2 t 6 . March , 97 . To y, Sen , sat in the Assembly

’ ’ ’ ’ 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 3 , 4, 5 , 7 , and 9 . It has been claimed for

him that he built the ﬁrst brick house in Philadelphia, corner of Second Street and Chu rch Alley ; but I

t very strongly doubt if this was the ﬁrst in the ci y . I think there is little question that Toby was a

be member of the Chu rch of England , and never longed to Friends . Certainly all efforts to ﬁnd his TH F 8 4 E S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y.

name mentioned in their minutes have failed . It has been stated that he gave the ground on Which Trinity

Chu rch , Oxford , stands . This I have little doubt is an error . It has always been u nderstood that when George Keith left the Society of Friends some of his followers took the meeting —house they had been u sing

: to worship in . Keith himself speaks of it as follows

“ ! F ranckfo rt — The place at in Pennsylvania, alias

it Oxford , as he had before written , where the con

’ re atio n g g assembles on the Lord s day , is called

Trinity Chapel . It was fo rmerly a Quaker meeting hou se built or ﬁtted by Quakers , bu t some time ago had been given to the church by su ch who had the right to it . Rev . Evan Evans, for many years min

1 0 ister of Christ Chu rch, Philadelphia, wrote , in 7 7 ,

“ to the Society - in England for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts , in which letter he

“ t says , Trini y Church in Oxford Town ship , lies in the Cou nty of Philadelphia , 9 miles from the City, where for the ﬁrst fou r years after my arrival in Phila delphia, I frequ ently preached, and administered both the sacraments , and had when I preached in it , about

140 people— most of the people brought over to the

Chu rch of England from Quakers , Anabaptists , and

! other persuasions .

T R INITY O ! FO R D CHURCH .

’ / 86 TH E S H OE M A K E L F A AI I L Y .

O f Besides the ﬁces named , Toby was a ju ror for the

1 1 1 laying out of the York Road in 7 , and a county

1 1 8 . 1 1 0 commissioner i n 7 O n April 9 , 7 5 , he bought from George and Sarah Wall Shoemaker two hu ndred

ﬁft - ﬁ ve - acres of land for y pounds , about a dollar and a quarter per acre .

H is will is long and voluminou s . To his wife he

S wills all his cash and a silver tankard and poons, also

t for y pounds per annu m du ring her pu re widowhood,

“ also his negro Cate for her own proper u se , to dispose

of as she seems fit . The whole nu mber of slaves he wills is eight, while the land amou nts to some thousands of acres . It is a little remarkable that while Richard Wall was so actively identified with the first efforts to establish the Society of Friends in Philadelphia, Toby Leech , another ancestor of this branch , was equally connected in with that of the Chu rch of England . It would be tere s ting to know positively whether this was the first parish of this Chu rch in Philadelphia County, but it is difficult to positively arrive at the facts . Dorothy Leech apparently became a Friend when she married Isaac

’ Shoemaker, so that none of Toby s Shoemaker de s cendants were ever members of Trinity Church ,

Oxford , at least in early times . TH H E I E S O II A K E R FA M I L Y. 8 7

C H A P T E R X I V

A M E I S A C S H OE A K R .

As mentioned in the last chapter, Isaac, the second

son of George , J r and Sarah Wall Shoemaker, mar

2 8th 1 2 ried Sixth month , 7 7 , Dorothy, daughter of

r Toby, J . , and Hannah Leech . Isaac was named , no

’ doubt, after his uncle , George s brother, spoken of in

Chapter VI .

Isaac died young , and there is little of interest known of him ; bu t what he lacked in this particular is made up by his wife, Dorothy, who proved herself worthy of her ancestry, and fully capable of caring for herself and children after the loss of her husband , as the following agreement testiﬁes to

Articles of Agreement, mu tually made, concluded and agreed upon , ye sixth day of November, in the year of ou r Lord one thousand and seven hu ndred and

— w forty six , bet een Dorothy Shoemaker, of Cheltenham , in ye County of Philadelphia, in ye Province of Pensil H R A L 88 T E S HOE M A KE F M I Y.

w iddo w vania, , on ye one part, Richard Mathers in ye

’ s d cou nty, yeoman , of ye second part, and John Tyson ,

’ s d of Abington in ye county, yeoman , of the third

be part, witnesseth that there is a proposition made

’ tween ye s d parties for building or erecting on ye land now in ye tenu re or possession of ye said Dorothy

