The following is a letter that Peter Light wrote to people that he knew had the correct ancestry for Shem Graybill/Krehbiel:
Dear fellow genealogy enthusiasts,
I found your names on Rootsweb World Connect Project Global Search when I was checking out Shem Graybill, who I have long had in my databank. I had also recorded, as have all of you, the names of his parents as Christian Graybill and Mary Maria Landis.
One day when I was trying to find out more about Shem Graybill by Googling his name using the alternate spellings of Krebil/Krehbiel, I discovered that despite his wife, daughter and death date being the same in all cases, there was a strange and profound discrepancy: Most of the people who spelled the name “Graybill” had Christian and Mary Maria as his parents; the others had a completely different ancestry for him, starting with his parents as Michael Krehbiel.
The ancestory that I, and you, have goes back nine generations, and spawned fifty-one ancestors, some of them beloved! that I've “lived” with for almost five years, and which includes Hans Landis, last Mennonite beheaded in Zurich, in 1614; the newly discovered one goes back seven generations, and generates, I think, at the most, only fourteen ancestors!
Here's what first alerted me concerning Shem's parentage. None of the children below line up with Christian's family except Shem.
Michell Crable
Michael Krebiel
48 Krehbiel, Michael b.
ca. 1706; d. 1783; Earl Twp.
m. Mary ?[Eby] d. 1793
children:
1. John Krehbiel b. ca.
1740; d. Aug. 22, 1818; Botetout Co., Va.
m. Hannah Bontrager; daughter of Martin Bontrager
2. Joseph Krehbiel b. ca.
1742; d. Franklin Twp., Adams Co., Pa.
m. Mary Brillhart; daughter of Peter Brillhart
3. Michael Krehbiel b. ca. 1745; d. Earl Twp., Lanc. Co., Pa.
4. Shem Krehbiel b. ca.
1748; d. ca. 1786; Earl Twp.
m. Susanna Hole
5. Elizabeth Krehbiel b. ca. 1751; d. before 1792
6. Mary Krehbiel b. ca.
1753;
m. Christian Hole
source: Richard W. Davis, Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners, Vol. II, p. 234-235.
When I began delving into the sources for Shem’s parents, Christian and Mary Maria all ultimately led to the LDS and their FamilySearch records, which I understand can be an unreliable source, indeed, has a disclaimer as to authenticity; the others, for Michael and Mary Eby, all led to Richard W. Davis.
I wrote of my concerns to the source of the other parentage and lineage, Richard W. Davis, a long time genealogy researcher. He wrote me the following letter:
Peter
I finally had time to look over the Shem Graybill information. My name is Richard Warren Davis. I am the Richard Davis that Darvin Martin quoted as his source.
I spent years researching the Graybill/Krehbiel and there is no Shem, son of Christian Krehbiel found in any of my searches. The information that you found on Shem being the son of Christian on Goggle is incorrect. According to the will of Michael Krehbiel/Graybill of Earl Township written in 1771, Michael left some of his land to his son Shem in Earl Township, Lancaster County. Shem left a will and his wife Susanna (Holl) left a will in Earl Township naming their children, among them was Salome Graybill. All four of Shem and Susanna's children are listed in the orphan court records of Lancaster County in 1784. You can find all of this information on my website under "Krehbiel".
Best regards
Richard
The following people are submitters for Shem Graybill as the son of Christian Graybill and Mary Maria Landis at the FamilySearch site.
KENNETH ALLAN GRAYBEAL
PHYLLIS JONES
ROBYN ESHENRODER
JIMMIE "B" STOKER
LEILA BROWN
LA RAE WATSON
KATHLEEN KNORR
I have intended to write all these people to try to ascertain what their sources are but have not yet done it. Likewise to the following folks, who are the submitters for Christian Graybill and Mary Maria Landis but who do not have any children for them:
Christian GRAYBILL Sex: M
Submitter(s):
EARL DELYLE FLOWERS
STEVEN HOLT
KIRK GODDARD LARSON
RONNIE L. GRAYBEAL
KENNETH ALLAN GRAYBEAL
PHYLLIS JONES
DONNA P. MALAN
ROBYN ESHENRODER
LEILA BROWN
LA RAE WATSON
KATHLEEN KNORR
JOYCE TULLIS BARTON
This is where matters stand now. I wanted to let all of you know of this.
There are thirty of us; and there are twenty names in the above lists. I don’t know yet if there is any overlap, but perhaps you and I could share the task of writing to them. Anyone willing, please write to me, and I will “assign” names, so that we don’t duplicate out efforts. Then we can share what we find out.
I suspect that Richard Davis might have it right, though!
Shem and his daughter Salome, and her husband Jacob Erb, are all my direct ancestors. If they are yours, too, then we are cousins, and I would love to correspond with you on that score as well!
Hope I hear from some or all of you.
Later,
Peter