| Sex |
Male |
| Eby ID |
00112-6996 |
| Person ID |
I13066 |
| Last Modified |
02 May 2004 |
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| Family 1 |
Mary Kunder |
| Children |
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| Group Sheet |
F3525 |
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| Notes |
Jacob Shoemaker, "the old progenitor was born in Canton, Berne, Switzerland, and when a lad of twelve years of age he, in company with his parents and others, moved to Pfaltz, Germany, where they, with other co-religionists, were promised freedom to worship the God of their fathers according to their views of the Bible. After residing here some twenty years they were subjected to the same persecutions as they were in Switzerland. Owing to the continual persecutions by the state party for not conforming to the church of the state, the old progenitor after the decease of his parents turned his face towards America, to which place he emigrated, for he had full confidence in the proclamations of William Penn who had proclaimed that all could worship the God of their fathers according to their views of the teaching of His Word and the dictates of their conscience. Such privileges our worthy ancestor, Jacob Shoemaker, considered a complete recompense for all his losses and privations in forsaking his friends, acquaintances, and native home. In May, 1737, he landed at Philadelphia and settled for a few years in Germantown. In spring, 1743, he moved to Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. All attempts made to ascertain his exact date of birth, to whom he was married and when he died proved fruitless owing to the fact that the family Bible, together with other records, were burnt with the house in which his son resided. Tradition has it that he was married to Mary Kunder and that he was about seventy-five years of age when he died and that his death took place some time during the year 1751,(So the late D . S. Shoemaker of Three Rivers, Michigan, informed the writer that the Progenitor died three years before his grandfather was born which was in 1754), consequently he must have been born in the year 1676, and was therefore 61 years of age when he came to America. He had a numerous family but all, save four sons died in infancy. The names of these were..." |
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| Sources |
1. [S2] Vol II A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., Ezra Eby, 446 [View page(s) from the 1895-96 edition]
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Region of Waterloo