GEORGE SHOEMAKER married MARGARET MILLER
Armstrong County, Pennsylvania her people past and present, embracing a history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families v.1
Chicago: J.H. Beers, 1914
Pg.496
MERVIN L. SHOEMAKER,a prominent farmer of Madison Township, owns and occupies the old homestead where he was born Sept. 29, 1879, son of JOSEPH B. and MARGARET A. (FERGUSON) SHOEMAKER.
GEORGE SHOEMAKER, his great-grandfather, with six brothers JOHN, SOLOMON, ADAM, SIMON, SAMUEL and DANIEL, emigrated from Germany to America prior to 1770, and first settled in Loudoun County, Va.In 1798 or 1800 GEORGE SHOEMAKER settled at Cochrans Mills, in what is now Burrell Township, Armstrong County.His wife was MARGARET MILLER, and their children were: ISAAC; JOHN; PETER; DANIEL; GEORGE; JESSE; JOSEPH; CATHERINE, MRS. BLOGHER; MARGARET, MRS. HIND; and HANNAH, MRS. UNCAPHER.Of these,
PETER SHOEMAKER was the grandfather of MERVIN L.He settled in what is now Mahoning Township, Armstrong County, near Oakland, in 1824, having purchased 200 acres of land from his cousin PHILIP SHOEMAKER, who had settled there in 1814.His death occurred in 1872.He married SARAH RINGER, who bore him twelve children, ten of whom grew to maturity: ISAAC, WILLIAM, PETER, JESSE; JOSEPH B.; GEORGE; MARY (who married THOMAS MONTGOMERY); CATHERINE (who married SAMUEL YOUNG); MARGARET and SARAH.
JOSEPH B. SHOEMAKER was born on the old homestead in Mahoning Township July 31, 1839, and there was reared to manhood.He settled in Madison Township in 1864, owning a tract of land of about 160 acres there, which he cleared and improved, and died there March 13, 1900, in his 61st year.He was a prominent farmer in his day, and his farm was considered the most valuable in Madison Township.He owned the first combined reaper and mower brought to the township.In early life MR. SHOEMAKER was a member of the German Baptist Church, but later he became a member of the Free Baptist Church at Deanville, of which he was a deacon for many years.He held various township offices, was a Republican in political sentiment, and an advocate of prohibition.
He married MARGARET A. FERGUSON, whose death occurred May 19, 1912.She was the daughter of SAMUEL FERGUSON, a native of Ireland, who was a pioneer of what is now Mahoning Township, clearing and improving the farm now owned by JOSEPH FERGUSON; his death occurred there.MR. and MRS. SHOEMAKER reared a family of seven children, as follows: CARRIE, wife of F. E. CLAYPOOLE; HOMER H.; ORA A.; JUNIE F., wife of ADAM SHINDLEDECKER; BERTHA G., wife of JOHN SHINDLEDECKER; BERTHA G., wife of JOHN SHINDLEDECKER; MERLIN L., and CLAUDE C.