Mary Martha Shumaker Family Research

Selected Person

This research page focuses on Mary Martha Shumaker, born 2 April 1837 near Eminence, Morgan County, Indiana, USA, and listed as having died about 1923 in Morgan County, Illinois, USA. This page is part of a working genealogy project studying the Shumaker, Shoemake, Blunk, and Bowman family lines.

Relationship Context

The working relationship path being studied is: Mary Martha Shumaker → mother of Thomas S Bowman → father of Polly Myrtle Bowman → mother of Noma Vade Smith → mother of Doug O'Neal → father of Jeremiah O'Neal.

This relationship path is presented as working genealogy unless each parent-child connection is verified through reliable records, original documents, local histories, cemetery records, probate records, land records, or DNA-supported evidence.

Known and Related People

Mary Martha Shumaker — selected person for this research page.
Thomas J Shoemake — listed as father of Mary Martha Shumaker.
Jemima Blunk — listed as mother of Mary Martha Shumaker.
Abel Bowman — listed spouse of Mary Martha Shumaker in family-context notes.
Thomas S Bowman — listed child of Mary Martha Shumaker.
Polly Myrtle Bowman — later descendant in the working relationship path.

Research Notes

Mary Martha Shumaker is listed as having been born near Eminence, Morgan County, Indiana, on 2 April 1837. The working family group connects her to Thomas J Shoemake and Jemima Blunk. The surname appears in this research as both Shumaker and Shoemake, so future record checks should include both spellings.

In 1856, Mary Martha Shumaker is reported to have married Abel Bowman. Family-context notes state that Abel moved with his parents to Indiana as a young child, as part of the broader nineteenth-century movement of families from North Carolina and other eastern states into Indiana and the expanding Midwest.

The current notes place Abel and Mary Martha Bowman in a farming context in Boone County, Indiana, near present-day Whitestown, before a later move to Morgan County. Abel is described in family accounts as a grain farmer and natural trader whose barn was often filled with harvested grain that could be exchanged with other farmers during lean years.

The Civil War reference in the source notes is incomplete. It currently reads only as a lead for further investigation and should not be expanded into a service claim without military, pension, draft, county-history, or family-record support.

Graphic / image note: Add graphic here if available.

Evidence Placeholders

Birth evidence: Locate a record or reliable source confirming 2 April 1837 near Eminence, Morgan County, Indiana.
Death evidence: Locate a death, burial, obituary, cemetery, probate, or local record confirming the about 1923 death detail in Morgan County, Illinois.
Parent evidence: Verify the link between Mary Martha Shumaker and Thomas J Shoemake.
Parent evidence: Verify the link between Mary Martha Shumaker and Jemima Blunk.
Spouse evidence: Verify the 1856 marriage between Mary Martha Shumaker and Abel Bowman.
Child evidence: Verify the link between Mary Martha Shumaker and Thomas S Bowman.
Migration evidence: Compare Boone County, Morgan County, and related Indiana records for the Bowman and Shumaker family movement pattern.
Civil War evidence: Search for military, draft, pension, or local-history records before adding any Civil War claim.
DNA evidence: Add DNA cluster notes only where matches support the Shumaker, Shoemake, Blunk, Bowman, or related family line.

Suggested Next Records