Shoemaker and Packard History: A Letter from James Doty to Arthur Shoemaker

Hot off the presses Shoemaker and Packard History: A Letter from James Doty to Arthur Shoemaker A book I compiled from a letter James Doty wrote to Arthur “Clell” Shoemaker in 1965. I have documented much of the family history that was written in James’ letter. The book started out to be 36 pages, but with adding documentation, obituaries and an all name index, it is now 117 pages. There is still so much more that I could have put into the book, but I had reached a point that I just needed to complete it and get on to the next project. If anyone has any additions, feel free to email me and I will include them in a supplement.

This was not actually writing a book, however it still takes a lot of work to do the research on all of the family history. In the meantime I proved 4 to 6 family lines for NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution). That research itself can take months or years. As in a previous blog you can read the story about finally getting information to prove my ancestor, Suzanne Shafer Shoemaker Ayers’ parents are Adam and Elizabeth (Swartout) Shafer. Adam is a revolutionary soldier that has long been proven, however all of the children had not.

I’m also still trying to work on the Duart One-Name-Study. This is a challenge because I am computer challenged. I have tons of information, but can’t figure out how to get it up on my ONS website. http://www.one-name.org/profiles/duart.html If you have any information that you could share on the Duart’s or how I can put it on line, I would be glad to hear from you.

James Doty Letter To Arthur Shoemaker

I’m coming down the home stretch on publishing the letter that James K. Doty wrote to his cousin Arthur (Clell) Shoemaker in 1965. I have been working on documenting this letter for at least 4 years. I’m still looking for an obituary on James K. Doty, who died in 1981, in California. Once I find that, I’ll be able to index the whole book and get it published.

The letter started as a 20 page, handwritten letter. It is now about 100 pages with all the documentation and the index. I’m still working towards a Christmas publication date.

This will be a nice addition to the book that we just published in September on the “Revolutionary War Patriot Homes of Dauphin County, PA”. It has been a good seller and is just wonderful for anyone who has ancestors in Dauphin Co.

I’ll never be a James Patterson, publishing 10 books a year, but I’m hoping this will at least be a worthwhile effort to document some of our family.