Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Information compiled by Carol Rand,
The following information is a discussion of what I know about the early Shawvers. I am a great-granddaughter of John Laney Shawver of Logan County, Ohio. He collected a lot of information about the Shawvers during the 1920's and published this information in his genealogy magazine called “The American Register” as well as in booklets published by the Shawver Publishing Co. in Morrison, Illinois. I have all of John Laney Shawver’s genealogy magazines, some private correspondence from various Shawvers written about 80-120 years ago, one of his diaries, and some genealogy notebooks. My grandmother, Frances “Kathryn” Shawver Miksch received most of his materials, and collected a lot of material on her own before she died at the age of 98. I received all of these materials and have been studying genealogy on my own for about ten years. I do not know much about the Virginia-West Virginia Shawvers but am probably as knowledgeable as anyone about the descendants and ancestry of Daniel Shawver, born 1781. I have recently developed a new theory about who his parents were. I will divide my discussion into various topics that will shed some light on the early family traditions.
WHAT WERE SOME OF THE “FAMILY TRADITIONS” THAT JOHN LANEY SHAWVER WROTE ABOUT?
Tradition 1. “The first Shawvers in America used the spelling Schaber.” For most of the Shawverswho migrated to Ohio and Virginia,this theory is correct. However someShawvers may have descended from other immigrants with similar surnames..
Tradition 2. “Three brothers, named Daniel, George, and John, immigrated to America. Daniel settled in PA, and George in VA.” I think this theory is probably erroneous. I believe that most of the VA-West VA Shawvers descended from Sebastian Schaber, who immigrated in 1753. Sebastian’s son George [who married Mary Gillespie?] is apparently the “brother George who moved to Virginia.” The “brother John” in this tradition also settled in Virginia and may prove to be related to Sebastian.I believe that the Daniel Shawver born 1781 and others in this area of Ohio [Jefferson/Carroll Co and Logan Co. OH] actually descended from Johann “Christoph” Schaber who immigrated in 1752 and settled in Tulpehocken, Berks Co., PA. I will discuss my reasons for this belief in another section, below. There may prove to be a relationship between these two immigrants, but I do not know of any at this time, since I have not studied the German records. There are also other immigrants with similar names who may or may not be related, including a Hans Georg Schaber who came in 1752 and an Andreas Schaber who came in 1762. An Andrew Schaber settled in Lancaster County in 1759. [This also does not include a lot of other immigrants with similar surnames.]
Tradition 3. “Daniel and George came to the US by way of Switzerland, where they fled to avoid being conscripted into the army.” I don’t know where this oral tradition came from; both Sebastian Schaber and Johann Christoph Schaber immigrated from Wuerttemburg which is in southern Germany near Stuttgart, according to German records translated by Don Yoder. [Reference: Otto Langguth, Pennsylvania German Pioneers from the County of Wertheim, trans. and edited by Don Yoder. Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, c. 1948.]
Tradition 4. “The brothers came from Saxony.” This tradition may have come from the fact that in German Saxony is “Sachsen”. John Christoph Schaber came from the town of “Sachsenhausen” which sounds like the German word for Saxony. In my 1892 German atlas I find a Sachsenhausen, Wurttemberg, north of Stuttgart about halfway between Stuttgart and Heilbronn. [There are also other Sachsenhausens near Frankfurt, but Yoder’s found records for Johann Christoph Schaber from Wuerttemburg.]
WHERE DID THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EARLY SHAWVERS COME FROM?
John Laney Shawver traveled a lot as a lecturer for the Farm Institute. He also designed and helped built many of the plank frame barns in the midwest. His travels included trips to GA, WI, NY, MI, IN, MO, FL, IL, WV, NJ, and Toronto as well as many cities in Ohio. Information from John Laney Shawver’s diary indicates that as he traveledhe tried to make acquaintance with other Shawvers, and he corresponded with many of them to try to establish relationships and toget material for the Shawver lines that he published in his genealogy magazine. Also, as a grandson of Daniel born 1781, he had a big extended family and gathered much material from his cousins. He was also probably acquainted with descendants of Sebastian Shawver of the Virginia Shawvers. The 1840 census for Logan County OH shows several Shawvers in Lake Township that include Boston Shawver, probably from the VA line. Daniel Shawver born 1781 and his sons were living in and around Harrison Township in the same County. Considering that both immigrants came with the spelling Schaber which changed to Shawver, the Logan County Shawvers hadprobably made an assumption that the two immigrants must have been brothers. Unfortunately John Laney Shawver’smaterial does not contain documentation except in some cases giving the name of the those who compiled certain lines. Thus any of the early material is subject to errors, especially in cases where he may have assumed that certain lines were related and where he took “oral tradition” as fact. His material can certainly serve as a good starting point but should be verified from other sources especially since many researchers have found errors in his assumptions .
