Let’s start during the time of the Revolutionary War in 1776. Jacob and Catharine Sheets were living and are buried in northern Maryland in Taneytown. Jacob lived between 1726-1806 and his wife lived between 1727-1803. Both are buried within the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, just outside of Taneytown, Maryland. They would have five children. One of them was Mary Sheets.
Mary Sheets married Lewis P. Shriver, date unknown. Lewis lived between 1750-1815, while Mary Sheets lived between 1760-1848. Okay, the confusion factor sets in. In the time that Lewis and Mary were married, they had 10 children. Unlike my other webpage that I did before this one, I will NOT be diving into the family trees of each child. Whew, what a workout of the brain that I don’t have to do again. However, for those that want to, good luck. Many of these families in the 1700s and early 1800s had anywhere from 2 to 20 children, and they had the same, and so on and so on.
Back to the story, Lewis and Mary were married, and their first child was born in 1779 and last child in 1803. The main child that we are going to look into is George Lewis Shriver and he was born in 1791. Sadly, Mary’s husband passed away in 1815 at the age of 65. She outlived him by almost 35 years!
Another family was going through the daily routine in the area. John Peter Weikert immigrated to the United States in 1753. The family would settle in Adams County, which is just north of Taneytown, Maryland. Mr. Weikert would marry Fanny Smith around 1783, and is believed to have 9 children between 1783 and 1803.
John Peter Weikert in 1804 would purchase section 27 of the Green Township plot within Columbiana County, Ohio. John Peter Weikert would return to Pennsylvania and send four of his sons (John, Jacob, Andrew, and David) to Ohio to settle and inhabit the area. John was the first to move to Ohio. Twelve years later, Fanny Smith Weikert would pass away in March 1816.
So currently, we have a widowed wife who lost her husband in 1815, and is left behind with five children. We have a widowed husband that lost his wife in 1816 that has 9 children. So let’s combine families and live life in Pennsylvania and Ohio. John Peter Weikert married Mary Sheets Shriver in 1818.
Now we are caught up. George Lewis Shriver was born in 1791 in a brick farmhouse that is located at 435 Chapel Road. This house is still standing and across the street from the Sacred Heart Basilica. His father, Lewis, would pass away in 1815. He would be 24 years old at the time of his father’s death. Around that same time period, George was in romantic relations and getting married to a woman near Sarah Kise. She lived between 1796-1822. They would have two sons together, Christian Kise Shriver and Lewis P. Shriver. Almost like the families above, an early death occurred again and struck and Sarah died in 1822.
So now we have two families at multiple generations that death happened, and families blended together.
George Lewis Shriver (1791-1852) would then marry Mary Sheets (1760-1848). They would have moved closer to Gettysburg and moved onto the farm that is south of town. George Washington Shriver was born in 1836 on another farm at 400 Marsh Creek Road.
They now have five children together, with two of them from a previous marriage, with one of them being George Washington Shriver. On March 31, 1838, Mr. Weikert, of Freedom Township, in County of Adams deeded Mary the following: Wealth of $129.46 and $1,370.54 obligations principally on her children — former husband Lewis P. Shriver — benefits of farm in Freedom Twp.”
This farmhouse that George Washington Shriver still stands today and is a private residence.