You may recall the story of Isadore Keefer, his out-of-wedlock relationship with Caroline Shenabrook, who had three children with John Wolford of Adams County. You may recall that Annie Keefer resulted from the encounter between Isadore and Caroline. Annie Keefer (sometimes recorded as Anne) was born about 1867 in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Her 1888 marriage application lists her parents as Isadore Keefer and Caroline “Shenabrook.” This suggests she was the daughter of Isadore Keefer (b. 1832 in Maryland) and Caroline Shanabrook (b. ~1839 in Adams County). However, Annie does not appear in the household of either parent in available census records during her childhood. So what happened to her? We can’t say definitively, but the records suggest a possible answer.

Parents’ Situations: Annie’s father, Isadore Keefer, was a Civil War veteran who fell on hard times after the war. He survived his military service (enlisted 1861, mustered out 1864), but by the late 1870s he was living in poverty. He died on August 20, 1879 in the Adams County Almshouse (the county poorhouse) and was buried in the Old Alms House Cemetery. Given his circumstances, Isadore was likely unable to care for young Annie in the 1870s. Annie’s mother, Caroline Shenabrook, also had a difficult situation. In the 1880 census, Caroline (listed as “Carolina Shanabrook,” age 40) is found living in Adams County with three sons – Andrew (16), Daniel (14), and William (12) – all with the surname Wolford, presumably children from a relationship with John Wolford. Notably, Annie (then about 13) is not listed with Caroline in 1880. This indicates that by the late 1870s and early 1880s, Annie was not being raised in her mother’s household.

Likely Upbringing: Because Annie does not appear with either parent in census records, it is likely she was raised by extended family or as a foster child. One possibility is that her maternal relatives took her in. Caroline’s parents (Thomas and Mary Ann Shanabrook) lived in Adams County; in 1860 Caroline was with them in Hamilton Township. Thomas Shanabrook died in 1864, but Annie’s grandmother Mary Ann Shanabrook (née Klinepeter) may have helped raise the child in the late 1860s. It’s also possible one of Caroline’s siblings or other relatives cared for Annie. For example, Caroline’s older brother Frederick Shanabrook lived in Adams County (Conewago Township) in the 1870s, and her younger brother John E. Shanabrook was about 22 when Annie was born – either could have provided a home. We do not have a definitive direct record of Annie’s whereabouts in the 1870 census (when she’d have been about 3) or 1880 (age ~13), but family circumstance strongly suggests she was raised by kin. By the time of her marriage in 1888, Annie herself was residing in Conewago Township, Adams County, which is where her maternal Shanabrook family had settled. This supports the idea that she grew up in that community, likely under the care of relatives rather than her own parents. (Unfortunately, no document from the connected sources explicitly names her guardians; this conclusion is drawn from the absence of Annie in her parents’ households and her later presence in Conewago Twp.)

What appears to be a stronger possibility, though, is that Annie was raised by relatives of Isadore. Recall that in April 1869, the affair between Isadore and Caroline came to public attention in a courtroom. Isadore Keefer was hauled before the Adams County Court of Quarter Sessions on charges of “adultery” and “fornication and bastardy” – the latter an old-fashioned term for fathering a child out of wedlock. He was acquitted of adultery but found guilty of fornication and bastardy, legally establishing him as the father of Caroline’s infant daughter and obliging him to provide financial support. The court case ensured everyone knew of Annie’s paternity, but it did not create a stable family for her – Isadore was a troubled Civil War veteran, and Caroline, unmarried with four young children, faced difficult choices.

Childhood in the Keefer Household

While Annie’s birth mother was Caroline Shenabrook, little Annie did not grow up in Caroline’s home. By the 1870 census, a toddler-aged girl named Annie was being raised in the household of William F. Keefer and his wife Harriet in Germany Township, Adams County. In that census, “Annie Keefer,” age 3, appears as the youngest child in William and Harriet’s home, listed after several other Keefer children (Sarah J., 8; William, 6; Susan, 4; and Jennie, 3).

