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Shaver Genealogy
John Shaver & Mary Blackwelder of North Carolina, Tennessee, & Arkansas


Preface
Historical Narrative
Descendant Listings
Documentary Sources
Discussion Groups
DNA Research
Other Links
Acknowledgements


Preface

Many of the Shaver families in the USA trace their ancestry to this couple, who were married in what is now Cabarrus County, North Carolina in the late 1760s. This web site is intended to be a compendium of the research done on John Shaver and Mary Blackwelder and their descendants. Much has been published on this family in various historical books and family histories, some of it accurate, some not so accurate. As is often the case with family histories, once something is in print, it often is considered to be "gospel". It is my hope that this web site will facilitate a critical examination and discussion of the facts, legends, and myths surrounding this Shaver family and to allow us Shaver researchers and descendants to learn more about our origins and our relatives' contributions to early America. The best way to separate fact from fiction and to resolve conflicting information is to go back to the primary sources (see Documenting Your Genealogy Research - Guide to Citing Sources). These include records of marriages, births, deaths, and burials, census listings, Bible records, tax lists, probate and land records, etc. The information in the descendant listings on this web site will include documentation of the primary sources as much as possible, and transcriptions of many of those sources will be presented in links below. This is a working document and not necessarily definitive, since much of it is based upon information found on the Internet or in published secondary sources. It will be modified and (hopefully) improved as more researchers provide input and, most importantly, evidence.


Historical Narrative

John Shaver was born about 1745 in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to Peter Schaeffer and Dorothy (Miller?). Peter Schaeffer's father is thought to have been Joseph Schaeffer, who arrived in the 1709-1710 Palatinate immigration (from Germany by way of London, England) to New York. (The surname was Anglicized to Shaver in the mid-1700s.) Not long after John's birth around 1745, Peter moved his family from Pennsylvania to the New River settlement in southern Virginia (in present-day Pulaski County). In the early 1750s, they moved again to Cape Fear River in Bladen County, North Carolina (the northern half of which became Cumberland County in 1754). The land on which they settled was "opposite the mouth of Rockfish Creek", which places it about five miles south-southeast of present-day Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina.

By the late 1760s, John Shaver left Cumberland County and settled along Cold Water Creek in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in the part that became Cabarrus County in 1792. Around 1769, John Shaver married Mary Blackwelder, a daughter of John Adam Blackwelder and his wife Catherine (maiden surname unknown). Mary's family name, Blackwelder, was Anglicized from Schwarzwalder after her father's immigration to America from Germany. John Adam Blackwelder arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from Germany on 14 September 1738 aboard the ship Friendship. He was born in Durrn, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany in 1715. The Schwarzwalder ancestry has been traced back to John Adam Blackwelder's great-great-grandfather Jacob Schwarzwalder, who died in 1646. See my Blackwelder Genealogy web site.

John Shaver served as a Private in the North Carolina Militia during the American Revolution.

Where did the John Shaver and his wife Mary live? Cold Water Creek and its tributary Little Cold Water Creek are just to the east of the present-day town of Concord in Cabarrus County (formed in 1792 from Mecklenburg County), along the road to Mount Pleasant. Mary's father John Adam Blackwelder received a grant of 156 acres of land in 1762 on "little Coldwater and waters of rocky or Johnstons river", which he sold to Mary's brother Charles Blackwelder on 26 September 1794 . This is where Mary lived at the time of her marriage to John Shaver. (Many of the current residents of this part of Cabarrus County are descendants of John Adam Blackwelder or his brother Caleb Blackwelder.) On 2 November 1784 , John Shaver received a grant (from the State of North Carolina) of 150 acres of land along Cold Water Creek.


Present-day Cabarrus County, between Concord and Mount Pleasant, along Cold Water and Little Cold Water Creeks (highlighted area is Little Cold Water Creek; Rocky River is about four miles south of the confluence of Cold Water Creek and Little Cold Water Creek)

The John Shaver family appears in the 1790 census of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Salisbury District, page 367):

At this time, the household consisted of two free white males of 16 years and upwards, six free white males under 16 years, four free white females, and no slaves. It is not clear if these numbers include non-relatives living in the household. There were seven sons (Peter, John, Daniel, Michael, Joseph, Charles, and Jacob) and four daughters (Rachel, Leah, Elizabeth, and Easter). Some of these children may have been born just after this census, in the early 1790s.

On 20 January 1794 , John Shaver sold the last of his land in Cumberland County (160 acres, a share of the 640 acres owned by his father Peter Shaver, who died intestate some years earlier). This deed was signed by both John Shaver and his wife Mary, and is the only known piece of documentary evidence showing his wife's first name.