Shoemaker , in ye said Township of Cheltenham , a

- - corn grist water mill , to be built jointly, and in partner

— ship , between ye said parties , that is to say the one

’ t s d - moie y or half part of ye mill , mill race , and darn to be at ye cost and charge of ye said Dorothy Shoe

adms maker, her heirs , exs , and , and one quarter or

’ s d - fourth part of ye mill , mill race and dam to be at

’ s d ye cost and charge of ye Richard Mathers, his heirs ,

adms exs , , and the other quarter or fourth part of ye

’ ’ s d - s d mill , mill dam and race to be at ye cost of ye

adms John Tyson , his heirs , exs , , and in like manner ye premises to be so kept in repair, as the same may

’ require from time to time forever by ye s d parties in like manner as is above mentioned thereof, and it is

’ agreed u nto that the land allotted for building ye s d

’ s d mill on , and for other conveniences abou t ye mill

(ye race and darn excepted) is to begin at Toxo ny

Crick , opposite ye said Dorothys present garden , at ye

’ s d place of crick , commonly called an d known by the

’ 0 TH E S H E M A K E A FA M I L 9 O Y.

’ Richard Mathers and John Tyson as soon as ye s d

S mill hall be ready to ru n .

’ And it is further agreed u nto by and between ye s d

’ parties that ye s d mill when made shall be tended as

’ s d miller and boulter, by such person as ye Dorothy

adms Shoemaker, her heirs , exs, or , shall from time to time appoint at ye common share , as is usual at other

mills to be allowed for that trouble to millers , and ye

’ s d adms Dorothy Shoemaker, for her hei rs , exs , and ,

’ s d and ye Richard Mathers , for himself, his heirs , exs ,

adms end evo u rs and , doth promise to use their utmost

’ to procu re (when ye heirs of ye s d land whereon ye

’ s d mill shall be erected and stand with ye other land

’ and privel egs above mentioned for ye ben eﬁt of ye s d mill) a good su fﬁcient deed of conveyan ce thereof to

’ s d be made to ye Dorothy Shoemaker, Richard Math ers , and John Tyson , to hold to them , to the u se of them their heirs and assigns forever . And it is also further

’ agreed u nto by and between ye said parties that ye s d

adms Dorothy Shoemaker , her heirs , exs , , or assigns

’ shall hold and enjoy on e—half of ye s d mill and proﬁts

’ thereof forever ; and that ye s d Richard Mathers and John Tyson shall hold the other moiety or half part of

’ s d ye mill and proﬁts thereof to ye use of them , their

’ — s d heirs , and assigns , in severalty , whereof the par

1 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 9 ties to these presents have hereun to set their hands and seals .

Dated ye day and year above written . Sealed and Delivered in the presence of

“ D OR OTHY SH OE M A K E R RICH A R D M A TH E R S

A BY GA I L J E NKIN S J OHN TYS ON

! STE PH J E NKIN S .

The site selected for the mill was some three hu n

’ dred feet from Dorothy s house, which I have supposed

Wall to have been built by Richard , while the race ran , and still does , between the house and the mill . Richard

’ Mather married Dorothy s cousin , Sarah Pen rose, in

1 2 . 7 7 , but who John Tyson was I do not know The presence of the mill undoubtedly had much to do with the growth of the little town , as it became a centre for the su rrou nding population , who here fou nd a market for their wheat and corn . When ru nning fu ll time it had a capacity of one hu ndred barrels of ! ou r

1 1 2 a day . On Sixth month 4th, 7 5 , John Shoemaker

- bought the one quarter interest of John Tyson . H e

- Old was the eldest son of Dorothy , and twenty six years

’ at the time . When Richard Mather s interest was pu r

chased by the family I do not know .

1 6 Dorothy died in Eighth month , 7 4 . H er will is 9 2 TH E S H OE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

8 1 . No . 7 , Book N , page 74 She left her estate equally between her children , John , Isaac , Thomas ,

- in- Joseph, Esther, and Sarah . To her son law , Nathan

Sheppard , she gave ten pounds, and named her sons

John and Isaac her executors . John took out letters

! testamentary, Isaac being deceased .

Moses , son of Nathan and Sarah Shoemaker Shep pard, moved to Baltimore, and became a wealthy and

prominent man in bu siness circles . Being u nmarried , he left his large estate to fou nd the hospital which

t bears his name in that ci y .

