Chemung County Genealogy & History Site How To Use This Site Town of VanEtten Page Joyce Read by Doris & Joseph Boyd in 1979 Photo by Joyce M. Tice July 10, 1999

Joyce's Search Tip - December 2007 - Do You Know that you can search just the search just the 860 pages of Chemung County Cemetery Records on on the site by using the Cemeteries -Chemung button in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current What's New Page? If you use that partition follow these steps to search just one cemetery.  1. Choose Cemeteries - Chemung 2. Enter part of the cemetery name [ie Comfort or Carr] AND a surname. 3. Choose the Find ALL Words option. Then it will find just the pages with that surname in the one cemetery you indicated. You will also want to search the three county level Obituaries by Cemetery partitions

    The private Shoemaker Cemetery is located in the southwestern part of the Town of Van Etten, Chemung County, New York.  It is on the east side of  Shoemaker Road on a rise of ground in the edge of a sparse woods 6/10’s of a mile north of the intersection of the Rumsey Hill and Shoemaker Roads, being situated about 1,000 feet from the dirt town highway.
    The burial ground, laid out on what was the Shoemaker Farm, is about 50 feet square and enclosed by a cyclone fence with an unlocked gate. A few trees grow within the cemetery which is blanketed with a lush green cover of ground pine. The plot is free of brush, weeds or high grass, although it is doubtful that it receives any special attention. A few old stones lie on the ground, but all remaining markers are in excellent condition. To reach the site it is necessary to descend from the road near the B. Prucka residence (the old Shoemaker farmhouse) to a small marshy stream bed, cross the stream, and climb a gentle slope to the woods, walking northward through the trees for approximately 200 feet. Due to the foliage, the cemetery cannot be seen from the road during the summer months, but is visible during the remainder of the year.  There is no indication of any unmarked graves.
    The data on all tombstones was copied by Joseph & Doris Boyd on October 22, 1979. Information in brackets does not appear on the markers, but has been added for historical interest. Also, in some cases, the surname has been added for wives and sons and daughters for clarity.

Last Name	First Name	Date of Birth	Date of Death	Age	Inscription/Relationship/Comments
ARGETSINGER	MARY				See entry for HOWARD SHOEMAKER.
OSBORN	MARIAH				See entry for ISAAC SHOEMAKER.
RUMSEY	ANN OLIVIA				See entry for ANN OLIVIA SHOEMAKER.
SHOEMAKER	CHARLES	02/01/1832	9/18/02		"Father" (He was a farmer with 96 acres in the Town of Van Etten in 1868.)
SHOEMAKER	ANN OLIVIA				"Mother" 1837-1924. (Family records state that her maiden name was RUMSEY.)
SHOEMAKER	EMMA	04/29/1866	08/10/1868	2y 3m 12d	Daughter of CHARLES & ANNOLIVIER SHOEMAKER. (The mother's given names are shown as they appear on the tombstone.)
SHOEMAKER	FRANK J.	07/03/1874	07/12/1877	3y 9d	Son of CHARLES & ANNIE O. SHOEMAKER.
SHOEMAKER	CLYDE	12/22/09	2/18/10		Son of K. & N.B. SHOEMAKER. (Family records state the father's given name was KNAPP and the mother's was NELLIE.)
SHOEMAKER	HOWARD	02/17/1893	03/21/1893		Son of ALLEN & MARY SHOEMAKER. (Family records state that the mother's maiden name was ARGETSINGER.)
SHOEMAKER	LUELA	10/29/1895	02/28/1896		Daughter of ALLEN & MARY SHOEMAKER.
SHOEMAKER	ISAAC	09/28/1799	03/16/1874	74y 5m 16d	(The tombstone lays face-up on the ground. In 1868 he was a farmer with 50 acres in the Town of Van Etten.)
SHOEMAKER	MARIA	01/17/1810	06/18/1890	80y 5m 1d
					Next to the above is a large modern family marker containing the following:
SHOEMAKER	ISAAC				1799-1874
SHOEMAKER	MARIAH				His wife - 1810-1890. (Her given name is spelled as it appears on the stone. Family records state her maiden name was OSBORN.)
SHOEMAKER	CATHARINE J.	09/02/1850	02/06/1853	2Y 5m 4d	Daughter of ISAAC & MARIA SHOEMAKER.
SHOEMAKER	ISADORA	02/27/1862	01/15/1863	10m 19d	(Tombstone lays face-up on the ground next to memorial to CATHARINE J. SHOEMAKER.)
SHOEMAKER	ORIN D.	1853			(No death date. Family records state he died in 1929.)
SHOEMAKER	RACHEL A.	01/06/1846	3/16/11		((Family records state she was a sister to ORIN D. SHOEMAKER.)
WEEKS	ELAM	04/17/1805	03/18/1853	47y 11 m 1d

Chemung County NY