BIO:  James William Shaffer, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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Part II, Biographical Sketches, Monaghan Township, Pg 149

JAMES WILLIAM SHAFFER was born March 16, 1852, in Monaghan Township, York Co., 
Penn.  His father, G. D. Shaffer, being a farmer, his early life was spent upon 
the farm, and attending the district school.  At the age of fifteen he entered 
the Cumberland Valley Institute at Mechanicsburg, remaining for several sessions, 
and then took a special course of instruction at the Chambersburg Academy.  
Wishing to learn a trade he engaged in the saddle and harness manufacturing 
business, and carried it on successfully from 1871 to 1874, when he sold out and 
engaged in farming.  During the summer of 1875 he traveled extensively thorough 
New York State and the Canadas.  Visited Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, New 
Jersey and Delaware, during the winter of 1880.  Engaged in the lumber and coal 
business with his father in Bowmansdale, Cumberland Co., Penn., in 1876, and has 
continued it until the present.  He also traveled through Florida and some of the 
Southern States in the summer of 1884.  He was appointed enumerator of the tenth 
census, and held other offices of trust and honor.