Th e fact that there were at this time two I saac S hoemakers presum

1 0 ably about the same age , one of whom died in 74 and the other in

1 1 L 74 , both of whom married granddaughters of Toby eech , who were

—viz r each named Dorothy , Dorothy , daughter of Toby , J . , whom we

H es have above , and Dorothy Penrose , daughter of Bartholomew an d

L maI ried 1 2 2 — r ter eech Penrose , in 7 , leads to confusion unless ve y R S carefully investigated by any one following up these lines . obert hoe

in a I maker his list of interments has been led into error , s he states saac ,

1 1 S S . I t who died in 7 4 , was a son of George and arah hoemaker was

1 0 their son who died in 74 , and whose widow built the mill .

TH E S E M A E R FA M I L 94 HO K Y.

children of their own , were very fond of them , and would invite those of the n eighbors to a little party , when they would have a treat of fruit and cake and other luxu ries , which were served on the lawn ; and some of the old residents can even now remember how John would go arou nd and shake hands with and speak to the various you ngsters . They were mu ch beloved by all their n eighbors for their many kindly acts . Jane was almost like a mother to her three little half- o r

haned p cousins , Nathan , Ann , and Martha Shoemaker,

who , after they grew up , felt and appreciated the great debt they owed her .

1 18 w On April , 4 7 , the mill and d elling passed ou t of the possession of the family into that of its new

own er, Charles Bosler, whose son Joseph runs the mill , but it has been so altered and modernized as to bear little resemblance to what it originally was . Other grandchildren of Dorothy were David and

Jonathan Shoemaker, who removed to Georgetown , ,

D . C . , in the early part of this century, where their descendants now are ; one , Dr . William L . Shoe

a maker, is poet of note ; another, Julien Shoemaker, resides in Philadelphia, and is a member of the J . B .

Lippincott Company . David was drowned at about

the age of seventy, while swimming in the Potomac

TH E S H OE M A K E R FA M I L Y. 95

in company with President Adams . Jonathan held

a number of positions of public trust ; among them was that of a member to revise the Constitution of

Pennsylvania . H is appointment reads as follows

Please take notice that you are Elected and re

turned as a Member of the Convention for the Coun ty

of M o ntgy

SE A L .

A L E ! A NDE R SOL L E R S ! S E A L !

“ S A A A V S E A L I I H D I S . ! ! “ October 14th 17 89

“ A A E A E E R O O M R S . J N TH N S H K , Q

While residing in Northumberland County he was justice of the peace , and among his papers was found the following in teresting document

Cir cul ar ) “ S I R

“ I have received creditable information that, in the

beginning of the present month , a party consisting of a Surveyor and fou r hands who were u nderstood to be in the employment of persons claiming under the Con

neticut title , were on the Pen nsylvania line i n the neigh

bo rho o d 1 2 of the 9 mile stone, intending to make a su rvey and run off six townships of land within the ter

rito rial bou ndaries of this State . It is suggested , like T E F 96 H S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y.

wise, that another party had been previou sly out with a similar view , but were retu rned to the Susquehanna . U nder these ci rcumstan ces , it is incumbent u pon me to repeat my urgent request, that most vigilant attention may be paid to enforce the law for preventing any in trusion upon lands within the Pennsylvania jurisdiction .

I am persuaded the au thority , prudence and energy of the Magistrates , will be competent to prevent, or pu nish the evil but if any lawless V iolence or opposition e should arise , which they cannot effectually suppr ss and

- repel , I have instructed Brigade Inspectors of Luzerne ,

Lycoming, Northu mberland, and Northampton to fu r

nish , on the request of the Magistrates such aid from

the M ilitia , as the exigency of the case shall from time to time require . The peace, harmony, and honor of our Government , may p robably , depend upon a tem p o rate but ﬁrm resistance of any attempt to violate the territorial rights , and legislative provisions of the State and the Solicitude which the Legislatu re has expressed

upon the Subject , claims from me and from every public

- f co . o ﬁcer, a zealous operation It is my wish , therefor that the Judges of the Common Pleas , the Justices of

the Peace, and the other public ofﬁcers of you r County, should convene at some seasonable time and place , to concert the most effectual measures for Asserting and

8 TH E A R F M 9 S HOE M KE A I L y .

with whom she was intimate , and spend the day in social chat . There was certainly no cause in those times for complaint that ou r rulers were not demo cratic enough .