Around 1796, John Shaver was one of 418 signers of a petition (John Melchor's Petition) involving fishing rights along the Rocky River and its tributaries in Cabarrus County. Cold Water Creek and Little Cold Water Creek are tributaries of the Rocky River. (His signature is at the top of this web page.)

On 18 April 1796 , John Shaver purchased one of the original lots in the newly-formed town of Concord - "Lot No. 4 in the South East Square . . . beginning at Union Street". This was located at the southeast corner of Union Street and Corban Street (across the street from where the Cabarrus County Courthouse building is currently situated). His family appears in the 1800 census of Cabarrus County (page 686):

John Shaver's household in 1800 consisted of six free white males (four under age 10, one of 16 and under 26, and one over 45), five free white females (one under age 10, two of 10 and under 16, one of 16 and under 26, and one over 45), and three slaves. It looks like his three oldest sons (Peter, John, and Daniel) had left the household, perhaps having already moved Sumner County, Tennessee, where John Shaver's brother Michael had settled and died a few years earlier.

John Shaver sold his lot in Concord in August 1802 . On 21 September 1803 , he also sold to William McGraw "land joining sd. McGraws land on the west side of Coldwater containing eight acres".

Four of John Shaver's children were married in Cabarrus County (dates of marriage bond given).

5 November 1798 - Rachel to John Cline
29 November 1803 - Leah to Matthias Mock
9 Apr 1807 - Elizabeth to George Letsinger
7 Sep 1808 - Joseph to Mary Corzine

John Shaver does not appear in the 1810 Cabarrus County census. Had he already moved the rest of his family to Sumner County, Tennessee? (Unfortunately, the 1800 and 1810 federal censuses for Tennessee have been lost.) The 1811 tax list of Sumner County lists two John Shavers (John and his son).

Two of John Shaver's sons were married in Sumner County (dates of marriage bond given).

18 September 1805 - Daniel to Josa Chaddock
1 October 1811 - Michael to Elizabeth Mock

John Shaver's daughter Elizabeth apparently died before 1812, as her husband George Letsinger remarried in Sumner County, Tennessee (bond dated 30 May 1812) to Elizabeth White.

The last record of a John Shaver in Cabarrus County (for this era) is a deed dated 2 September 1815, in which he sold 178 acres of land "on the road leading from Concord to Charleston" to William McGraw. The deed says that this John Shaver was of Cabarrus County, but our John Shaver and a number of his married children were already in Sumner County, Tennessee by this time. (Was this land deed for the same John Shaver?)

Nothing more is known about Mary (Blackwelder) Shaver. We don't know if she lived long enough to move with the rest of her family from North Carolina to Tennessee.

At least three of John Shaver's sons (Charles, Joseph, and Jacob) served in Tennessee militias during the War of 1812. (The United States declared war against Great Britain on 18 June 1812. The Treaty of Ghent, signed on 24 December 1814, officially ended the war, but word was slow in getting to the soldiers in the field (and on the sea), so the Battle of New Orleans was fought 8 January 1815 and was a disaster for the British.) Jacob's unit was involved in the Battle of New Orleans.

Sometime between 1815 and 1818, John Shaver and many of his children left Sumner County, Tennessee to settle in sparsely-settled Lawrence County in the Missouri Territory. (Lawrence County became a part of Arkansas Territory upon its formation in 1819, when Missouri applied for statehood. Randolph County was subsequently formed on 29 October 1835 from the part of Lawrence County in which the Shaver family had settled. Arkansas became a state in 1836.) This was about 260 miles due west of Sumner County, Tennessee. Perhaps Jacob, Joseph, and Charles traveled in that area during their service in the War of 1812 and learned of settlement opportunities there.

John Shaver remained in Lawrence County (Randolph County after 1835). At the time of the 1830 census, he was in his 80s and was one of the oldest men in the Arkansas Territory. He was the only white person in his household, along with 11 black slaves. John Shaver left a will dated 22 March 1832 ; the will was proved 10 March 1835 (after his death):

