Cumberland county does not record the township in which Peter Shaver resided following the close of the war, but when Franklin County was erected in 1784 from Cumberland County we find him as a taxpayer in Lurgan township in 1786, Franklin County. On October 26, 1790 he received a grant of 200 acres of land in Montgomery township, Franklin County. Montgomery County was originally part of Lurgan township. Series 3 volume 25, page 41, Pennsylvania Archives, records this grant of land. A rather odd coincidental record was unearthed in the volumes in the Historical Society in Philadelphia as follows: "Peter Shaver appears as serving in the Lancaster Militia, in 1778 and 1779, under Captain John Gilchrist in the 14th Battalion. Following the close of the war he moved to Franklin county and on November 11, 1794 he purchased land in Peters Township. About 1805 or 1806 he left a will naming his wife Christina and son Jonathan to live with his mother, who died in 1828.

In 1790 the first census of residents of all the colonies in the country was taken and in the Pennsylvania section on page 154, Peter Shaver was a resident of Fannett, Hamilton, Letterkenny, Montgomery and Peters township (all composing Lurgan township) with two members of the household, including the head of the house, two under 16 years, or a total of four free whites including the head of the house.

In the same township a Catherine Piper is listed as a resident, as one free white over 16 years including the head of the house, one free white under 16 years for a total of two free whites including the head of the house. According to the Rev David E Shaver's autobiography, his father, Peter Shaver (II), married Miss C Piper and settled in Huntingdon County where he was born. Tradition has the date of marriage as 1796, and it is assumed that the Miss Piper whose enumerated residence in 1790 was the same as that of Peter Shaver, was David’s mother.

The writer was unable to locate any record of the marriage, but a heartening report was received from the Division of Vital Statistics, Dept of Health, Harrisburg, as follows: "In the early days a notice through publication of Banns could make a license unnecessary. Even in cases where licenses were used, seldom, if ever, were the names of the licensees recorded. No returns were made from the person officiating and very few records of marriages have survived from the older periods of time.

Lurgan township, in which Peter Shaver and his bride resided, lies in the northern part of Franklin County and forms part of that county's border lines, separating it from Huntingdon County . Baree township, embracing West and Logan Townships, was an inside boundary territory of Huntingdon county, the two townships being separated by the Tuscarora mountains. The emigration from Franklin County into Huntingdon County would just be a matter of crossing the mountain through a narrow pass. The time of this change of county residence will never be known but page 767, series 3, volume 25, of the Archives, identifies Peter Shaver as having a grant of 100 acres of land in Huntingdon County on June 19, 1811. This was at a later date than that of the birth of the son David who was born in Huntingdon County on May 2, 1804. But a petition for a grant of land could have been made a few years prior to its being certified. Certain conditions, such as making improvements, could cause delay of certification of the grant and, in meantime, the settler could be living on the land and raising his family. The biography of son, David Shaver was exceptionally brief concerning his parents. He states that his father was engaged in several branches of manufacture besides farming. Neither does he give any history of his father or mother, except that his father married a Miss C. Piper of Franklin County.

In the early days a large family was the style, but David Shaver fails to mention any brothers or sisters. To ascertain the identity of his mother an extensive search was made through many volumes containing the Piper histories. Jordan's "Encyclopaedia of Pennsylvania Biographies," volume 16, and Jordan’s "Colonial and Revolutionary Families" volume 2, both of which contained histories of the "Piper Line", failed to give any information concerning the family of Miss C Piper. Neither could any evidence bearing on her identity be found in series 4 volume 2, of Peter Force's American Archives, a publication purported to contain a history of the Piper lineage. No identifying information could be found in the Pennsylvania Archives.

By computing dates and estimated periods of time described by the son David, the death of the father, Peter Shaver was probably about 1821 or 1822. The date of the death of the mother may never be known.
The foregoing facts herein chronicled are authentic and proof is contained in various Federal and State records and by reputable historians. From data gathered, the writer has endeavored to eliminate all those named Peter Shaver whose records failed to show any kinship, but to follow records, facts and data that apparently led to a tie-in with facts contained in the biography of the son, David Shaver.

In the absence of any brothers and sisters of Peter Shaver, the original settler, or of his son David Shaver, the history of our ancestral kinship is limited, but we have the knowledge that our ancestor, Peter Shaver, on coming to America, adopted it as his country, worked for its advancement, and fought for its independence.

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