Peter Shidler

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Pedigree
ChartsAncestors of Cecil Andrew Smith
Peter Shidler, son of Peter Shidler and Susannah (…), was born at Pennsylvania, 18 March 1780.1,2,3 He died at Lawrence Co., Illinois, 27 February 1852,1,4,3 and was buried at Cleff (or Bluffs) Cemetery, Petty Township, Lawrence Co., Illinois.1,3

Peter married Mary (…) at Greene Co., Pennsylvania, 5 August 1805.5,6,7

Peter Shidler was a Corporal and served in Capt. James Nesbitt's company from 28 Apr to 12 Aug 1812. The Ohio roster states "County Unknown" for Nesbitt's company, but the History of Preble County makes clear Nebitt and his company were from Preble Co. Many of the men, including Capt Nesbitt, are found in the 1820 census of Preble, Darke and other nearby counties of southwest Ohio. The 1810 census of Ohio is lost.

Capt Nesbitt and his men built a stockade fort about seven miles north of New Paris. Later upon the siege of Fort Meigs was ordered to there.

Late in life, Peter's service earned him a 40-acre bounty land warrant. Shortly after his death a patent was issued to Peter Shidler, 1 April 1852. The warrant record is still to be examined..8,9,10

Peter Shidler came to Christy township, Lawrence Co. in the Spring, 1818, with his "family of three or four girls and two boys." He lived in a tent in section 10. He apparently was known as one of best hunters in that part of the county, "and a lover of sport." Youngsters often gathered at his cabin for a dance, where Tom & Jake Shidler (perhaps his sons?) were the fiddlers.

Later Peter moved a mile northeast of Sumner on the state road and kept a tavern and stage stand. He built a double log-house and later a frame house. Said to have "kept the best of cornjuice, at a 'fippenny-bit' a drink, and on his table could always be found choice meats of deer and wild turkey, the fruits of his unerring rifle. He later moved over on the Embarras River where he died."11

He appeared in the US Census for 1820-50, first in Crawford Co., and subsequently in Lawrence Co., Illinois (Lawrence was created from Crawford in 1821).12,13,14,6

He is said to have drowned while fishing on the Embarass River when his boat overturned, but but this seems unlikely as he left a nuncupative will:
On 6 March 1852, John Williams and Neriah Lewis appeared before the Lawrence Co. Court and deposed:
..."that Peter Shidler of the County aforesaid, being feeble in body, (but as they believe of sound mind and memory) and laboring under disease which proved fatal, did in their presence declare that it was his wish and intention that George W. Fowler should never receive any more than he had received of the goods and chattles of him the said Peter Shidler, and that it is not yet twenty days since the above mentioned words were spoken by the said deceased and further deponants say not."4,15
Five of Peter & Mary's children were still living and named in her deposition when she applied for a pension in 1853 for Peter's service in the War of 1812. She mentions 9 children, 4 deceased. Eight of the nine can be identified from the Shidler marriages recorded in Lawrence Co. between 1821 and 1843 and are in keeping with other known associations given above. The deposition also includes the ages of those five still living and are very consistent with the ages found in the 1850 census. The three daughters not named in the depostion, but in the marriage records, were not found in the 1850 census and their birth years are estimates based on dates of marriage.

As for the ninth child mentioned in the deposition, Lawrence Co., marriages also show a ninth possible Shidler marriage: Sh[illegible], Louisa m. Charles Arphant (alias Potuine) 1 March 1836. Several of the Shidler children named their own children Louisa. There are of course many other possible sunames starting with Sh, though if she were 20 when she married, there is a place for her birth in 1815.5,16

Family

Mary (…) b. 1784, d. aft. Apr 1853
Children
  • Nancy Shidler17 b. say 1807, d. bef. Apr 1853
  • Susanah Shidler18,5 b. 1810
  • Elizabeth Shidler19 b. say 1811, d. bef. Apr 1853
  • Hannah Shidler20 b. say 1813, d. bef. Apr 1853
  • Rebecca Shidler+21,5 b. 1817, d. abt. 1865
  • Jacob Shidler22,5 b. 1819
  • Lavina (Levina) Shidler+23,5 b. 1822, d. bef. 1854
  • Thomas Shidler24,5 b. 1824
This person was last edited on1 May 2022