WHO ARE THE PARENTS OF DANIEL SHAWVER, BORN DECEMBER 23, 1781?
I have always had trouble locating any records on Daniel Shawver before he came to Ohio. According to John Laney Shawver’s records, Daniel was born 23 December, 1781. John Laney Shawver. reported that Daniel was born either in Westmoreland, Co., PA ornear Hanover, York Co PA, but I have never found anything to support this theory, but did notice a concentration of similar names in and around Berks County, PA on the 1790/1800 census records. Supposedly Daniel’s father was another Daniel born about 1760, and his mother’s name was Rosena. He supposedly had brothers namedJohn and Jacob.[Carl E. Shawver writes about 1950 that he thinks there were also brothers named Christopher and Elias. John Laney Shawver at one point thought that there might also bebrothers named William and George.] In his 1880 diary John Laney Shawver says that his grandfather Daniel “never knew his exact age, since he was among the youngest of the children, and his father died while he was yet quite a child.” The diary adds that Daniel came from a family of at least five sons and three daughters.
After trying unsuccessfully to find PA records in Westmoreland and York for Daniel and his family, I started looking at the early Jefferson County Ohio land records. Daniel bought a parcel of land dated 26 Oct., 1804 in Range 4, Twp 11, Section 35.Jacob Shawver bought a parcel next to Daniel’s, indicating that at least these two were closely related. These parcels were located in Buffalo Township, which is now Loudoun Township, Carroll County. A Christopher Shawver was located nearby in what is now now German Township, Carroll County, as well as John Shawver a little further east [Cross Creek Twp]. Several parcels were bought and sold by these Shawvers over the years. I found a will abstract for Christopher Shawver in Greene Township, Harrison County, OH,where he moved sometime about 1810. The will abstract gave his age at his death in 1817 at the age of 52, which means that he was bornabout 1765. Christopher was married to Margaret [died 1849, age 75, according to cemetery records] and had sons named John, Samuel, Jonathan, Elias, and Jacob, which are very similar to the names that Daniel gave to his sons.Christopher was buried in Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Harrison County, the same cemetery where Daniel’s father-in-law George Shultz is buried. The Daniel Shawver descendantsin Logan County were also Lutherans. I found no mention of previous residences for Christopher, Daniel, or Jacob, but land records saythat John had come from Loudoun County, Virginia, before coming to Ohio. Later I found a reference to Daniel Shawver in J. H. Beer’s Biographical Record of Carroll County, Ohio, pub. Chicago, 1891, 1978 reprint. Page 1107 quotes Daniel George Shaver, b. 1843 as saying his grandfather, Daniel Shawver lived in Loudoun County, Virginia for a few years before coming to Ohio. The same book says that most ofthe early settlers of Loudoun Twp., Carroll County camefrom Loudoun County, VA. The Beers book says that John Shawver had a son, George, b. 1810 d. 1883 who married Elizabeth Slates. The surname is spelled many different ways on the early Ohio records, including Shaver, Shover, Shober, Shaffer, Shever, Schauever, Sawrer, Shovel, Shayer, Shiver, and Shober. Other early settlers with similar names are found on the 1820 Jefferson County census,including Philip and Andrew Shiver or Shaver in Archer Township and Nicholas Shafer and John Shobar in Smithfield Township.