"Lawrence County, Arkansas Territory I, John Shaver of said county and territory knowing that it is impossible by the irrevocable decrees of heaven unto all men once to die and feeling myself far advanced in the evening of life and by common causes of nature I know that my time of probation on earth will not be long. I therefore avail myself of the opportunity while I am of sound and disposing mind to make this my last will and testament. And in the first place I recommend myself to God who gave it and my body to its mother dust from whence it came to be enterred in a decent and Christian like manner. As it relates to my Estate, I hereby dispose of it in the following manner. At my natural death I will and bequeath unto my legal heir Peter Shaver, John Shaver, Daniel Shaver, Joseph Shaver, Michael Shaver, Jacob Shaver, Charles Shaver, Rachel Clien, Lear Mock, Easter Murray, each of the above named legatees to have an equal part of my estate both real and personally and to Elizabeth Lisenger, daughter of Elizabeth Lisenger decd., my daughter, I will and bequeath one hundred dollars to be paid by my Executors when legally demanded by her or agent. Also to the above named Easter Murray and the lawful heirs of her body, I wish to have an equal part with the rest of my heirs. I furthermore say and declare in this my last will and testament that John Murray (who married my daughter Easter Shaver) shall never have the privilege of selling, trading or in any way disposing of any of my estate whether personal or real but I do hereby will and bequeath it to my daughter and the heirs of her body exclusively to themselves for their use and benefit and not to be subject to the control or use of said Murray in any way whatever. Also to the heirs of Leah Mock I will and bequeath an equal part with the rest of the Legatees my last will and testament is that my Executors who I shall hereafter name shall demand all the legatees has any of the property in hand which property I have not bargained nor sold to any of them if they bring it forward to the Executors and receive their part in full, if not they must account to the Executors for the same. Peter Shaver has one girl name Lilly I suppose to be worth six hundred dollars, John Shaver one girl named Fanny worth seven hundred dollars Daniel Shaver one woman named Ann and two children worth one thousand dollars, Joseph Shaver one girl named Harriet worth five hundred, Jacob Shaver one girl name Polly worth six hundred dollars, Charles Shaver one boy called Green worth six hundred dollars, Easter Murray one girl Sopha worth six hundred dollars. The property shall be brought forward within twelve months after my decease by being notified by the Executors which said property if not brought forward to the time they shall receive at the above named price in part or all of their ... (illegible). All which negroes when re-turned shall be under the full control of and management of my Executors which I shall appoint as to what shall be in my posession at my death and I do hereby appoint Daniel Shaver and Michael Shaver my sons both of the county and territory above named to be my lawful Executors and to manage the business of my Estate at my death and I do not wish my Estate to come under the manage of the court more than it is compelled to be by (law) only to sanction my will. My Executors shall pay my taxes, fur-nish me with necessities which they shall be paid for extra to their part. I wish my property to be man-aged with the least expense, my real estate I wish divided without sale if to the satisfaction of the lega-tees. I wish the Executors to take my property in hand at my decease and manage it to the best advan-tage as I repose confidence in them. And I do hereby disannul and make void all former wills, revoking all former wills and testaments by me made and hereby declare by these presents this to be my last will and testament made and delivered by me in possession of my right mind uncontrolled by any person whatever, In Testimony whereof I have hereto set my hand this 22 March A.D. 1832.
Signed and acknowledged in the presence of us
Burwell J. Wiley
Levi Fletcher
John (his X mark) Shaver"


Descendant Listings

Over 6,400 descendants of John Shaver and Mary Blackwelder have been identified. Most of John and Mary's children raised their families in Tennessee and Arkansas, and many of this Shaver family live there today. A study of this family shows how the population of post-Revolutionary America increased so quickly. John and Mary Shaver had 11 children, 83 grandchildren, and over 427 great-grandchildren.  Here is a listing of their descendants (through four generations):

[Note: To view the Adobe Acrobat documents, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. This can be downloaded free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. You can download the files to your disk to view them, or use your web browser with the appropriate plug-ins.]

Children of John Shaver & Mary Blackwelder

Descendants of Peter Shaver (#1) & Susan Anderson?
Descendants of John Shaver (#2) & Rebecca Claxton
Descendants of Rachel Shaver (#3) & John Cline
Descendants of Leah Shaver (#4) & Matthias Mock
Descendants of Daniel Shaver (#5) & Josa Chaddock & Mary Murray
Descendants of Elizabeth Shaver (#6) & George Letsinger
Descendants of Michael Shaver (#7) & Elizabeth Mock
Descendants of Joseph Shaver (#8) & Mary Corzine & Anne Searcy
Descendants of Charles Shaver (#9) & Rebecca -----
Descendants of Easter Shaver (#A) & John Murray
Descendants of Jacob Blackwelder Shaver (#B) & Thurza Moss

GEDCOM (Shaver, Generations 0-4)
Index of Names

Explanation of Format of Descendant Listings


Documentary Sources

USA Federal Censuses:

1790
1800
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1900
1910
1920
1930

USA Notes (Vital Records, Wills, Deeds, Tax Lists, Cemeteries, etc.):

Arizona
Arkansas
California
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Missouri
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Oregon
Tennessee
Texas
Washington

Miscellaneous
World War 1 Draft Registrations

Biography of Jacob Blackwelder Shaver (#B)

See my library of digital images  (photos, newspaper clippings, etc.) related to this family.


