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Shoemaker

My interest in Mennonite genealogy came due to a twist in my own family studies. I had for a long time assumed that my family were basically of English/Scottish stock. However, when I looked into my paternal grandfather's family tree I found that one should not make assumptions. His mother was Hannah McKay. But I wondered about her name because Hannah was not that common with my Scottish ancestors. It turns out that her mother was Martha Shoemaker who was born to Jacob D. Shoemaker and Jane Dunbar in 1831 near Kitchener, Ontario. Jacob had immigrated to the Kitchener(then called Berlin) area in the 1830's from Pennsylvania. Henry McKay immigrated from Scotland converted to the Mennonite faith, and became minister to Bethel Mennonite Church 1875-1902 located in Elgin County, Ontario.

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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Schrack on July 15, 2009 at 9:41am

Thanks for sharing that, William, it's always interesting to run across these non-Germanic families who married into an Anabaptist community! It's great that you persevered in your research, rather than making the easy assumption.
There are Shoemakers in my family too, though they're not my direct ancestors. These are from Rockingham Co., VA, which had a large German-speaking community who settled there from Pennsylvania. My friend Cheryle descends from Elizabeth Shoemaker, the first wife of Jacob Hoover, while I descend from his second wife, Elizabeth Lamb.

Permalink Reply by Cheryle Hoover Davis on July 18, 2009 at 3:02pm

Hi William and Bonnie!

I am the one Bonnie is speaking of, the descendant of Jacob Hoover and Elizabeth Shoemaker.

Good to meet you, William!

Permalink Reply by William Bruce Hillman on July 18, 2009 at 9:59pm

Hi Ladies,
I am happy to have heard from you both. I might add that one thing that peeked my interest was how did a wild highlander just arrived from Scotland woo and wed a mennonite lass from pennsylvania? The research turned out to be quite interesting. I learned quite a bit about the mennonnite community in Ontario. These Shoemakers were from Frederick township in Montgomery County. They immigrated to Ontario in 1830 where they did quite well. The lineage seems to run in the following way- Martha Shoemaker(My great great grandmother)-her father Jacob D. Shoemaker-his father George Tyson Shoemaker- Jacob Shoemaker-Jacob Shoemaker(this one immigrated to the US sometime in the early 1750's)-and one more Jacob(born in Switzerland). One thing I can see that the Scots and Mennonnites share is a real short list of christian names for their sons.

Shoemaker

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