This strongly suggests that William and Harriet took Annie in and raised her alongside their own children. In all likelihood William F. Keefer was a close relative of Annie’s father Isadore – almost certainly a paternal uncle or cousin – and he and Harriet appear to have treated Annie as their daughter. Indeed, Annie grew up using the Keefer surname and was part of the William Keefer family in both the 1870 and 1880 censuses of Germany Township. (Her biological mother, Caroline, meanwhile kept her own surname and in 1880 was living separately in Hamilton Township with the three sons she’d had by John Wolford. Annie was the only one of Caroline’s children not raised by Caroline, underscoring that the little girl had been fully absorbed into the Keefer family.)

Annie’s upbringing with the Keefers appears to have been as normal as any farm girl’s in rural Adams County. William and Harriet’s household was of modest means but stable. Annie likely attended local school through her youth and was surrounded by a brood of “siblings” – the Keefer children – including Harriet Virginia Keefer (born 1869), Susan Alice Keefer, John A. “Abram” Keefer, and others. She would have known the Two Taverns/Littlestown area as home. Notably, Annie’s biological father, Isadore, was not part of her life for long – Isadore Keefer struggled after the Civil War and died in the county almshouse in 1879 at about 46 years of age. By that time Annie was about 12 years old. Any ongoing relationship between Isadore and his daughter is doubtful, but his extended family had firmly folded Annie into their care.

All available evidence suggests that the Annie Keefer in William and Harriet’s household was the same individual later recorded in marriage and legal records. The consistent birth year (around 1866–1867) and the unusual parentage situation line up perfectly. For instance, one of Annie’s marriage records explicitly names her parents as “Isadore Keefer” and “Caroline Shanabrook,” matching the known scandal. Yet another record lists her parents as William and Harriet – reflecting the family who raised her. No other Annie Keefer of that era in Adams County shares this unique background, making it virtually certain these records all refer to the same person.

First Marriage to John Sharp (1888) and a Short-Lived Union

By her early twenties, Annie struck out on her own path, which first led to the altar in the late 1880s. On September 20, 1888, 21-year-old Annie Keefer married John Sharp in Adams County. The marriage application tells a story in itself: Annie gave her residence as Conewago Township and listed her parents as “Isadore Keefer & Caroline Shanabrook,” an open acknowledgment of her birth circumstances. John Sharp was considerably older – about 37, a farmer from Conewago Township – and the son of John and Mary Sharp. How Annie came to marry John Sharp is not recorded in detail, but Conewago Township is adjacent to Germany Township, so they likely met as neighbors or through local community circles.

Whatever hopes Annie had for this marriage soon soured. Within months, the relationship was in trouble. In early 1889, John Sharp initiated divorce proceedings against Annie. A notice in the New Oxford Item newspaper in February 1889 notes the case “John Sharp vs. Annie Sharp, subpoena in divorce awarded.” This indicates that John filed a divorce complaint and the court had summoned Annie to respond. At a time when divorces were relatively uncommon and carried social stigma, the mere news of a divorce filing was noteworthy enough to print in the paper. The exact grounds John Sharp cited are lost to us, but clearly the marriage was effectively over almost as soon as it began.

The divorce was likely finalized sometime in 1889, making Annie a free woman again by her early twenties. It appears to have been a clean break – there were no children from the brief union, and Annie, having taken the married name Annie Sharp for that short period, soon reverted to her Keefer name. Later documents show her once again as “Annie Keefer,” which was customary for a divorced woman in that era who resumed use of her maiden name. Little else is known about John Sharp’s life after the split – he disappears from Annie’s story as quickly as he entered it.