Discussion Groups

GenForum - Shaver
RootsWeb - Shaver


DNA Research

A new tool in genealogical research is the use of genetic markers in DNA to establish family relationships. See Genetics, DNA and Health History. The Y-chromosome is passed down from father to son to grandson to great-grandson, etc. along the male line (as are surnames in many modern western societies). Occasionally, due to random mutations, one or more of the genetic markers may change in an individual and be passed down to his son that way (similar to a surname changing from Schaeffer to Shaver). Standard tests are available (based on a cheek swab) to identify 12, 25, 37, 67, or 111 markers on the Y-chromosome. (The more the markers, the more precise the identification; I strongly suggest 37 or more markers, in order to be useful for genealogical purposes.) All direct male descendants of John Shaver would have a very similar, if not identical, set of markers (or haplotype). Someone with a surname of Shaver (or some variation), whether or not they had done in-depth genealogical research, could compare their haplotype to known John Shaver direct male descendants to see if they were likely to be a direct male descendant of John Shaver. Likewise, the John Shaver haplotype could be compared to haplotypes of other families to see if these families were closely related in Germany.

I would like to establish a confidential database of haplotypes of John Shaver's direct male descendants to give us a tool to identify John Shaver descendants and to find closely related Shaver families from Germany. We know what John Shaver's haplotype is, based on results found so far. We are hoping to find variability in this haplotype (mutations at certain markers) that are unique to certain branches of his direct male descendants. By using these markers, we can determine which branch a person belongs to based on their Y-DNA, even if the documentary evidence is meager. Ideally, we would need several samples (of at least 37 markers each) from direct male descendants of each of John's grandsons (only those with the Shaver surname). See which of the 19 grandsons of John Shaver (those who have living direct male descendants) are represented: ShafferDNAProject-JohnShaver-MaryBlackwelder-Participants.pdf.) I am also very interested in participants who are descended from other Shaver families who were in North Carolina before 1800, particularly those who lived near Cabarrus and Rowan Counties. Some of these families were in Tennessee by the 1790s, preceding John Shaver's family relocating there.

The Family Tree DNA testing service is one of the most well-known. If anyone is interested, please contact me by e-mail. The tests range in price from $99-$339, depending upon the number of markers, when ordered from Family Tree DNA as a part of the Shaffer DNA Project.

John Shaver belongs to Y-DNA haplogroup R1b1a2. (This haplogroup is also known as R-M269. It was formerly called R1b1b2 until the ISOGG renamed it in 2011.) It is the most common haplogroup in western Europe. Further analysis (with a "deep clade test") has refined the haplogroup designation for John Shaver to a specific subclade known as R1b1a2a1a1a (or R-U106). John's haplotype (set of Short Tandem Repeat, or STR, markers) is shown on the y-Results page. (Hint: Look at the cluster of samples highlighted in bright yellow. The Patriarchs page shows the lineages of the project participants who are descendants of Peter Schaeffer, John Shaver's father.) All descendants of John Shaver and his wife Mary Blackwelder will fall within this same haplogroup and match the haplotype within just a couple of differences over 37 markers. Likewise, descendants of other Shavers from Germany who are close paternal relatives of John Shaver will closely match. Anyone of a different haplogroup, or differing from John's haplotype by more than just a few markers out of 37, cannot be considered to be of the same Shaver family. Note the extremely close match to German immigrant Johannes Nicholas Schaefer, whose son Johannes ("John") settled in Rowan County, North Carolina. Johannes Nicholas Schaefer is very likely a close relative to John Shaver's father Peter Schaeffer.

This DNA project is open to other Shaver/Schaeffer/Shaffer families with German heritage. It will establish if there is any relationship between these families and ours prior to John Shaver's generation. In addition, it will help differentiate between the various Shaver/Schaeffer/Shaffer families in the USA and Canada, especially where the documentary evidence is lacking.

To help defray the cost of the testing, I have set up a Shaffer DNA Project fund that will allow those of us without the Shaver Y-chromosome (such as females born with the maiden name of Shaver) to jointly share in the cost of this project. If everyone interested in this avenue of research can contribute a little from time to time, it will greatly help to increase the level of participation by direct male descendants with the "right" DNA. If you would like to take advantage of the fund for your test, let me know. Those of us not fortunate enough to have the Shaver Y-DNA chromosome may help others out by contributing.