Was Jonathan intimate with Thomas Jefferson , and

effe r one day when they were going over an accoun t, J son disputed an item in a business transaction . Jona than went on to the next item , with the simple remark , It has always been a maxim of my life to suffer rather

! than contend . Jefferson was so struck by it that he requ ested him to repeat it . H e did so , with the result that Jefferson stated he was prepared to go as far as his friend in the application of this Quaker maxim , and

’ passed the item withou t fu rther comment . Jonathan s

grandson , Dr . William L . Shoemaker, wrote the follow ing appropriate sonnet on the episode , which was pub

' lish d Wasnzn ton S tar 1 8 18 : e in the g of October , 79

- NON R E S IS TA NCE .

' — I t has al ways been a maxim of my life to suﬁ er rather than co ntendf yonatlzan

mas eman S hoemaker to Tho ﬁ f .

Better it is to suffer than contend .

The proud foreﬁ nger of the hand of might

But seldom points the way to truth and right .

ho w True victor he whose will knows to bend ,

A nd to the strife so puts a speedy end .

TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 99

Perchance a ray from reason ’s lamp may light

Th e clouds of wrong that dim the hostile sight

A strong conviction to the conscience send .

The love of self blinds us to what is just ,

’ A nd leads us to o errate our proper due

A n A d play the tyrant . wise man is he

Who yields the point , yet not because he must , L ﬁ ike a whipped hound ; nor nds he aught to rue ,

F r . o , conquering pride , he still in soul is free

Jonathan and his ﬁrst wife are bu ried in a little grave

’ 1 80 yard , which he gave about 9 to the Friends Meet

w n ing , located on I Street, bet een Eighteenth and Ni e te enth Streets , Washington , D . C . The plot is in the

S O f hape of a rhomb , which the fou r sides measu re n about one hu ndred feet . It is situated ear his old

homestead , abou t where the intersection of Connecticu t

Avenu e , when extended , will meet the Columbia Road, and close to the romantic banks of Rock Creek . A

number of the family are interred within its borders , as

S cho ﬁ eld well as members of those of the Seever, ,

M cPhe rso n , and Janney families . Few stones mark

- their last resting place , while through neglect it is fast being overgrown with trees , and is simply enclosed by

- - A S a post and rail fence . the city is rapidly building ou t towards it, it is most likely only a question of time

when it will be obliterated and forgotten . 1 0 0 TH E S E M A F HO KE R A M I L Y.

- O f A half brother David and Jonathan , before men tio ned , was named Thomas Shoemaker, and was , of cou rse , a grandson of Dorothy . H e remained at Shoe makerto w n “ , an d was commonly called Squire . His house, of which we have a pictu re, stood on the site of

’ ’ A . J . Engle s present store . Thomas s daughters , Ann and Martha , married Bartholomew Mather and H ugh

Fou lke respectively, while his son Nathan stu died med icine U , graduating from the n iversity of Pennsylvania

th 1 1 n l o 8 0 . Fou rth month , H e comme ced practising in Frankford, bu t upon the invitation of his friend Dr .

T . C . James , removed to Philadelphia , where he soon built up a large and lu crative practice , residing at No .

8 1 6 Chestnut Street . Later in life he removed to a

. 8 0 house he owned at No 3 Arch Street, in which he

1 868 . 18 0 t remained un til his death in In 3 , when for y

two years of age, he felt constrained to speak in Meet

“ ing, as he expresses it in his jou rnal , all u nworthy and u ns anctiﬁ ed as I felt myself to be, I was induced to

! 18 O pen my mouth in the ministry . In 3 5 he was an acknowledged minister, and thereafter a frequ ent

1 8 1 1 speaker of mu ch ability . H e married in Frances

Maria Kirkbride, a descendant of Joseph Kirkbride ,

N ew 1 68 2 who settled in Jersey i n , and took a promi nent part in the histo ry of that colony . Dr . Shoe

H MA KE R M . D. NATHA N S O E ,

10 2 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

appearance , strong character, combined with extreme

mathema simplicity and modesty, an astronomer and tician of recognized ability, and a minister in the

Society of Friends , being loved and implicitly trusted by all who knew him . h t 18 . H e died Ninth month 7 , 7 7 A writer said of

“ him , As teacher, lectu rer, philanthropist, and Friend,

! he ﬁlled a wide sphere of u sefulness . H is sister,

Mary S . Lippincott, had many of his traits of char acter ; she was born at her grandfather Benjamin

' O f Shoemaker s house , corn er York Road and Chelten

2 rd 180 1 . ham Aven ue , Sixth mon th 3 , She educated herself as a teacher, and with the exception of thirteen years following her marriage , continued in this voca tion until her eightieth year, mu ch of the time at