Citations

  1. [S1107] Bessie Irene Black, Cemeteries of Lawrence County, Illinois (Bridgeport, Illinois: p.p., 1976), 153, further cited as Black, Cemeteries of Lawrence Co.
  2. [S457] Ancestry.com, 1850 United States Census [on-line database and images] (http://www.ancestry.com), Lawrence Co., Illinois, population schedule, sheet #66, dwelling #956, family #956, Peter Shidler household, age 64, born in Pennsylvania, a farmer with $400 in real estate; original data: NARA micropublication M432, Seventh Census of the United States, 1009 rolls, roll #115.
  3. [S2323] Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed May 2022), memorial page for Peter Shidler, Find a Grave memorial #64137882, maintained by gary Stoltz, further cited as Find A Grave.
  4. [S1656] Lawrence County Courthouse, Lawrenceville, Illinois, Will Books, A:205, FHL microfilm 1311895, further cited as Lawrence Co. Will Books.
  5. [S1671] Old War Widow Rejected, File #17,818; Mary Shidler, Pension Application Files; Record Group 15 (Department of Veterans Affairs), National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., Widow's deposition.
  6. [S457] 1850 United States Census, Lawrence Co., Illinois, pop. sch., sheet 66, dwelling 956, family 956, Peter Shidler hshld.
  7. [S1330] Estimated from estimated date of birth of first child (1806).
  8. [S1647] Adjutant General of Ohio, Roster of Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812 (Columbus, Ohio: Press of E. T. Miller, 1916), 116, further cited as Adjutant General of Ohio, Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812.
  9. [S1646] Bureau of Land Management, "Land Patent Search," digital images, General Land Office Records, (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx : accessed April 2011), entry for Peter Shidler, Lawrence Co., Illinois, Warrant #19053.
  10. [S1657] , History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches (1881; reprint, Evansville, Indiana: Unigraphic, 1972), 40, further cited as History of Preble Co., Ohio.
  11. [S1642] Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Illinois: With Illustrations Descriptive of Their Scenery and Biographical Sketches of Some of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers, (Philadelphia: McDonough, J. L.,1883), 264, further cited as Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties.
  12. [S1144] United States Census for 1820, Fourth Census of the United States, Crawford Co., Illinois, sheet 46, Peter Shidler, aged 26-45; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), digital images by subscription (Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005); original data: National Archives and Records Administration micropublication M33, 142 rolls, roll 12.
  13. [S1145] United States Census for 1830, Fifth Census of the United States, Lawrence Co., Illinois, sheet 266, Peter Shidler, aged 40-50; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), digital images by subscription (Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005); original data: National Archives and Records Administration micropublication M19, 201 rolls, roll 25.
  14. [S1146] United States Census for 1840, Sixth Census of the United States, Lawrence Co., Illinois, sheet 172, Peter Shidler, aged 50-60; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), digital images by subscription (Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005); original data: National Archives and Records Administration micropublication M704, 580 rolls, roll 63.
  15. [S1660] Harry W. Shideler and Jacqueline Shidler Meyer, The History of the Shidler Family: Based on the Original Book by Harry W. Shideler: Girard, Kansas 1931 (4th ed., 1931; reprint, Burbank, California: s.p., 1999), V-5, further cited as Shideler and Meyer, Shidler Family.
  16. [S1655] Ada Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County, Illinois, 1821-1849", [Dallas, Texas]: [1961], microform copy: FHL Film/Fiche #848652 #3, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, 7,10,11,16,19,28,30,41, further cited as Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County."
  17. [S1655] Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County", 7.
  18. [S1655] Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County", 11.
  19. [S1655] Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County", 10.
  20. [S1655] Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County", 16.
  21. [S1655] Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County", 19.
  22. [S1655] Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County", 28.
  23. [S457] 1850 United States Census, Lawrence Co., Illinois, pop. sch., sheet 66, dwelling 956, family 956, Peter Shidler hshld., presumed father as he is the only Shidler in the neighborhood of the right age.
  24. [S1655] Miller, "Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County", 41.