Second Marriage to W. David Sheely (1895) and Family Life

After the unhappy end of her first marriage, Annie spent a few years on her own. Then, in the mid-1890s, she found a second chance at marital happiness. On September 19, 1895, at age 28, she married William “David” Sheely in Littlestown, Adams County. This time, the marriage record listed her as “Annie E. Keefer,” using her maiden name, and tellingly gave her parents as William and Harriet Keefer. This reflects the reality that by 1895, William and Harriet were regarded as Annie’s parental figures, further cementing that the Annie Keefer who married Sheely is the same girl who grew up in their Germany Township household. (In contrast to her 1888 marriage record which had named her birth parents, the 1895 record acknowledged the couple who raised her.)

Her new husband, W. David Sheely, was a local man – likely close to Annie’s age or a few years older – from a longstanding Adams County family. The Sheelys of Littlestown were of Swiss-Pennsylvania German stock, and David’s relatives had been in the area for generations. David and Annie probably knew each other through church or mutual acquaintances in the Littlestown vicinity. Their wedding was recorded in the county marriage register, and unlike Annie’s first union, this one would last for decades.

Settling in the Littlestown area, Annie took on the familiar roles of wife and eventually mother. She and W. David Sheely soon started a family of their own. In July 1897, Annie gave birth to a son, Clarence Edward Sheely, and more children likely followed in the ensuing years. (One genealogy source indicates Clarence was born July 3, 1897, with father “William Sheely” and mother “Annie Elizabeth Keefer,” which corresponds perfectly to W. David and Annie.) The Sheely household grew to include several children – sons and daughters who would carry the Sheely name into the 20th century. Annie’s life in this period was that of a turn-of-the-century farm wife and mother in Adams County. It was surely a big change from her turbulent beginnings, but by all accounts she embraced a stable family life with David. There is no hint of the strife that marked her first marriage; on the contrary, the Sheelys appear in records as a typical family in the community.

Later Years and Legacy

Annie lived to see enormous changes in the world around her. Born in the aftermath of the Civil War, she came of age in the Victorian era and then witnessed the dawn of the modern age. Through it all, she remained rooted in Adams County. As her children grew up and started families of their own, Annie would have been a source of family lore – perhaps eventually sharing with them the unusual story of her parentage and how she was raised. She maintained connections with the Keefer side of her family throughout her life. Notably, her siblings in the William Keefer family always regarded her as one of their own. For example, when her brother John A. Keefer died in 1949, Annie was listed among his surviving siblings in family remembrances, under the name “Annie Keefer Sheely,” indicating the family bond enduredfindagrave.com.

Annie Elizabeth (Keefer) Sheely died in 1950 at approximately 83 years of age, closing a long life that had begun in crisis but went on to find stability and respectability. She likely passed away in Adams County (possibly in the Littlestown or Gettysburg area) and was laid to rest locally. Her death was noted by relatives and the community, though it did not make big headlines – unlike her birth, which had once prompted a courtroom drama, Annie’s passing was quiet and ordinary, the final chapter of a life that had seen both scandal and solace.

Conclusion: One Woman, Two Identities Reconciled

In reviewing the evidence – from census records to marriage licenses and newspaper notices – it seems most likely that the Annie Keefer who wed John Sharp in 1888 is the very same person as the Annie Keefer later found in William & Harriet Keefer’s household and who married W. David Sheely in 1895. The key identifiers all align: her birth year (circa 1866–1867), the unique parentage (birth parents Isadore Keefer and Caroline Shenabrook; foster parents William and Harriet Keefer), and her presence in Germany Township as a child. No alternate individual fits this profile, and the records complement each other to weave a consistent narrative. Annie’s life story is a striking example of how a person’s identity can be recorded differently in historical documents depending on context – once as the child of a disgraced father and unwed mother, and elsewhere as the beloved daughter of the couple who raised her. By tracing her path from a rocky start to a settled adulthood, we gain insight into 19th-century community values: the shame of illegitimacy counterbalanced by the compassion of family members who stepped in, and a woman’s resilience to begin again after personal setbacks. Annie Elizabeth Keefer Sheely’s journey from out-of-wedlock baby to respected matriarch is a poignant chapter in the social history of Gettysburg’s civilian community.