Moorestown , New Jersey . She was an approved min ister in the Society of Friends , and was clerk of the

’ Philadelphia Woman s Yearly Meeting twenty~two

years . She had a strong character, vigorou s intellect, and was greatly beloved . She died in Camden , N ew

18 th 18 88 - Jersey , Fou rth month , , aged eighty seven years , her mental faculties being bright to the last. as born at her grandfather Benjamin h d ouse , corner of York Roa and Chelten

2 d 1 1 r 80 . Sixth month 3 , She educated

F I L 10 TH E S HOE M A KE R A M Y. 3

C H A P T E R X V I .

TH E A M E OTHE R S OF N .

TH E R E are others of the name who do not seem to have been any connection of ou r family, and yet who have been mistaken for them , so that it seems well to give a brief outlin e of thei r history, as it may save some confusion to members of both sides .

First come the Shoemakers of H erkimer Cou nty ,

N ew York , who settled in that portion of the Mohawk

Valley known as Tyrone Township . They, with the

H erkimers , with whom they afterwards intermarried ,

e . were the patentees of this s ction . Michael M Shoe maker informs me that his father removed to Cin

“ ! cinnati 1 8 6 in 3 from the Mohawk , and married a

Steiner, of Fredericktown , Maryland , who was related

’ to the Carrols and others of that section . Michael s grandmother Shoemaker u sed to say that one of t he original Shoemakers settled in Pennsylvania , while the

other selected New York . This is only tradition . Probably the most reliable accou nt is fou nd in Ben

’ “ !

1 8 . ton s H istory of H erkimer Cou nty , page 3 H e 1 0 4 TH E S H OE M A KE R FA M I L Y. states “ there were two brothers of the name (Shoe

in — w maker) the list of patentees , Ludolph , after ards called Rudolph , and Thomas . They were both young and u nmarried when they came to the German Flats .

“ Benton fu rther says , In looking into the Document

’ ary H istory of the State , I ﬁnd the name Schumaker

1 10 among the Palatinates immigrants of 7 , from which

! the present name Shoemaker is derived .

Rudolph Shoemaker married Gertrude , sister of

General Nicholas H erkimer, and there seems to have

been a large number of descendants , many of whom

O f occupied various public ﬁces , being members of the

18 1 2 Assembly, and represented du ring the war of

as O fﬁcers in the American army . Their means and early settlement in the valley gave them prominence .

It is possible that, as they came from the Palatinate,

they were originally the same family as ou rs , bu t they do not appear to have ever belonged to the Society

of Friends , being, until the present generation , mem

bers of the German Reformed Church . This differ ence of religious views is , however, no proof of a difference of family . While a few remain in the

! ’ Mohawk , many have scattered , Michael s father

going to Cincinnati , his uncles , Matthew Shoemaker settling i n Toledo , Colonel Michael Shoemaker in

1 0 6 TH E S E M A R F HO KE A M I L Y. pounds of like money which he hath Received of my

! w effects in Germany . H e then provided for his wido and distributed his property , amou nting to several thousand pounds and a nu mber of acres of land , among his children , Frederick , Jacob, Adam , Elizabeth , and Barbara .

“ t Rupp , in his H istory of Northampton Cou n y , states that at a Cou rt of Record (the ﬁrst, I think)

rd 1 2 held at Easton , October 3 , 7 5 , among the persons

“ ! su mmoned to serve on the Grand Inqu est, but who failed to appear, was Benjamin Shoemaker. At the same date the sheriff appointed him and two others as commissioners . A Michael Shoemaker also at that time was appointed constable, showing several of the name located there . The line of Benjamin evidently

81 0 “ : C . was as follows Mu nsell , i n their History of

! “ r Wyoming Cou nty, say, Elijah Shoemaker, J . , was

1 8 . born at Forty Fort, Ju n e 4, 7 7 H is parents were

M cD o w ell Elijah Shoemaker and Jane , daughter of

M cD o w ell John , of Cherry Valley , Northampton

Cou nty, Pa . The grandparents of Shoemaker were

Benjamin and Elizabeth Depuy Shoemaker, both among the earliest settlers in the neighborhood of Strouds

Pa bu rg, Mon roe County, . The former was of Ger

1 man origin . Benjamin died in 7 75 , leaving two sons , 10 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y. 7

Elijah and Daniel , and six daughters . Daniel and his

’ sisters , after their father s death, removed to N ichols ,

State of New York , while Elijah purchased land in the

! ’ ! Wyoming . Miner s history of The Wyoming gives

“ a full accou nt of Elijah . It states , Among the list of the ﬁrst two hu ndred enrolled as actual settlers bear

2 1 6 . ing date Ju ne , 7 9, appears that of Benjamin , Jr

This , I presume , was the Benjamin spoken of above , who probably took up the land which his son Elijah bought from the estate after his death .

