My Genealogy Hound

JACOB SHOEMAKER. Success rarely crowns a man’s efforts until the second score of years has been reached, and, indeed, his character is seldom fixed until his fortieth year has been attained. The subject of this sketch has arrived at an age when the evidences of his life work are plainly visible. That he has been successful, a glance at his estate will abundantly indicate. Though having as a young man to combat with many obstacles and to undergo many hardships, he has reaped the reward of the industry of former years, and is now numbered among the wealthy citizens of Johnson County.

A visitor in township 46, range 24, will notice with admiration the fine farm lying on section 25. Most prominent of the buildings stands the family residence, an attractive and commodious rural home, abounding with evidences of the refined taste of the inmates. The surrounding buildings are substantial and adapted to their various uses. There are four large fish aquariums, well stocked with the finest of fish. The farm comprises eight hundred and eighty acres of land, all in one body, and upon which the finest improvements have been placed.

The owner of this valuable farm was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, December 18, 1826, being next to the eldest of six children comprising the family of Jacob and Mary (Rush) Shoemaker, natives of Pennsylvania. Jacob, Sr., spent his early life in the Keystone State, where his first wife died. Afterward he removed to Ohio, where he married Miss Rush. For many years he followed agricultural pursuits, but in his old age he engaged in ministerial work in the Lutheran Church. He died in Ohio in 1835. His wife, who accompanied her parents to Ohio in girlhood, remained in that state until her death, in 1852.

His father dying when our subject was only nine years old, the latter was obliged to assist in the support of his widowed mother and the other children. Through the combined efforts of the little family, they became the owners of forty acres, which they improved and made into a good farm. As may be imagined, his educational advantages were very meager, and the broad information he now possesses is the result of self-culture rather than schooling. At the age of twenty-two he started out for himself, securing work as a farm laborer for $10 per month. At this salary he continued to work for one man four years, and such was his economy that he saved $100 each year. After his marriage he began trading in lands, and bought and sold several farms in Ohio.

In 1863 Mr. Shoemaker answered his country’s call for troops. He enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Infantry, and was mustered in at Cleveland, Ohio, remaining in active service until the close of the war. In all the important engagements in which his company took part he participated, including the battles of Nashville, Kingston and Murfreesboro. After his discharge from the army he returned to Ohio, but did not continue long to make his home there. In 1866 he came West and settled near the farm upon which he now lives. He was continuously and successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising until his retirement from active business, during the latter part of the ‘80s.

The marriage of Mr. Shoemaker united him with Miss Rosanna, daughter of George and Catherine (Null) Puffenbarger, natives of Virginia. In an early day her parents removed to Ohio, and there Mrs. Shoemaker was born. Six children, four daughters and two sons, bless the union of our subject and his wife, and all the family are living and prosperous. John, the eldest, resides at Knobnoster, and is a prominent stock-breeder. Mary, wife of Nicholas Krohl, makes her home in Knobnoster. Rebecca is the widow of George Brim. Ahce, wife of W. M. Denton, lives in Johnson County. Sarahfina, Mrs. M. Swope, also resides in Johnson County; and William, the youngest, is a successful farmer living in Knobnoster.

The religious belief of Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker is that of the Universalist Church. Politically he is a Republican, and has an abiding faith in the wisdom of that party’s teachings. The gratifying success which has crowned his efforts is the more noticeable and praiseworthy because of the few opportunities afforded him in youth. Orphaned in boyhood by his father’s death, he was obliged to assist in the maintenance of the family, and had few opportunities for gaining an education. However, energy and industry have triumphed, and he is now well to-do. By his indefatigable labor he has acquired valuable property, and has secured a competency that will remove the necessity of further labor from him when such shall have become too great a burden.