Bedford County PA Archives Biographies.....Schaeffer, William H.
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Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com May 2003


WILLIAM H. SCHAEFFER, of Colerain township, Pa., is numbered 
mong the successful farmers and business men of the 
community, and is held in high respect as one who at all 
times well performs his duty as a law-abiding citizen.  He 
was born at the homestead where he now resides, January 31, 
1846, a son of Henry and Rebecca (Beegle) Schaeffer, and 
comes of pioneer stock.  His grandfather, Jacob Schaeffer, 
migrated from Lehigh County, this State, to Bedford County, 
at an early day, and settled near Rainsburg, in Colerain 
township, on the farm now owned by Mr. William Young.  He 
there redeemed a large tract of land from the wilderness, 
and for many years engaged in farming pursuits.
  Henry Schaeffer, son of Jacob, was born and reared in 
Pennsylvania, and devoted the greater part of his active 
life to agricultural labor.  After arriving at man's estate 
he settled on the farm now owned and carried on by his son, 
William H., where until his death, in 1855, he followed his 
chosen occupation.  He was an industrious, energetic man, 
well liked by all who knew him, and was a consistent member 
of the Lutheran church.  Of his union with Rebecca Beegle, 
who was a native of Colerain township, four children were 
born, three of whom still live, as follows: Annie E., wife 
of William May, of Shelby, Ohio; William H., the special 
subject of this sketch; and Hester A., wife of Albert 
Pheasant of Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  One daughter, 
Mary J., died May 12, 1896.  The mother, who attained the 
age of seventy-five years, died in 1889.
  William H. Schaeffer in his boyhood pursued his studies in 
the common schools of Colerain, which he attended 
principally in the winter terms.  He was but ten years old 
when his father died, and five years later, he being the 
only son of his widowed mother, had to practically assume 
the management of the home farm, thus beginning his life 
work at an unusually early age.  He has added to the place a 
large part of the improvements, and by toilsome labor well 
directed has made a success where men of less calibre and 
activity would have made a dismal failure.  He carries on 
general farming and stock-raising, with which he has been 
familiar from youth, and has his one hundred and forty acres 
of land mostly under cultivation.
  Mr. Schaeffer first married on January 5, 1871, Mary J. 
Shaffer, a sister of Samuel Shaffer, of Colerain, Pa., She 
died while yet in the prime of womanhood, leaving five 
children; –Harry W., Ada R., Clarence W., Flora C., and 
Charles E.  Mr. Schaeffer subsequently married Miss Annetta 
Rose, a native of Ohio.  Two children, Howard L. and an 
infant son, have been born of this union.


Source: Bedford Biographical Review, 1899, Bedford Co., Pa