In 1837, after eight years at home, Shadrach Cheney felt the call once more. He had resigned from itinerant ministry in 1829 to raise a growing family with Mary Taylor Squires in Salt Lick Bridge, (West) Virginia.
But the pulpit beckoned again—and this time, it would take Shadrach and his family on a 22-year journey across the rugged circuits of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
In the early 1800s, amid the hills and hollows of Lewis County, (West) Virginia, Mary Taylor Squires was born into a world of rugged terrain and deep faith. The daughter of Asa Squires and Sarah Eastep, Mary grew up along Salt Lick Creek, where her family helped build one of the region’s earliest Methodist meeting houses.
It was here, in the shadow of campfires and sermons, that she met a young circuit rider named Shadrach Cheney.
On Wednesday, October 9, 1793, in a log cabin in the Pennsylvania Appalachian Mountains, Martha Cheney gave birth to her ninth child. She named him Shadrach, a namesake of his paternal grandfather.
Shadrach Cheney is our 4th great-grandparent.
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Family Nibbles 