Michael,
Catherine is more than likely the daughter of Adam
Scheurer. There were only two Scheurers in Southampton at this time and they were my ancestor
Valentine Scheurer and Adam
Scheurer. Valentine had a daughter Catheirne but she along with the rest of the family moved to
Muskingum Co., OH around 1804. She married a Mr. Brown so I am sure this is not your Catherie. Adam had a son, Adam Jr b. 1799.
Adam Sr also moved to Muskingum where he married a woman from there (Deborah Dean, m. 1807) but as far as I know his children from his previous marriage to Soloma
Schwartz did not go with him which suggests there was other family still in Southhampton to take care of the children. She supposedly died before he left. For whatever reason, Adam came back to Southhampton and lived with son Adam until his death.
We are still not sure of the relationship between Adam and
Valentine but since they lived next to each other and he went to Muskingum they are most likely blood related. Adam Jr was living next to Jacob and George
Swartz in the 1810 census and they may be his mother's family, either his grandparents or uncles and probably who he lived with when his father went to
Ohio. If he had siblings, they also would have lived with this family. The siblings I can identify is a half sister, born in 1813 to Adam and Debora
Schurer and Mary
Magdelena Scheurer/Shirer, born 1803, who married John
Gaumer and also came to Muskingum. Soloma was still alive in 1803 so would have been the mother of any children born before that.
The fact that Catherine's oldest son was named Adam suggests he was named after his maternal grandfather.
The spelling of the Scheurers in
Somerset was later changed to
Sheirer and also
Shirey although they were identified in many official records as
Shirer and many other variations. My side of the family were identified in church records as
Scheurer and the earliest burials used the spelling Shirrar but around 1845 they officially adopted the
Shirer spelling except for one who moved to
Indiana and used the Shirar spelling.
I am still trying to sort out this family but if Catherine was in Southampton then she would have to be connected to either Adam or
Valentine. There was also an older John that was of an age to possibly be a father to Adam. He was identifed in the 1790 census as John
Shire, not to be confused with the John
Shirer who lived in
Elk Lick who is not related, at least directly. Valentine and most likely Adam came to Londonderry Twp.,
Bedford Co. (later Southhampton Twp.,
Somerset Co.) around 1789-90 from
Berks Co., PA.
If you have any questions, please ask and also keep me in the loop if you find more out about Catherine. You can find out more about this family at my
Shirer site at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mysong