George Shumaker of Rolfeton, Part II

Shumaker Family at Rolfeton.

Courtesy Kimberly Shumaker Clark.

Need to catch up? Click here: George Shumaker of Rolfeton, Part I

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At her blog, “Cultivating Family: Discovering the ancestors of Jesse and Vanessa Sykes Crews,”

Vanessa Crews continued her investigation of George Shumaker’s impressively large family, learning details about his second and third wives.

George next married Nannie Belle Sprouse, daughter of Henry Wesley Sprouse and Mary Jane Shephard, on February 11, 1886, in Buckingham County. Nannie Belle and George had seven children, including Jesse’s grandmother, Minnie Shumaker. “According to family legend, Nannie Belle was in bed sick and pregnant. George gave her a dose of turpentine to make her feel better. Not long after, she sat straight up in bed and died.” Nannie Belle was about 31 years-old when she died. Today we think of turpentine as paint thinner, but in prior years it had many medical uses. It was used to speed up childbirth and to stop postpartum hemorrhaging. Nannie Belle died between 1898 and 1900 when George appears as a widower in the 1900 census. George and Nannie Belle had seven children, of whom six lived to adulthood.

Nannie Belle (Sprouse) Shumaker. Courtesy Vanessa Crews.

Children of George E. Shumaker and Nannie Belle Sprouse:

18. John E. Shumaker: September 15, 1886 – before December 1887.
19. John Edward Shumaker: December 17, 1887 – November 16, 1945, married Nina Pearl Via.
20. Charles Harrison Shumaker: July 4, 1889 – November 7, 1971, married Emma Goin.
21. Mary Elizabeth Shumaker: September 19, 1891 – February 7, 1966, married Phillip Taylor.
22. Alice Reems Shumaker: October 15, 1892 – February 27, 1978, married George Taylor.
23. George M. “Reuben” Shumaker: March 17, 1896 – November 23, 1966, married Minnie Ragland.
24. Minnie Virginia Shumaker (Jesse’s grandmother): May 18, 1898 – January 24, 1979, married Joel Peter Crews.

Shumaker Sisters Minnie and Mary.

Courtesy Vanessa Crews and Kimberly Shumaker Clark.

George’s final marriage was to Pauline Susan McFadden on October 1, 1903, in Buckingham County. This marriage produced one known child.

25. Beulah Genevieve Shumaker: February 28, 1904 – December 12, 1980, married George Lann.

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Vanessa credits the work of Kimberly Shumaker Clark, The Shumaker/Shoemaker families of Buckingham County, Virginia. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 2008, writing:

I extend my sincere appreciation to Kimberly Shumaker Clark. Ms. Clark gave permission to publish the photos and records of George E. Shoemaker and his progeny. Virginia did not issue birth or death certificates until 1911 and it requires enormous effort to document pre-1911 families- especially one as large as that of George Shumaker. Some births and deaths were recorded at the county courthouse, but the dates can be wrong because the information was often supplied by helpful neighbors and family. Children could be entirely missed by the census taker. Sometimes the census taker spoke with someone who supplied incorrect information. Often individuals used different birthdays and even different names throughout their life. Putting together a record of George Shumaker’s 25 children was a challenging and still evolving task.

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In 2014, Kim Shumaker Clark contacted me, sharing the photo above of the Shumaker family at Rolfeton and the photo below of George Shumaker with his granddaughter by his second marriage to Nannie Belle Sprouse, which provides a good view of Rolfeton.

Nannie Belle Shumaker Bryant, daughter of Charlie & Emma (Goin) Shumaker, and her son, Price Bryant.

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Many thanks to Vanessa and Kim for sharing their work on the Shumaker family.

For more about the Sprouce family, click here: Buckingham County Notables: Henry Wesley Sprouse