Hi Denny

Thanks for the reply. Not sure what faith Peter was although there was mention of a "Friends Church" in oral family history. My grandfather (John William Shirey) claimed to be "Pennsylvania Deutsch" although that may be due to being raised in that part of the country not where the family came from originally.

As for the spelling of the name, I am going by what the people at Ancestry.com have listed which may or may not be accurate. The 1850 Indiana census lists him as Shier (1815 Pennsylvania) although the name looks more like Shirer to me. On that census his family is listed as: Lydia (wife) 1820, Ohio - Rachel 1837, Ohio - Catharine, 1839, Ohio - Elizabeth, 1845, Ohio and Washington, 1847, Iowa.

On the 1860 census the family name is listed as Shirey and from that point on all of the children seem to have adopted that spelling. On that census all of the children (now including John (my ggp) 1849, Lewis 1853, Jeremiah and Jesse 1856) are listed as having been born in Indiana. Most of those settled in Allen County, Indiana.

I have also found one mention of Peter Shirey and Lydia Bennet being married in Stark County, abt 1838. There's no documentation with that so don't know where the researcher came up with it. Other than that records for Peter and Lydia seem to be pretty scarce.

Will keep nosing around and see if I can find anything else.

Noel