The Shoemaker Family - Solomon Shoemaker

 

Solomon Shoemaker, father of George Shoemaker, the well-known old resident of this county, was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1770, and emigrated from there to Armstrong in the fall of 1799. Prior to his becoming a pioneer here he had married Miss Elizabeth Uncafer, who was also a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and born in 1774. Upon their arrival here Mr. Shoemaker entered 360 acres of land, and built upon it a cabin in which he and his wife lived until 1806, when he completed a stone house, which served them as a more comfortable home. This house, the first of its kind erected in the township, is still standing, but is commencing to show the ravages of time. In it Mrs. Shoemaker cooked over the great fireplace all of her married life, never owning a cookstove. In this old house, too, she used the spinning-wheel, and spun the flax from which she made all of her own, her husband's and her children's clothing. She died in 1846, and her husband in 1854, after rearing a family and passing through the hardships and privations peculiar to the life of the pioneer. There were born to them six children, three sons and three daughters, whose names where: John, Joseph, Catharine, George, Margaret and Elizabeth. The three first named are living. George Shoemaker was born May 26, 1804. He now owns a portion of his father's old homestead farm, which he has cleared and brought into a fine state of cultivation, principally by his own labor. He lives upon this land, about 225acres, in a house which he built in 1834. Mr. Shoemaker married in December, 1826, Miss Elizabeth Grimm, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1808. The fruits of this union were six children, whose names with dates of birth are as follows: Jacob, born September 21, 1827; John, November 1, 1830 (died in 1864, leaving a wife and three children); Catharine, February 11, 1834; Elizabeth, August 23, 1838; Mary, June 22, 1845, and Solomon, April 6, 1847. The parents of Mrs. George Shoemaker, Jacob and Margaret (Silvees) Grimm, were both born in this state and were early settlers in Westmoreland county where they lived until their deaths. They had twelve children of whom Adam, Margaret and Elizabeth are living.

Source: Page(s) 615, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed December 2000 by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by Jeffrey Bish for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)

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