BIOS: Norman D. SHAFFER, Hollsopple, Paint Twp., Somerset County, PA

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Vol. XXXII, Containing Life Sketches of Leading 
Citizens of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. Boston, 
Biographical Review Publishing Company: 1899, pp 108-110.

  Norman D. Shaffer, general manager of the Farmer Milling Company at 
Hollsopple, Paint township, Somerset county, is a son of David J. 
Shaffer a native of this township.  He was born December 14, 1869, on 
the present site of the Bervin White Coal Company's general office, in 
the house now occupied by one of the company's superintendents.
  David Shaffer, grandfather of David J. was one of the earliest 
settlers of Paint, whither he removed from York County, this State, 
with his family when his son John D. Shaffer, the grandfather of Norman 
D., was a youth of sixteen years.  He followed farming, and also owned 
and operated a distillery in this township, where he died at the age of 
threescore and ten years.  His wife's maiden name was Kate Faust.  They 
had ten children.
  John D. Shaffer was born in York County, Pennsylvania, but during a 
large part of his life was employed as a farmer in Somerset County.  
After the death of his wife, Mrs. Catherine Custer Shaffer, at the age 
of sixty-two years, he removed to Bedford County, where he remained 
until his demise, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years.  They were 
both members of the Evangelical church.  They had thirteen children, of 
whom these eight are living: Philip H., David J., Rebecca, William, 
Elizabeth, Delia, Silas, and John J.  Philip H., whose first wife, 
Rachel Wyngard, died leaving one child, David, subsequently married 
Susan Giffen, who died after bearing him three children - Minnie, Mary, 
and Blair; and he then married Mrs. Mary McDowall, born Ramsey, by whom 
he has one child, Harry.  Rebecca is the wife of Daniel Horne, and has 
three children - Ellsworth, Aaron, and Grant.  William married Louise 
Schaulley, and they have six children - Edward, Catherine, Shepard, 
David, Garfield, and Philip.  Elizabeth, the wife of Jonathan Ling, has 
five children - Annie, Walter, Louisa, Mattie, and Eppie.  Delia is the 
widow of John Finley.  She has five children - Wolford, Jacob, Daniel, 
Libbie, and Sadie.  Silas, who married Rebecca Smith, has seven 
children - Orie, Paterson, Laura Bell, Job, Abbie, Durbie, and Harry.  
John J., who married Maggie Rager, has three children - Dudie, Fannie, 
and Elsie.
  David J. Shaffer, son of John D., was born in Paint township, January 
27, 1828, and has here spent his entire life.  He was engaged during 
his earlier years in farming and lumbering, having a saw-mill in the 
village of Scalp Level, where he is now living retired from active 
pursuits.  He has been a member of the Republican party since its 
formation, and in his younger days he served in the various offices of 
the township.  He is an active member and at present a Deacon of the 
Brethren church, to which his wife, formerly Rachel Hollsopple, also 
belongs.  She was born in Paint, October 30, 1831, a daughter of Isaac 
and Christina (Hoffman) Hollsopple.  Nine children have blessed their 
union, namely: Frances, Isaac, Catherine, Jacob, Christina, Josiah, 
Lewis, Daniel D., and Norman D.  With the exception of Frances, who 
married Anniani Orris, and died in 1893, leaving two children - Cora A. 
and Emma Bertha - all are now living.  Isaac married Susan Weaver, and 
has eight children - Mahlon, Ida, Minerva, Emma, Mary, Rachel, Arthur, 
and William.  Catherine, who is the widow of Isaac Faust, has seven 
children - Ada, Dilla, Lewis, Emma, Harry, Irvin, and Leslie.  Jacob 
married Alice Berkebile, and has six children - Harry, Maggie, Earl and 
Pearl (twins), Walter, and George.  Christina, the wife of Albert 
Berkey, has six children - Emma, Lizzie, Mary, Alvin, Effie, and Ila.  
Josiah married Kate Baumgardner, and has four children - Daisy, Pearce, 
Clyde, and Morris.  Lewis married Carrie J. Weaver, and has two 
children - Bessie and Ethel L.  Daniel D., who married Maurella Grosh, 
has five children - Nora, Agnes, Lizzie, Floid, and Mamie Ruth.
  Norman D. Shaffer attended school in Paint during his boyhood, and 
afterward worked as a day laborer until 1890.  In 1892 he was elected 
Tax Collector of the township, a position which he held a year.  In the 
spring of 1893 he went to Johnstown, where he was connected with the 
mills three and one-half years, he then returned to Paint to assume his 
present position at Hollsopple as general manager for the Farmer 
Milling Company.  He is here identified with the best interests of the 
place, and is recognized as a man of Integrity and sterling worth.  He 
has served for three years as Assessor of Benson borough, and he was 
elected a School Director in 1898.  He was also elected Justice of the 
Peace in 1899, without his solicitation, a fact showing the esteem in 
which he is held by the people of Benson borough.  In politics he has 
never swerved from the faith in which he was reared, but is true to the 
principles of the Republican party.
  On March 27, 1892, Mr. Shaffer married Tillie Faust, a daughter of 
John and Elizabeth Faust.  They have three children - Nellie May, 
Forest Clifford, and Mildred Vietta.  Mrs. Shaffer is a member of the 
Evangelical church.