There has been a family story that for years I have
hesitated to write down because I didn’t want to hurt some family members. It wasn’t that they didn’t know the story, I
just don’t think they wanted it publizied.
It is as my Grandma Cappy used to say “You don’t air your dirty laundry
in public!” I have been asked by
multiple people to tell this story…so I guess it is time.
Many years ago, my mother and I were enjoying a visit with
one of my uncles. He had a bit of a
“salty” sense of humor and he began regaling us with the story of my great
grandmother’s father. This wasn’t
something that my mother and I had ever heard.
So we were both astounded that we had never heard the story and asked my
grandmother about it. Her comment was
that he was a “good man” and not to say anything around my great grandmother
who was in her early 90’s at the time.
It was something that she was embarrased about and didn’t like to think
about it. Fast forward to today, and as
far as I know, there are only a few people who knew him personally still alive
–so here it is!
George Christian Shawver aka Chris Shawver was born at
Fowler’s Knob, Nicholas Co., WV on 6 Aug 1867 to George William Shawver and
Elizabeth Matilda Legg. Chris was the
ninth of eleven children. As the story
goes, he married Sarah Emaline Pitzenbarger on 26 Aug 1883 when he was 16 years
of age and she was 22. As my grandmother
told me, it was an arranged marriage with a neighbor and he wanted to marry her
younger sister. On the surface, this
might make sense – but the facts don’t quite support the story. The marriage actually occurred six days after
Sarah Emaline gave birth to their first son, Harvey. There are a few items about this these
events that don’t quite mesh for me.
Harvey was born in Sioux City, IA according to just about every piece of
documentation that I have been able to find.
Sarah Emaline and Chris were married in Nicholas Co., WV. So…this pushes me to ask a few
questions. Is the birthdate for Harvey
incorrect or the birth location? If the
data is correct – does it make sense that Sarah Emaline traveled from Iowa to
West Virginia so soon after childbirth or is the year possibly wrong? I don’t think there is a question in my mind
that Harvey is closely related to Chris because he looks too much like him not
to be. Having said that – could Harvey
be one of Chris’s siblings sons. I don’t
think that is a question that can be answered.
So back to Chris and Sarah Emaline – they have two daughters
in fairly quick succession with Ethel Leota born on 28 May 1885 in Nicholas
Co., WV and Mary M. born on 27 Jul 1886 in Hungington, Cabell Co., WV. Sometime between 1886 and March 1890, Chris
and Sarah Emaline move to Sioux City, IA.
This is where the story really gets interesting. When they made the move from West Virginia to
Iowa, they brought along Sarah Emaline’s younger sister, Rebecca Jane “Frankie”
to help with the children. Chris and
Sarah Emaline’s fourth child, Marvin Ross was born on 20 Mar 1890 in Sioux
City, IA. Sometime afte the birth of
Marvin in March – Chris and Frankie took off and left Sarah Emaline in Iowa
with those four children and pregnant with a fifth child.
Sarah Emaline was in a very difficult position – far from
where her parents lived and any other person who could help her. Her family was not wealthy and she certainly
must have had little to know money. I
would guess that her parents must have sent her money in order to come back to
West Virginia. I know that I was told by
one of Mary’s grandchidlren that those children remembered that trip back to
West Virginia well. Their mother was
heavily pregnant and I am sure they were scared and unsure of everything. It must have been a cold fall, because the
girls remember sleeping on the floor of hotel with the cold wind blowing under
the doors and through the walls. Not
only that, they also remembered rats and mice scurrying across the floor. Harvey would have been about eight years old,
Ethel probably six and Mary about five and Marvin a young baby.
Once they arrived back in West Virginia, life was not easy
for the Sarah Emaline and her children.
Sarah Emaline was born on 19 Aug 1861 in Nicholas Co., WV to William
Pitsenbarger and Mary Amick. By the
time, Sarah Emaline came back to West Virigina, only one of her siblgins was
still living at home and her children ended up spending a lot of their time
doing a lot of work around the farm which is probably the reason that Harvey
left home fairly young and joined the Army.
I find all of the children living with their grandparents in the 1900
census with only brother Jacob living with them and Sarah Emmaline is living
somewhere else. I would guess she was
working somewhere else and sending money back.
I know from family stories that William Pitsenbarger died in
October of 1901. He was working out in
the barn and was pinned against the side of the barn and crushed and died a
short time later. Sarah Emaline ended up
marrying a widower named Jacob Clark Sevy on 6 May 1912. I don’t think a divorce ever occurred between
her and Chris Shawer so doubtful it was a legal marriage. Jacob Sevy died on 26 Dec 1916. In the 1920 census, Sarah Emaline is with her
daughter Mary Shawver Booker whose husband had husband had died in 1918 and her
sons Marvin and Samuel. In the 1930
census, she is living with her son Sam and his wife in West Virginia and by
1940, she is living with her daughter in Montgomery Co., IN. It is interesting to note that Mary is listed
with the last name of Whittington but I think that it is a mistake by the
census taker.
In about 1930, Chris Shawver went back to West Virginia to
visit family. We have a photo album full
of photos from this visit. I was told by
one of Marvin Ross Shawver’s sons that his father remembered one afternoon
while working at a bank that a man came in and never came to the window but
stood near the back and stared at him for quite a long time. He realized that the man was his father. Marvin made no effort to say anything to him
and neither did Chris Shawver.
On 13 Apr 1931, Chris was found hung in a barn. He had committed suicide. No one knows the exact reason – whether it
was being found out about the first family or if it was because of financial
difficulties. His oldest five children
probably knew about some of their other siblings – but the younger children
knew nothing about the first family.
Sarah Emaline lived the rest of her life with her daughter
Mary Shawver Booker and died on 17 Aug 1947 in Linden, Montgomery Co., IN. She had outlived both her husband and her
sister and died at the age of 85.
 |
| Left to Right: Ethel, Mary, Harvey, Marvin & Sam |
Here is a list of the children of George Christian Shawver
and Sarah Emaline Pitsenbarger:
 |
| Back Left - Unknown, Unknown, Toni (Harvey's stepdaughter) 2nd Row - Left - Nona McVey Shawver, Ethel Shawver Boone, Jessie Shawver Bacon, Mary Shawver Booker Front - Sarah Emaline Pitsenbarger Shawver Sevy (Taken abt 1942) |
- Harvey Shawver b. 20 Aug 1883 in Sioux City, IA d. 26 Jun 1971 in San Francisco, CA m. Mary E. Brady – 1 step daughter
- Ethel Leota Shawver b. 28 May 1885 Nicholas Co., WV d. 17 Sept 1948 Selma, Alleghany Co., VA m. ? Jones – 2 children m. Charles Amos Boone 27 Oct 1909 – 8 children
- Mary M. Shawver b. 27 July 1886 Huntington, Cabell Co., WV d. 6 Apr 1978 Montgomery Co., IN m. James Vernie Booker 28 Dec 1904 – 3 children
- Marvin Ross Shawver b. 20 Mar 1890 Sioux City, Woodbury Co., IA, d. 11 Sep 1968 Huntington, Cabell Co., WV m. Nona Willie McVey abt 1920 – 3 children
- Samuel Tony Shawver b. 12 Oct 1891 Huntington, Cabell Co., WV d. 23 Nov 1974 Lewisburg, Greenbrier Co., WV m. abt 1926 Elsie Enola Shields - no children
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