Northumberland County PA Archives Biographies.....Schaffer, John F. 1867 - living in 1899

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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 4, 2005, 9:59 pm



Author: Biographical Publishing Co.



JOHN F. SCHAFFER, an attorney-at-law of the town of Sunbury, Northumberland

County, where he enjoys a large and lucrative patronage, is a son of John F. and

Sarah A. (Houghton) Schaffer, and was born in Sunbury, September 20, 1867.



  The family originally came from Switzerland, John Schaffer, the

great-grandfather of our subject, being a native of that country. He was a

soldier in the Napoleon wars and after receiving: a serious wound in the chest

he left the army and came to this country, locating in the city of Reading,

where he lived until his death. He was the father of John Schaffer, the

grandfather of our subject, who was born in Reading and early in life learned

the trade of a tailor, which trade he thereafter followed. He took an active

part in the political affairs of his day and was a member of the Democratic

party, spending time and money in aiding his friends to office. He was a member

of the Reformed Church, in which he was an active worker and was Sunday School

superintendent. He was twice before the matrimonial altar, his first wife being

Louise Winckler, by whom he had four, children, including John F., the father of

our subject.



  John F. Schaffer was born in Reading, August 3, 1834, where he grew to manhood

and learned the trade of a tailor with his father. In 1855 he went to Lewisburg,

Pa., where he engaged in merchant tailoring until 1864, when he returned to

Reading and in the following spring removed to Sunbury, where he remained until

his death, on August 3, 1878. He engaged in his trade at Sunbury with good

results. He was also an artist of more than ordinary ability. He was united in

marriage to Sarah A. Houghton and they became the parents of one son and one

daughter.



  John F. Schaffer, the subject of this biographical sketch, was reared in

Sunbury and obtained his education in the public schools, graduating from the

high school in the class of 1884. He then was a clerk in the office of the

register and recorder and clerk of the Orphans' Court in Sunbury. In 1887 he

went West, spending three years in California, Colorada, and Arizona, during the

time of the great boom. He was employed in an abstract and title company's

office at Los Angeles, and later by Fred Harvey, the proprietor of a chain of

eating houses from Kansas City to San Bernardino, Cal. Prior to his departure

for the West our subject passed the preliminary examination and upon his return

to Sunbury in 1890 he read law under the direction of Hon. John B. Packer, a

distinguished lawyer of that place, and upon the latter's death in 1891, he

continued to study under George B. Reymonsnyder of Sunbury. He was admitted to

the bar in December, 1894, and has since been successfully engaged in practice.

>From 1891 to 1894 he served as deputy prothonotary in a satisfactory manner.



   Politically Mr. Schaffer is a member of the Democratic party, but has never

aspired to office, taking only the interest of a dutiful citizen in politics.

Religiously he is a member of the Presbyterian Church.





Additional Comments:

Extracted from:



Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District

Published by 

Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)





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