b. abt 1824, Indiana
m. 11 Jul 1844 to William McGee (b. abt 1812, Virginia)
I have had difficulty tracking down the identity of Anna's parents. "Shewmaker" is a fairly unique name, so I would not expect to have many issues, especially in that era. However, because census records did not contain the names of family members until 1850, we can only verify individual records after Anna is married to William McGee (1844).
But, we can attempt to deduct her parents' identities based on available information and other Shewmakers in Harrison County, Indiana during the same era.
Clue 1:
Anna is found in the 1880 census (Harrison County, Indiana) with the following data:
Anna McGee
Age 56 (b. abt 1824 in Indiana)
Parents are both natives of Kentucky
[Note: Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the McGee family census record from 1870]
Clue 2:
Anna is found in the 1860 census (Harrison County, Indiana) with the following data:
Anna McGhee
Age 37 (b. abt 1823 in Indiana)
Clue 3:
Anna Shoemaker marries William McGee in Harrison County, Indiana, 11 Jul 1844.
Thus, we know Anna's maiden name is Shoemaker/Shewmaker. Additionally, William James McGee (the son of Anna and William) lists "Shoemaker" as his mother's name on his marriage record (m. Almetta Hendricks).
Clue 4:
Several Shewmaker families had settled in Harrison County, Indiana by 1830. Thus, because of this and the fact that Anna was born in Indiana, we can assume Anna was born to one of these families. Unfortunately, this assumption may never have hard evidence.
Clue 5:
Possible families (all of these families appear in census data for Harrison County, Indiana):
1820 [Anna would not have been born yet]
Heads of "Shewmaker" families:
Henry Shaemaker
Thomas Shoemaker
Thomas Shuemaker
1830 [Anna would be abt age 6]
Heads of "Shewmaker" families:
Evin Shewmaker
- 1 Female Under 5
- 1 Female 5-10
Henry Shewmaker
- No females that could be Anna
John Shewmaker
- 2 Females Under 5
- 2 Females 5-10
William Shewmaker
- 1 Female Under 5
Tandy Shewmaker
- 1 Female 5-10
James Shewmaker
- 1 Female Under 5
1840 [Anna would be abt age 16]
Heads of "Shewmaker" families:
Irvin Shoemaker
- 1 Female 10-15
James Shoemaker
-
No females that could be Anna
John Shoemaker
-
No females that could be Anna
Tandy Shoemaker
- 1 Female 15-20
Henry Shoimaker
-
No females that could be Anna
If we evaluate this data with the assumption that Anna was born around 1824 (sourced from 1860 and 1880 census data), then we have two possible families for Anna:
Evin (Irvin) Shewmaker
Tandy Shewmaker
Let's explore these individuals using the data from the 1850 census in Harrison County:
Evin Shewmaker
Age 53 (b. abt 1797 in Kentucky)
m. Martha (b. abt 1795 in NC)
Children: Sarah (22), Martha (11), Elisabeth (3)
Tandy Shewmaker
Age 58 (b. abt 1792 in Kentucky)
m. Nancy (b. abt 1804 in Kentucky) [Note: Based on other sources, we know Tandy was not married to Nancy when Anna was born in 1824]
If we evaluate the information provided for Anna on the 1880 census, we know Anna's parents are both from Kentucky. Thus, we can rule out Evin Shewmaker since his wife originates in North Carolina. Additionally, the ages do not match exactly as we would expect (Evin has 1 female 10-15 and none 15-20).
Also, the 1850 census indicates that the 15-20 year old female from Tandy's family has moved out by 1850. This would be consistent with Anna being married to William McGee in 1844.
From other sources, we know that Tandy Shewmaker was married to Mary Elizabeth Dobson (1792 - 1839) on March 10, 1814, in Green County, Kentucky.
Mary Elizabeth would have been the wife of Tandy Shewmaker at the time of Anna's birth in abt 1824.
One thing to note is that Tandy is not present in the 1820 census in Harrison County. Thus, we would need to assume that Tandy and his first wife moved from Kentucky to Harrison County sometime between 1820 and 1824 in order to support the theory that Anna is their daughter. This is consistent with some other accounts of Tandy's life (see RootsWeb page for example).
We know from other sources that Robert Shewmaker (b. 29 Apr 1823, d. 2 Mar 1891) was the son of Tandy Shewmaker and Mary Elizabeth Dobson. He was born in Harrison County, Indiana. Ergo, we can deduct that the family had indeed settled in Harrison County before the birth of Anna abt 1824.
Additionally, in the 1880 census, it is noted that Robert Shewmaker's parents are each from Kentucky (same as is reflected in the 1880 data for Anna [Shewmaker] McGee).
Because of the lack of individual records, the early children of Tandy Shewmaker are widely unknown.
Thus, even though we are making a few minor assumptions,
there is no data to support that the female from Tandy Shewmaker's family is not Anna, and everything we do know supports that it is her.
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