Suspecting that at least Daniel, John, Jacob, and Christopher are probably closely related, I have been searching for a Pennsylvania family that had these sons and matches what we know about Daniel Shawver. I recently tried usingthe LDS site at
Rootsweb records also gave both a birth and christening date for some of the children, and listed sponsors for the children. Because I already had some information about Christopher and Maria Eva Rosina Schaber from Don Yoder’s Pennsylvania German Pioneers from the County of Wertheim, 1709-1786, I knew that Christopher had moved to Penn’s Twp, Northumberland (now Snyder Co.,), where he left a will in 1793. I have not yet checked the will, but found a will abstract for this Christopher in Fisher’s Wills and Administrations of Northumberland County, PA. Dated 8/14/1793, Christopher’s will named his wife, Maria Eva Rosina, and children Christopher, Catherine (Mrs. Paul Heim), Barbara (Mrs. Abraham Markley), Elizabeth (Mrs. Philip Foulkrod), John, Philip, Andrew, Jacob, Rosina, Daniel, Magdalena, and Anna Maria. Note that the names of four sons are the same as the four Shawvers in early Jefferson County records, and that the names of the other two sons, Philip and Andrew appear in Jefferson County records by 1820. Note also that the daughter Eva Rosina was here called “Rosina”, leading credence to the idea that her mother was also called “Rosina.” [ The first name, “Maria”, in German naming customs was usually a biblical name given at birth but not used as a given name.] I would guess that after the death of their father, some of the sons at least moved to Loudoun County, VA and from there to OH.
This Christopher Schaber and wife Rosina were married in 1762. The birth of their first child listed in the Zion Red Church records, Berks/Schuykill records was in 1771, 9 years later. The Christopher who came to Jefferson County was born about 1765. The “Early Pastoral Acts” at Rootsweb says that the original church was destroyed along with its records during the Indian wars and was not rebuilt until 1770, thus accounting for the lack ofbirth records for the eldest children in this family.
LDS records say that Christopher who married Rosina was the son of the immigrant Johann Christopher Schaber [who came from Saschenhausen in 1752 on the ship Phoenix]. LDS records say that this immigrant’s wife was Anna Catherina Schriener, born in Sachsenhausenin 1711. This couple came with two children, who must have included the Christopher who married Rosina. Thus the immigrant John Christoph/Christopher was probably born a little before 1711, and his son was born sometime about 1742 in Germany, probably Saschenhausen. Anna Catherina Schaber, widow, was listed as the sponsor for Daniel’s sister, Maria Elizabeth, born 1771, so she was still alive then.
I have a Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1538-1940 on a CD from Family Tree Maker that says Anna Catherina Schreiner Schaber [1711-1783] was an immigrant to PA in 1752.
For ancestors of Maria Eva Rosina Strauss who married Christopher Schaber, see the LDS site. Her birth and that of her siblings are listed in Stoever records. Maria’s grandfather Martin Zerbe apparently came with the German Palatinates and Conrad Weiser to New York about 1710 and should be found in some of the New York records.
WAS THERE A “BROTHER DANIEL?”
Yoder’s book states that John Christopher Schaber and wife immigrated with two children, so there may be another brother. Also, another child or two may have been born in PA. I have not check John Christopher Schaber’s will yet, but according to LDS records, he died in 1757. I find records of his administration only, so he may have died itestate. I will be checking it to see if there is more on this family.
Interestingly enough, though, the 1790 census for Northumberland County, PA, where Christopher husband of “Rosina” was living at the time of his death in 1793, shows Christopher “Shaffer” on page 193 and a “Daniel Shaffer” on the same page. There were 7 males and 7 females in Christopher’s family, which matches the number of family members of the Christopher who died in 1793. This Daniel had only the father and one other male, as well as two females. There are several other “Shaffers” in Northumberland County, but not on the same page.
I would welcome any additional information and comments from others who have done Shawver research.
Carol Rand
PS: I just got through checking the 1810 OH tax index, thinking that some of Christopher and Rosina’s daughters may have also gone to Ohio. I did not find any records for Heim or Foulkrod, but found several Markley’s in Jefferson, county, including 2 Abraham Markleys. There was a Peter Markley lived in Green twp, two Abraham “Marricle” families in Island Creek Twp, and a Matthias Marcle in Buffalo Twp. These could be related by marriage to the Shawvers and lends credence to the idea that they all may have come from Berks County. [Also, George Shultz, Daniel’s father-in-law, is reported to have served in the American Revolution from Berks County.]
More Replies:
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Mark Gardner 9/24/03
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Carol Rand 9/24/03
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Mark Gardner 9/24/03
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Carol Rand 9/24/03
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Joanne Vaughn 4/13/03
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Carol Rand 7/06/00
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Gail Breitbard 12/27/04
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
wayne markle 7/01/00
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Carol Rand 7/03/00
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
wayne markle 7/03/00
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Carol Rand 7/06/00
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
wayne markle 7/16/00
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
Carol Rand 7/28/00
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.
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Re: Daniel b. 1781 parents of, new info.