Contributed by Ed Mason a number of years ago

Some background to what I am going to pass on to you. Doing genealogical research is basically the same as doing detective work. Detectives doing an investigation do a profile on the most likely possibilities. For instance there is about an 80% chance that someone murdered will be murdered by someone they are in a relationship with, business partners, lovers, married mates, family, friends,etc. They do not waste their research time on the smaller % chances until they have exhausted the most likely possibilities. Genealogy researchers have to do the same to have any success. Start your search with the highest % chances and you will be very successful.

Before doing any research you must understand the settlement of America. You have to understand that movement of people are by groups, normally not by individuals. They travel with neighboring families who have married the daughters and other family members like uncles, aunts, etc. The times were so difficult that they needed the support of people they knew and trusted and someone they could depend on for help.

All families in early America were forced to move and settle east of the Appalachian Mountains since they did not discover a pass through the Mountains until 1745 and it was 1775 before a road was build to allow mass movement from the east to the Ohio Valley. Almost all Southern families have their roots in America in the 1600's. There is about an 80 to 90% chance that any ancestor you are looking for was born in a settled area just north of the area they are living in as adults. If John Shiver is born about 1730 then his parents will be found in one of the existing settlements at that time. For example, Rowan Co, NC settlement, covering the NW quadrant of the state, started about 1750. Most of the back country of SC was not settled until after the Cherokee Indian war 1750's/early 1760's. In the earliest days of settlement of an area, the residents did not have enough people to help with Indian problems and had to recruit men from more established settlements to the north or east. (In the case of GA). Thomas Prestwood and others were recruited from Anson Co, NC by Captain John Cantey to come to SC and help in the Cherokee Indian war in the late 1750's. John Cantey was from the Camden District, SC and Thomas Prestwood and one of his sons, Augustinve Prestwood moved to Camden District from Anson Co after the Cherokees were defeated. The Paynes and John Shiver in GA militia units were from SC.

In looking for the parents of John Shiver Sr the following are very important tools. If John Shiver Sr was born abt 1730 plus, his parents will likely be in an area of NC or VA that was settled by 1730. So look at all Shivers in the closest known settlements to the north and locate the a Shiver who is old enough to have children, one who probably has a familiar given name and one that has some neighbors in the area the same as John Shiver Sr;s SC neighbors.There is a high % chance that some of the families with him in SC will be living in that 1730 settled area. High % chance that some relatives moved with him. When you have a surname as a given name you have a high % chance that it is one of the mothers or grandmothers family. Since John Shiver Sr had multiple descendents with a given name of Jackson, you have to look at any Shivers who are living near Jacksons in 1730 or earlier.

John Shiver Sr will be living very near his wife's family when he gets married. Also he will have numerous dealings with his wife's family in court records. When a will is witnessed or will probated who will do it? FAMILY! You are not going to travel out of your way to get someone to witness a document or bother someone else to go to the court house, many times quite far, and help with a court document. It's normally done by family members. You also select people you trust and normally it is a family member. Adjoining land owners are very often family. You don't get up a dawn to beat the heat in the field and ride ten miles at night to court. Even though the given names are common, the same given names keep getting passed down. You have to look carefully at given names. They are great clues.

Based on some of the above you have to consider that John Shiver Sr. might have been John Jackson Shiver. Also you can probably write down Hannah's last name as Payne. About the time John Shiver Sr got married, he buys land from Phillip Payne. In that time frame he serves in Militia units with Paynes, sells and buys land from Paynes, is listed as neighbor to Paynes, etc. There two other men in the area that are known to marry Paynes, Nicholas Swilley and John Swilley Jr. John Shiver Sr is also in the same documents with those two on many occasions. One Payne researcher says that one of the sons of Phillip Payne was a Ransom Payne. If that can be reasonably proven, then that would be the source for the name of Ransom Shiver, which would be Hannah Payne's brother. I believe there are about five Payne men who are about John Shiver Sr's age in the area. I would not exclude William Payne Sr. since there are multiple dealings with William Payne's and Ransom Payne might be from that line. If William Payne Sr were Hannah and Ransom Payne's father, that would explain the source for the name William Shiver. William Shiver served during the Rev War at one point in a Loyalist unit with William Payne Sr and William Payne Jr. In that list it was noted that William Payne Sr was killled the first day of February 1781. I happen to know from my research on James Craig Sr, that the only thing happening on 1 Feb 1781 was a forced march by the Southern half of the Army for Independence to join with the Northern half after the massacre of surrendered British soldiers at the battle of Kings Mountain, SC. The Patriots left two small groups to defend an upper and lower ford on a river in southern NC. The British decided to cross the lower ford at 1 AM in the morning 1 Feb 1781. My gggg-gf James Craig was killed defending the crossing. If Hannah's father happened to be William Payne Sr, then my Payne ancestor was killed trying to cross and my Craig ancestor was killed trying to defend the crossing.

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