Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Shoemaker, Ryerson 1911
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Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net July 9, 2011, 12:02 pm

Lyons Herald, 6 Apr 1911

Ryerson Shoemaker, for a great many years a resident of Pewamo, and perhaps the 
oldest person in eastern Ionia county, having celebrated his 98th birthday 
March 29, died at his home here last Friday, March 31st.  He had been in poor 
health for a great many years and his death was not unexpected.  The funeral 
was held form the Baptist church Tuesday morning, Rev. W. W. Hurd officiating.  
Interment was made in West Side cemetery.

Ryerson Shoemaker was born in Barrington, Yates county, N.Y., March 29, 1813 
and died March 31st, 1911, aged 98 years and 2 days.  He was the son of John 
and Anna shoemaker and was the sole survivor of a family of eleven children.  
On October 30, 1830, he was united in marriage to Miss Sallie McDowell and to 
them was born nine children, five of whom are left to mourn his demise; John 
Shoemaker of Lyons, Mrs. Emily Gee, Mrs. Huldah McLoud and Farley Shoemaker, of 
Pewamo, and Mrs. Ithiel McLoud of New York.  In 1867 Mr. Shoemaker came to 
Pewamo and located on what is now the B.L. Pierce farm where his eldest 
daughter, Mrs. Daniel Pierce, then a widow, was living, and where he remained 
until the next year when he bought the farm he owned at the time of his death, 
south of town, and where his family came that year to join him.  In 1880 they 
moved to town, purchasing the home he lived in at the time of his death, his 
wife dying Feb. 20, 1889.

While on a visit to relatives in New York in 1893 he was married to Mrs. Lydia 
Hoagland on Oct. 18th of that year.  Returning to Michigan they made their home 
here, living happily until the death of Mrs. Shoemaker in 1897.

The deceased was a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was 
active in its’ affairs until prevented by poor health several years ago.  

His death marks the passing of another of Michigan’s pioneers; one of the good 
old sturdy stock that has made this state famous among the sisterhood of states 
for the progress she has made.  When he first saw the light of day the British 
fleet was trying to regain the supremacy of the seas and Andrew Jackson was 
building undying fame at New Orleans.  The west was farther removed from the 
east than India is today and nowhere in the world was there a single steam 
engine or a mile of railroad.  During the lifetime of this man the United 
States has grown from a few struggling colonies to the mightiest nation upon 
the earth.  Forests have given way to cities and the red men have become nearly 
extinct.  What a wonderful thing to have lived through the construction period 
of a great nation and to know the mighty strides humanity has made.  May his in 
the great beyond be the reward of a deserving lifetime.


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