Members of the Shaver family first arrived in the United States in the early eighteenth century after emigrating from Germany. Originally the family had the German last name Shäfer. However after spending some time in America, the family name evolved into Shaver. Early members of the family settled in Virginia. The Shavers have since branched out and both Arkansas and Tennessee have been home to some of the family members.

The Shaver Family Materials were compiled by Miss Elva Goodhue, a descendent of the Shaver family. Miss Goodhue's mother was a Shaver and her interest in the family's history began in 1926. Although she served as a chemistry professor for Lindsey Wilson Junior College in Kentucky, Miss Goodhue spent much of her free time traveling to genealogy libraries and writing to agencies in search of Shaver family records. Miss Goodhue's research was eventually put into a four volume set, The Shaver Family History, published in 1990, and compiled by Martha Shaver Dale.