Age 83 years∼Nancy Shallenbarger Byler was the 5th of ten children born to John Shallenbarger (1817-1880) & Mary Whitmer (1817-1895). Joseph Byler married Nancy E. Shallenbarger on 24 July 1869 in Kosciusko County, Indiana. Below is a brief history of the John Shallenbarger family that I have assembled from various records:

John Shallenbarger was born while his family crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1817, as most of his children's death certificates list "Atlantic Ocean" as his birth place. In the 1880 census, he listed Wurtemburg, Germany as the birth place of his parents. We do not know their names.

Mary Whitmer was born in 1817 in Bethlehem Twp., Stark County, Ohio. It is believed her parents were Benjamin Whitmer (1783-1851) and Barbara Bordner (1790-1858), who were married 8 May 1808 in Northumberland County, PA.

Researching the John & Mary Shallenbarger family has been extremely challenging, as there appears to have been no prior research done on this family. The first big breakthrough came with obtaining John Shallenbarger's Will, and the probate records naming his children and some grandchildren. That enabled locating the family in the census records despite his name being spelled differently nearly every year;

1840 (John Shellenberger) Bethlehem TWP, Stack County, Ohio
1850 (Jno Shellenberge) Bethlehem TWP, Stack County, Ohio
1860 (John Shillenburg) Bethlehem TWP, Stack County, Ohio
1870 (John Shelenbarger) Perry Twp., Noble County Indiana
1880 (John Shellenberger) Perry Twp., Noble County Indiana

In 1863, there is a US income tax assessment for John in Manchester, Indiana. Listing him as a peddler and butcher taxing him for (3) slaughtered cattle, and (1) calf: totaling $33.05 in taxes due.

In the 1870 & 1880 census, John and Mary's family is in Perry Twp., Noble County Indiana. In the 1880 census, John was listed as sick with "Dyspepsia" (indigestion) and passed away shortly thereafter in October of 1880 (I'm guessing it was more than indigestion). His Will provided his (40) acre homestead to his wife Mary and divided the rest of his estate among his children (and their heirs if deceased).

John & Mary Shallenbarger are buried in Oak Park Cemetery in Ligonier, Noble County, Indiana.

The next lead came from the Kosciusko Historical Society, who found Mary Shallenbarger's 1895 death notice and list of surviving children for probate records, including married names for the daughters in the Brown Coffin Book (funeral company in Ligonier Indiana). I was able to find or confirm several other death dates from the Brown funeral company for other Shallenbarger relatives. From the married names, I was able to link many of the spouses thru online records, but Harriett and Rebecca's spouses were not to be found. Mary's 1895 probate record had listed Rebecca "Kuhn", and the 1880 census listed a 9yr old Eddie "Keehn" as an adopted son of John and Mary Shallenbarger, so I suspected Rebecca had passed early and John & Mary had adopted her child.

I then searched the Indiana marriage records for Kuhn/Keehn and found the lynch pin in this interesting story that time forgot. Rebecca married Levi Keehn in 1871, which was about the same time Eddie was born based on census records. However, I then found that Harriett had also married Levi Keehn in 1867.

I was finally able to locate an Edward H. Keehn, who was born on the same day Harriett died – he was obviously Harriett's not Rebecca's son. He unfortunately died young at 24yrs old, so few records exist of him and he had been incorrectly linked to a different Keehn family in online grave records (I've since updated online records to correctly link him to his real family). That was when I was able to piece together the difficult life of Levi Keehn.

Here is a list of John and Mary Shallenbarger's (10) children:
Sarah (Buchtel) b. 3/7/1838 d. 12/5/1899 m. Rueben S. Buchtel 21 Dec 1862
Sherman cemetery Stark Co. OH
Rebecca (Keehn) b. x/xx/1840 d. 12/11/1895 m. Levi Keehn 31 Dec 1871,
Milford cemetery IN
Harriett (Keehn) b. 2/13/1842 d. 10/16/1870 m. Levi Keehn 3 Oct 1867,
Milford cemetery IN
Elizabeth (Roberts) b. 1/27/1844 d. 5/30/1932 m. Alfred Roberts 18 Oct 1868,
Syracuse cemetery IN
Nancy (Byler) b. 1/1/1846 d. 5/30/1929 m. Joseph M. Byler 24 July 1869,
Oakwood cemetery Warsaw, IN
Franklin b. 2/20/1848 d. 3/23/1928 m. Charlotte Cress 3 April 1883
TBD Ligonier, Noble Co. IN
Eliza (Manahan) b. 2/15/1850 d. 4/18/1925 m. Ira C. Manahan 1874
Oak Ridge? cemetery Goshen, IN ?
Mary Ann b. 7/18/1856 d. 4/9/1940 Oak Park cemetery Ligonier, IN
John Quincy b. 12/16/1858 d. 12/31/1931 m. Ella Francisco 9 July 1883
Oak Park cemetery Ligonier, IN
Ellen Margaret (Wingard) b. 4/1/1861 d. 9/20/1943 m. Frank J. Wingard 1882
Oak Park cemetery Ligonier, IN

I then scoured old plat maps of Perry Twp (1874) and Bethlehem Twp (1850, 1855) and located the Shallenbarger family farms and neighboring families that have since inter-married.
J. Shallenbarger Farms (3) in Perry TWP, Noble County Indiana (1874 plat map)

Notes:
1. Jno Shallenbarger has (3) 40-acre plots, (1) home
2. George Keehn older brother of Levi Keehn (Harriett & Rebecca's husband) lived adjacent to Shallenbarger homestead. Levi and Jonathan lived with George's family after their parents passed.
3. Other names of interest:
a. Jona Keehn – Jonathan another brother of Levi Keehn (Harriett & Rebecca's husband)
b. Chris and Jno Buchtel – likely related to Rueben Buchtel (Sarah Shallenbarger's husband)
c. Uriuh Fransisco – likely related to Ella Francisco (John Qunicy Shallenbarger's wife)
 
J. Shelenberger Farm in Bethlehem TWP, Stark County Ohio (1850 & 1855 Atlas)

Notes:
1. From Stark County Range Records, I was able to determine the following: In 1850, J.Shelenberger buys his 40-acre farm from Jacob Eicher's widow for $1130, then he sells it to his brother-in-law John B. Whitmer for $1600 in 1856.
2. Several neighboring farms are owned by "A.Whitmyer" and "Jac. Whitmer", brothers of Mary Whitmer.

My goal had always been to go back further on the Shallenbarger side, ideally all the way back to that 1817 voyage across the Atlantic. As difficult as it has been, I was able to locate several records in Stark Co. OH:
• J. Shellenbarger married Polly Whitmer 20 Dec 1836 in Bethlehem, Stark, Ohio, USA (Ref. early Stark Co marriages).
• 1850 & 1855 Land Atlas's show a J. Shelenberger farm east of Navarre, OH matching the neighbors listed in 1840, 1850 and 1860 censuses (next page).
• Wife & Children's names from the 1840(John Shellenberger), 1850(Jno Shellenberge) and 1860(John Shillenburg) census information matches each other and the 1880 John Shallenbarger Will.

9 April 2020 - Richard Kreder - 2nd Great Grandson of Nancy Shallenbarger Byler