John Shiver is believed to have been born about 1734, but there is no evidence at this time to support this, other than conjecture. His birthplace is unknown to us at this time. He resided in the Craven County, South Carolina area during his early life and there he met Hannah ????, who may have come to South Carolina about 1752 with her father and the Scottish families of Flemming and Manning, though there is no documented evidence of this at this time either.
There is a lot of speculation floating around about John (and Hannah), as well as their children. Please understand that the information below is the BEST INFORMATION I HAVE AT THIS TIME, and may or may not be completely accurate. It is left for you to judge based on the documentation... For a really good discussion of issues surrounding the origins of John and Hannah, read these comments by Ed Mason. For a discussion of John Shiver of Kershaw County, South Carolina and Johan Willem Schäffer from the ship Two Brothers and whether they are the same individual, you can see my comments here.
John and Hannah are believed to have been married about 1760 (based on the approximated birthdates of their children) in South Carolina. (It is assumed that Hannah was John's only wife, though we honestly have no way of knowing how long they had been married, as we only have record of her being his wife after his death. I find it VERY interesting that NONE of the boys, or any of John's descendants, appears to have named any of their daughters Hannah.)
The known children of this couple are:
- Jacob, b. abt. 1762, d. 7 Jan 1826. (Married Darcus ???).
- Abraham, b. abt. 1763, d. 30 Jan 1844. (Married Martha ???).
- William, b. abt. 1764.
- Sarah, b. abt. 1767. (Married Mr. PAYNE).
- Elizabeth, b. abt. 1769
- John, b. abt. 1775, d. 25 Jan 1833. (Married Lyddia ???).
- James, b. abt. 1776, d. 11 Feb 1831. (Married Elizabeth ???).
- Daniel, b. abt. 1779.
John Shiver was evidently a member of the Second Troop of Georgia Rangers, serving under Captain James Edward Powell, Commander, 1 Jan 1760. and was no longer on the surviving rolls in Jul 1766. (Source: A Researcher's Library of Georgia History, Genealogy, and Records Sources, by Robert Scott Davis, Jr. of Thomasville, Georgia, pg. 55). In another work it is stated that a John Shiver shows up on the pay rolls in 1772-3 and 1774, as well as 1760 and 1762. This is taken from Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732-1774, pg. 1041 and 1065, by Murtie June Clark, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, 1983). I have not checked this reference myself, so I cannot be 100% certain of what it states. It is interesting to note that in the same company (2nd Troop of GA Rangers) were some members of the PAINE or PAYNE family with whom John would transact his land deals in Craven and Kershaw Cos., South Carolina.
In 1767, John Shiver purchased land from Philip & Mary PAIN of Fredericksburgh Township in Craven County, South Carolina (abstract). Craven County is a now defunct county that covered a good portion of Northeastern South Carolina. Almost all (with the exception of the southernmost portion) of present-day Kershaw Co. was included in old Craven County. Then in 1769, when the districts were formed, present-day Kershaw Co. was entirely included in Camden District. According to the SCGenWeb Old Counties site, "these old county names were used by older residents and can cause confusion when searching for records. Of primary importance to the researcher is the fact that records pre-dating 1785 were all filed in Charleston, irrespective of the residence in these old 'royal' counties." This will be noted in John Shiver's land grants after 1769.
John received a royal land grant from King George III in 1773. It is noted in the Kershaw County Deed Book B on pgs. 9 and 10 that John leased 100 acres of land from John PAYNE (Blacksmith) of St. Mark's Parish, Craven County on 6 Jan 1777 for ten shillings current money of the colony (and included was the rent of one peppercorn). Yet it is also noted on pages 8 and 9 of the same Deed Book B that John purchased this same land for that amount. Whether these references are correct or not, I have not yet checked for myself. The land was in Fredericksburg Township, bounding to the NW on John BAKER's and vacant land, SE on John PAYNE's and vacant land.
In 1791, John leased the land he received from Philip PAYNE to Burwell BOYKIN for ten shillings sterling. It appears from this lease that Philip PAYNE was granted the land that he sold to John Shiver on 16 Dec 1766, a little less than 3 months before he sold it to John.
In November 1799, John Shiver's widow and heirs sold a parcel of his land to Thomas ENGLISH via a quit claim deed for the sum of 100 pounds sterling. This book was not microfilmed by FamilySearch, but images and a transcription are available here. [Transcription] Click here for a scanned copy in PDF format from a visit to Kershaw Co. in 2013. (***Note this is a large file (7MB) and may take some time to download.) This is the only comprehensive record of John's children at this time, as it lists his widow, Hannah, and his sons (with wives), as well as his daughters. The daughters are mentioned by maiden name, and why this is the case is unknown, given that we believe that at least one daughter (Sarah) was most likely married at this time.
If you can add any information to the above data or have any questions, please contact me. Thank you!