Other Links

Blackwelder/Schwarzwalder Genealogy - John Blackwelder & Elisabetha Maushardt

Kiser Genealogy - Michael Kiser & Mary ----- of Pennsylvania & Virginia


Acknowledgements

Many people throughout the years have contributed to this Shaver genealogy.  Naming all of them would be difficult, but I'd like to acknowledge significant contributions by a few individuals.

First of all, I owe a great debt to my grandfather Demus C. Kizer who in 1968 sparked my interest in genealogy by sharing his stories about growing up in rural Arkansas during the early 1900s.  I was 11 years old at the time, and was fascinated hearing about all of the different families and how they were connected.  I immediately started writing to my Kizer relatives, sent away for census records and Civil War pension files and have kept going ever since.

Grandpa Demus's maternal grandmother was Thurza Malinda (Shaver) Kizer. When I started researching my Shaver ancestry in 1971, I lived in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. From Grandpa, I learned of a Shaver relative, also living in San Jose, named Mary Alice Hamm. Alice (age 70, a retired high school teacher, living with her elderly mother and aunt) was an absolutely wonderful person. She was delighted to find a teenaged boy so interested in genealogy, and she eagerly shared the research she had done on her Shaver family during the previous 40-50 years! Among her findings was a letter from her great-aunt, dated 1923, that stated "Jacob Shaver was my father and married Thirza Moss. And my father's mother's maiden name was Blackwelder." Other records showed that Jacob Shaver (my 3rd-great-grandfather) was born in 1792 in what is now Cabarrus County, North Carolina. His mother Mary (Blackwelder) Shaver was believed to be a daughter of John Adam Blackwelder, who came to America in 1738 with his family.

In the early 1980s (after I had moved to Bakersfield, Kern County, California), I kept in touch with Alice and visited her in San Jose frequently. I had done quite a bit of work in the 1970s and early 1980s on the descendants of Jacob Shaver (son of Mary Shaver). Around 1982, Alice introduced me to a distant Shaver relative named W. Cary Anderson, then a college professor in the South American country of Colombia. Cary was planning to write a genealogy of the Shaver family, tracing back to that family's German origins. The book that resulted (in 1983) was The Ancestry and Descendants of John Shaver 1745-1835.

During the next 17 years, I continued genealogical research on a number of my other ancestral lines and starting publishing my work on the Internet in the form of web sites in the late 1990s. Even though I moved to North Carolina in 1990 (where I currently live), I didn't resume any Shaver research until around July 2000. I was inspired by rereading Cary Anderson's book on the Shavers and decided to try to put together a web site devoted to the family of John Shaver and his wife Mary Blackwelder.

The State Archives of North Carolina is located in Raleigh (about 15 miles from my home in Cary) and is a tremendous resource for genealogical research in this state. Also, Cabarrus County (the North Carolina home of the Shaver family) is about 120 miles away and my job takes me to that part of the state quite often. I decided that, with these resources at my disposal, it would be a good time to expand my Shaver research.

The advent of the World Wide Web and various online services like Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA, and GenForum has made a tremendous difference in helping researchers find each other, collaborate, and share information. Several other Shaver researchers, I found, shared my passion for documenting primary historical sources. I am indebted to their efforts in abstracting and transcribing many of the source references of North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and adjoining states relating to this Shaver family.

This Shaver Genealogy web site would not have been possible without the contribution of over a hundred other researchers over many years. During my 43+ years of research, I have tried to carefully document the primary sources of each piece of information in my database in order to validate the extensive research done by myself and many others. I continue to be amazed and gratified at the sense of teamwork displayed by other genealogists I have met. Hopefully this compilation will help others now and in the future to carry on the work that has been done so far.


If you find this information useful and would like to contribute a small (or bigger) amount to help fund this research, please consider selecting one of the options below. This helps me pay for subscriptions to web sites (e.g., Ancestry.com), reference materials (maps, books), supplies (paper, ink, binders, folders), time, and travel.

Amount to Contribute


If you would like to comment on any information contained within, or wish to correspond with me about this family, please send me an e-mail message at: contact@arslanmb.org. Additions and corrections are greatly appreciated. I am especially interested in receiving information obtained from primary sources (census listings, Bibles, cemeteries, vital records, probate and land records, etc.) and photographs and digital images relating to this branch of the Shaver family so that I can incorporate them into this page. Also, I would like to provide links to other pages on the Internet that deal with Shaver genealogy.



Mark B. Arslan



Last updated on 24 April 2014