WILL OF GEORGE SHULER: 

  In the name of God, Amen,


  I GEORGE SHULUR, planter of the State of North Carolina and County of
  Buncomb being in perfect mind understanding but considdering the
  Mortallity of my body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die
  do make, ordain, constitute and appoint this my last Will and Testament,


  First of all I recommend & bequeath my Soul into the hand of God who gave it,
  and my Body to the dust from whence it came to be Enterd in a Chirsitianlike
  manner, and as tuching such worldly Estate as it has pleased God to Bless me
  with, I dispose of in the manner & form following (Viz):


  First of all that all my just debts & funeral charges be paid,


  Secondly I bequeath to my beloved wife MARY & will her all my whole Estate
  both Real, and personnal to remain hers during her wodowhood, and in case
  she should marry the moveable property to be sold or equally divided amongst
  five of my Chidring [children], namely, GEORGE SHULUR, JOHN, JACOB,
  DAID [David] & AMANUEL [Emanuel]. Likewise my lands to be equally
  divided amongst said schildring [children] and my beloved wife & she to hold
  her household possession as ong as she lives & then said posesion to be sold
  and equally divied,


  Lastly I will & bequeath to my beloved daughter MARY twenty Schillings to be
  paid out of my estate at the death of me or my wife, and I do hearby constitute
  and appoint my trust friends WILLIAM DEVER & GEORGE SHULUR
  my whole & sole executors herby revoking and making void all former wills,
  and testaments, and acknowlidging this my last, in witness whereof I
  hereunto set my hand and seal this tenth day of June in the year of Our Lord
  one thousand and eight hundred & three [10 June 1803].

              /Jorg. Schlr/
              wrote in Dutch
                              In the presents of us
                              John WELCH
                              Jacob BIFFEL
                              Wm. FRAVES?
                              Abraham M. WIGGINS (his mark)
[Source: Misc. Wills of Haywood Co., North Carolina, Minute Book A, 1809-1828
(FH ser #019 141)]

(NOTES: The phrase "wrote in Dutch" was written beneath George's signature, presumably by someone else. "Dutch" (i.e. Deutch) in those days meant GERMAN. Since George wrote his name in the old German script, he may have been educated in Europe or else in a German-speaking area of the American colonies.
The will was written in 1803 in Buncombe County, but George's heirs didn't sell his land until 1830, in Haywood County, where the will was recorded. He probably died about 1826.)
George & Mary SHULER's associates: The executor and witnesses of George's will may provide clues to his origins. These men must have been close friends or relatives:

  1. William DEAVER:
    Son of William Henry DEAVER Sr. & Susannah BIRCHFIELD, he was born 22 Sep 1763 near the Susquehannah River in Cecil County, MD.
    Enlisted in the Revolutionary War in 1780, in Amherst County, VA.
    In 1781 he volunteered again, in Capt. James DILLARD's Company, and marched to North Carolina.
    Lived in Buncombe County, NC after the war. His pension papers were witnessed by Col. Robert LOVE & Robert HENRY, also soldiers of the Revolution.
    Shortly after 1850 William DEAVER moved to Marshall Co, MS to live with his son Elijah, and he died there in 1855
    (see http://www.obcgs.com/revolution.htm).
  2. John WELCH:
    Born about 1769, perhaps in Pennsylvania, he married Elizabeth INGRAHAM (INGRAM) in Virginia around 1795.
    First child William WELCH was born in VA on 8 Apr 1796.
    The family soon moved to NC and lived first in Buncombe Co. then in Haywood Co.
    John moved to Missouri around 1816, and died in Clay Co, MO in 1828.
    His son William WELCH remained in Haywood Co, NC.
    His wife was the daughter of (Col.) Robert & Mary Ann (DILLARD) LOVE.
  3. Jacob BIFFLE:
    Born 2 Mar 1763 in Rowan Co, NC and died 16 Feb 1844 in Lewis Co, TN, he was the son of Johannes Adam BUEFFLE (Adam BIFFLE) of Contwig, Germany, & Catherine HENCKEL of the Macungie Settlement, Bucks (now Lehigh) Co, PA.
    Jacob married Mary DEAVER, sister of William DEAVER (above).
    Jacob's revolutionary war pension application said "when a boy my father (Adam BIFFLE) moved to Sullivan County, East Tennessee (then NC) on Holston River. I was living there when I went into the services. Some years after the war I moved to Buncombe Co, NC (then Burke Co.) After living there a few years I moved out farther to a county now Haywood County, NC...staid a few years there until 1810. In 1810 I moved to this Maury Co. (TN)...."
    He may also have lived in South Carolina for a short time.
    Jacob fought in the Battle of King's Mountain (1780) and other engagements in SC.
    Jacob's brother John BIFFLE also served in the Revolution, and he married Sally INGRAM (sister of Goldman INGRAM). They had a son Goldman BIFFLE.
    (see http://www.biffle.org/fgs-jacobcmary.html)
  4. William FRAVES? (FRAGER? - 1800 census):
    Not yet identified, but this may have been William FRAZER Sr., born about 1773.
    His son William FRASER Jr. married Elizabeth SHULER, daughter of a George SHULER & Mary LONG of Rockbridge Co, VA.
    This George SHULER was born in Bucks Co, PA on 15 June 1782 & later moved to the Shenandoah Valley of VA where he lived for more than 15 years before moving to Gallia Co, OH.
    This George was probably a son of John Mathias (Matthias) SCHULER, who received payment from Maryland for his services during the French & Indian War period, and later was a landowner in the Shenandoah Valley of VA. Family lore from Matthias' descendants said that he came to the Shenandoah Valley about 1763, and had previously lived in Pennsylvania.
  5. Abraham M. WIGGINS:
    Born 1761 in New Jersey, died around 1850 in Jackson Co, NC.
    Served in the Revolutionary War in NC, but his pension claim was rejected due to lack of sufficient documentation from North Carolina records.
    Abraham's daughter Sarah "Sally" WIGGINS married George's son John SHULER.
    The legendary Cherokee Indian chief Tsali surrendered at the home of Abraham WIGGINS in 1838.
    (see http://www.grahamchamber.com/cherokee.html)

Information Compiled
by Karen Bray Keeley

INTERNET Adaptation
by Sandra Shuler Bray