History: Family: The SHOEMAKER (SCHUMACHER) Family: Philadelphia County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera. tsh@harborside.com USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ ____________________________________________________ The following is from The Strassburger Family and Allied Families of Pennsylvania, by Ralph Beaver Strassburger, 1922, pp. 375-390. THE SHOEMAKER (SCHUMACHER) FAMILY Peter Schumacher, the earliest known ancestor to come to this country, was a native of Criesheim, in Kriegsheim, Germany, the name being so changed in 1752. He was born about 1622 and came to Germantown, PA in 1685. When William Penn visited Kriegsheim in 1677, among the inhabitants at that time were Peter, Jacob and George Schumacher, either brothers or cousins, all of whom gave up their native land for new homes in America. Jacob Schumacher came to America with Daniel Pastorius in August 1682. George Schumacher, with his wife Sarah and seven children left London in 1685 for America. George died at sea and the others arrived at Germantown on 20 Jan 1686. [NOTE by Archivist: Early ships lists show the following: Ship: The Jeffrey : Date of Arrival:Ê1st month, 20, 1686ÊÊMaster: Thomas Arnold This could mean 20 of April 1686. OS. Ê Sarah Shoemaker (widow) and children: George, Abraham, Barbary, Isaac, Susanna, Elizabeth and Benjamin.] The Schumachers were Mennonites, but had been among the earliest accessions to the faith of George Fox at Kriegsheim, under the preaching of William Ames, an English Quaker, who labored in that section from 1655 until his death in 1662. About this time fines of five shillings were imposed upon dissenters from the established church for assembling for worship, and among the greatest sufferers are found Peter and George Schumacher, their cattle and household goods having been seized and sold to pay these fines. Peter had made an agreement with Dirck Sipman, of Crefeld, dated 16 Aug 1685, that upon arrival in Pennsylvania, he would receive from Herman Op de Graeff, 200 acres on which he should erect a dwelling, and for which he should pay a "rent of two rix dollars." In addition to those 200 acres, Peter Schumacher, on 6 Oct 1685, purchased of Herman Isaacs Op de Graeff, Dirck Isaacs Op de Graeff, and Abraham Isaacs Op de Graeff, another 25 acres (a half lot) in Germantown. After his settlement in Germantown, Peter Shoemaker soon became an active citizen and man of importance in the community, and was one of four persons who signed the certificate of Samuel Jennings in 1693, as a delegate from the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting to the Yearly Meeting in London. Peter Shoemaker was about 64 years of age when he came to this country. His wife, whose name is not known, had apparently died in Germany before the date of his emigration. According to Judge Pennypacker: "Besides his son, Peter Jr., and his three daughters, Mary, Frances, and Gertrude, who accomanied over, he had two others. The fifth child, a daughter, married Dielman Kolb. She died in 1705, aged 53, and is buried at Wolfsheim in the Palatinate, never having emigrated. The sixth child, also a daughter, married Reynier Hermans Van Burklow, who in 1704 removed to Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland." Peter Shoemaker, the settler, died in Germantown in 1707, aged 85 years. It is not known where he was buried, but it is presumed he was laid to rest in the old Shoemaker Burying Ground. This graveyard, the final resting place of so many of this family, lies on the south side of the present Cheltenham Avenue, in the early days called Graveyard Lane, just west of York Road. Six acres were bequeathed by Richard Wall, the elder, to Friends of Cheltenham in 1697-8 for a burial place, but the ground must have been used for burial purposes several years prior to that date. In the early Friends Meetings, it is referred to as the Cheltenham Burial ground; it was long known in the surrounding country as the Shoemaker Graveyard, but when it was first so called, is now not known. There is no will on file, nor were there any letters of administration taken out on his estate at the time of his death. Children of Peter Schumacher (Shoemaker): 1. Peter Shoemaker, Jr., born in Germany; died about 1 Apr 1741; married by Friends Monthly Meeting, Abington, 6 Feb 1697 to Margaret Op De Graeff, who died 14 Jul 1748. He was an active member of the Society of Friends, and also took an interest in the affairs of the town. Under the Germantown Charter, he was one of the Burgesses in 1686, 1704, 1707. 2. Mary Shoemaker, born in Germany, accompanied her father to America. Nothing further is known of her. 3. Frances Shoemaker, married in Abington meeting on 28 May 1690 to Isaac Jacobs. 4. Gertrude Shoemaker, accompanied her father to America. Nothing further is known of her. 5. ______ Shoemaker, born 1652 in Germany, married Dielman Kolb. She died in 1705, aged 53, and was buried at Wolfsheim in the Palatinate, having never emigrated to America. However, all of her children except the two eldest, emigrated to Pennsylvania. 6. ______ Shoemaker, married Raynier Hermanus Van Burklow and moved to Bohemia Manor, Cecil Co., MD in 1704.