Joseph F. Shoemaker
Joseph F. Shoemaker, merchant at Goes Station and for years postmaster of that village, formerly and for some years assistant superintendent of the plant of the Miami Powder Company at that place and from the days of his boyhood identified with the affairs of that community, was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Goes and has lived in and about that village all his life. He was born on June 17, 1858, son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Shoemaker, both of whom also were born in that township, the former in 1835 and the latter in 1833, and who spent all their lives in this county.
Frederick Shoemaker was a son of Isaac and Lucinda (Hite) Shoemaker, who came here from Virginia about 1810 and settled on a farm on the Columbus pike in Xenia township, two miles east of Xenia, where Isaac Shoemaker spent his last days, his death occurring in 1853. His widow survived him for many years, living to the great age of ninety-seven years. Her brothers, the Hite brothers, were soldiers in the War of 1812. Isaac Shoemaker and his wife were the parents of five sons and two daughters, and all of these sons served as soldiers of the Union during the Civil War, Frederick Shoemaker's service in that behalf having been begun as a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment. Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Upon the completion of that term of enlistment he re-enlisted and returned to the front as a member of the Engineers Corps. He was trained as a carpenter and followed that vocation most of his life. Upon his retirement he moved to Goes Station and there died in 1886. His widow survived him for many years, her death occurring in 1914, she then being eighty-one years of age. She also was born in Xenia township, Elizabeth Hutchinson, daughter of Joseph B. and Ann (Tenbrook) Hutchinson, Pennsylvanians, who had settled in the vicinity of Goes, in Xenia township, upon coming to this county, Joseph R. Hutchinson becoming there the owner of about four hundred acres of land. Joseph B. Hutchinson served as a member of the state militia in the old days. He and his wife were Presbyterians and their children were reared in that faith. There were thirteen of these children, one of whom, Matthew Hutchinson, is still living, a resident of Xenia, now past seventy-five years of age. Frederick Shoemaker and wife were the parents of three sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being Charles Shoemaker, general manager of the Steele Tank Car Company of Allegheny, Pennsylvania who has his office and maintains his home at Chicago, and George Shoemaker, born in 1861, who became connected with the operations of the Standard Oil Company and died in 1911.
Joseph F. Shoemaker received his early schooling in the schools of Goes Station and supplemented the same by a course in the old Xenia College on Church street in the city of Xenia. For some little time he was engaged at farm labor and then took employment at the plant of the old Miami Powder Company (now the Aetna Explosive Company) at Goes and in 1883 was made assistant superintendent of the powder-mill, a position he occupied for three years, or until 1886, when he built a store building at Goes, opened there a general store and has ever since been thus engaged in business at that place. Mr. Shoemaker was appointed postmaster at Goes many years ago and continues to hold that position. He is a Republican and for twenty years, also served as a member of the township school board. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Masons and of the Odd Fellows at Yellow Springs.
On January 26, 1882, Joseph F. Shoemaker was united in marriage to Mary Etta Confer, who was born in Miami township, this county, daughter of George and Ann (Johnson) Confer, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a daughter of James and Catherine (Ehrler) Johnson, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in France, she having been but a child when she came across the water with her parents, the family coming on out to Ohio and locating in Clark county, not far above the Greene county line. George Confer, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, was born in the vicinity of Hagerstown. in the state of Maryland, February 8, 1827, and was but seven years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents, George and Elizabeth (Bowman) Confer, also natives of Maryland, in 1834, the family locating on a farm in Miami township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker have one child, a daughter, Cora May, who married George Hall, now engaged as a traveling salesman, making his home at Goes, and has three children, Dorothy M., Mary Elizabeth and George G. The Shoemakers are members of the First Reformed church at Xenia and Mr. Shoemaker is a member of the deaconate of the same.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918