Elijah seems early to have become a military man , and is designated as lieutenant . At the sixth town

1 1 meeting, held October 7 , 7 74 , he and fou r others were appointed a committee “ to mark a road from the Sus

! 1 8 quehanna . In 7 7 , on July 3 , the terrible massacre of the Wyoming took place . The little band of three hu ndred on whom the defence relied were utterly

and unable to hold their own against the British Indian s . Miner’s accou nt states that Elijah was second in com

mand of on e of the six companies . The description of

“ his death is as follows : All the sweet charities of life

seemed extingu ished . Lieutenant Shoemaker, one of

- the most generous and benevolent hearted men , whose d wealth enabled him to ispense charity and do good ,

- f which was a delight to him , led to the river, when 1 0 8 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

Windecker, who had often fed at his board and drank

‘ ! ! ’ of his cup , came to the brink . Come out come out

’ ‘ w said he, you kno I will protect you . H ow could he doubt it ? Windecker reached out his left hand as if to lead him , much exhausted , ashore, and dashed his tomahawk into the head of his benefactor, who fell back f ! r. and loated away . It was from Elijah , J , born j ust a

’ v month previou s to his father s death , and who su rvi ed

O f the massacre , that those the name who reside in

Wilkesbarre are descended . They have retained the prominent place secu red by their ancestors .

TH E F S HOE M A KE R A M I L Y.

’ plexion , and , as we have seen , came from George s brother Isaac, while Robert is dark and a typical Shoe

’ maker of George s line . It is hardly probable that this

’ remark of Samu el s was original , for he spoke of it as a family tradition which the distinctive coloring of the two lines had handed down .

A small number O f the family of George and Sarah Wall Shoemaker remain around the old site at Shoe makerto w n , many have located in neighboring counties , a few have drifted back to the ﬁrst home of the family

re in Germantown , while others have wandered to the

mo tes O f . . t . parts the cou ntry , D r R H Shoemaker planting the family on the California coast . It is a little

remarkable , however, that so many of the members of the various lines have remained tru e to the faith for w hich their ancestors sacriﬁced their home and country, settling in a wilderness in order to enjoy religious toleration . While none seem to have done anything very bril

liant, as Friends set little store on worldly prefer

ment or wealth , they have all , so far as I have fou nd, been reputable citizens , ever ready to do their duty to the commu nity in which they resided , guiltless of deed or action which required covering in order to spare the blush of shame to descendants . Is not this record , ex 1 1 1 TH E S HOE M A KE R FA M I L Y.

tending as it does over more than two centuries, on e we should be proud of ? And is it not largely due to those moral and religiou s precepts and trainings which are so characteristic of the Society which ou r ancestors suffered so much to be members of ? For even where persons cease to belong, it takes several gen eration s to eradicate what is born in the blood and handed down

u nconsciously in this way to posterity .

TH E A K E O TH L QU R F E O D E N TI M E .

Th e Quaker of the olden time I

H ow ﬁ rm ru calm and and t e , U nspotted by its wrong and crime H e walked the dark earth through

The I nst of power , the love of gain ,

The thousand lures of sin A round him , had no power to stain

Th e purity within .

With that deep insight which detects A l l great things in the small , A nd knows how each man ’s life affects

The spiritual life of all ,

H e walked by faith and not by sight ,

By love and not by law ; The presence of the wrong or right

H e f l t rather e than saw .

H e felt that wrong with wrong partakes

That nothing stands alone , 1 1 2 TH E S E M A E R FA M I L HO K Y.

Tha-t whoso gives the motive , makes

' H is o w n brother s sin his .

A nd , pausing not for doubtful choice Of evils great or small ,

H e listened to that inw ard voice

Which called away from all .

0 S pirit of that early day ,

S o pure and strong and true

Be with us i n the narrow way

O ur faithful fathers knew .

the Give strength evil to forsake ,

The cross of Truth to bear , A nd love and reverent fear to make

O ur daily lives a prayer

H I E R W TTI .