Grant County, West Virginia Biography of John R. SCHAEFFER This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 208-209 JOHN R. SCHAEFFER. While a merchant for a number of years, John R. Schaeffer inherited the fine mechanical quali- ties of his forefathers, and probably his most distinguishing work has been in the field of photography. His artistry has served to give wide publicity to the wonderful scenery in his section of West Virginia. His home is in Gormania in Grant County, where the Schaeffers were among the first settlers. However, he was born on a farm near Mount Storm in another part of Grant County, October 4, 1858. His great- grandfather, Adam Schaeffer, was a native of Germany, and after coming to the United States he settled in Preston County, in what is now West Virginia. His children were Abraham, Adam, Conrad, John, Jacob, Daniel, William, Mary, Catherine, Kate and Susan. Of these children Jacob Schaeffer was born in Preston County in the year 1803. He grew up near Mount Carmel, and was one of eight brothers. He organized the first Sunday school in Preston County, at Mount Carmel, or Old Town, in 1825. Leaving that vicinity, he purchased land on the Potomac River, settled in the wilderness and built his cabin on what later became the townsite of Gormania. At that time this locality was in Hardy County. His was the first home erected in Gormania. He kept a tavern there and also worked as a mechanic and became the first post- master. At that time the place was known as Schaeffers- ville. When he sold this place he returned to Preston County, where he died May 10, 1888. As a youth of seven- teen he learned the trade of wheelwright at Cumberland, and subsequently worked as a cabinet maker. He was a real artist in the making of furniture. While at Cumber- land he became acquainted with Miss Roseanna Eizenhart, whom he married. Their children were: George Adam, James Henry, Jacob Rhodes, William Franklin, Daniel Wesley, George and Samuel, twins, Francis Ashbury, Daniel Hess, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Ann Savilla Baxter, Martha Catherine Sophia, Harriet Elizabeth Priseilla, wife of John Ruckman of Gormania, and Martha C., who married Alex- ander Kitzmiller and now lives near Bayard, West Vir- ginia. Daniel Wesley Sehaeffer was born on the farm that now includes the homesite of Gormania, January 5, 1836. He was a Southerner in sentiment at the time of the war, was a democrat, but two of his brothers were republicans and were Federal soldiers, one of them dying while a prisoner of war. Daniel W. Schaeffer left his birthplace during the Civil war and located near Mount Storm, where he con- tinued farming until his death May 11, 1910. He was a Methodist and active in the formation of the society in the erection of a house of worship at Mount Storm. Daniel W. Sehaeffer married Sarah Ann Shillingburg. Her father, Jacob Shillingbnrg, represented one of the old families in the Mount Storm vicinity, was born in 1807, and in 1830 married Polly Sollars. The children of D. W. Schaeffer and wife were: Mary Ellen, wife of David Aronhalt, of Mount Storm; John R.; Jacob Howard, of Mount Storm; Alice Virginia, of Mount Storm; George Payton, of Petersburg, West Virginia; and Fannie Priscilla, wife of D. M. Uphole, of Mount Lake Park, Maryland. John R. Schaeffer spent his boyhood and youth on the farm where he was born, attended common schools and summer normals, and at the age of twenty began teaching. That was his vocation for a period of seventeen years. Besides his work in Grant County he taught for a time in Carroll County, Missouri, and in Davis County, Iowa At Bloomfield, Iowa, he attended and received the Master of Didactics degree from the Normal and Scientific College there. His last work as a teacher was done as principal of the Gormania schools in 1909. He early became a devotee of photography, and for a number of years has been in busi- ness as an artist and printer, taking photographs and en- larging pictures. As noted above, much of this work has been in the scenic field, and he has carried his camera over many of the stretches of scenery in Western Maryland and West Virginia. During the road contest staged by the United States Government when a prize was offered for the best picture of the best road in public use and also the worst one in public service, he won the second prize with a picture of a good road on the State Road of Maryland, and also that of the worst road, for which his subject was a stretch of the Northwestern Pike in Grant County. Mr. Schaeffer is author of the pictorial and historical work entitled: "From Baltimore to Charleston," issued in 1906, giving a history of the towns along the Western Maryland Railway. This is a splendid work of portraiture of the magnificent photog- raphy along the road and also the history of the highways and localities and something of their development. In connection with his artistic vocation Mr. Schaeffer has developed a general merchandise business at Gormania, and has a prosperous store where he not only conducts his studio and handles photographic supplies, but also has a stock of jewelry and other commodities. He served Gormania two terms as postmaster, appointed by President Wilson, and was the successor of M. Aronhalt. He left that office in July, 1921. Mr. Schaeffer cast his first presidential vote for General Hancock in 1880, and has supported the demo- cratic nominees at every subsequent election. He is a past grand of the local lodge of Odd Fellows, a member of the Junior Order United American Mechanics and is a Methodist. At Bedford, Pennslyvania, May 3, 1894, Mr. Schaeffer married Susie C. Miller, daughter of Charles Miller, who married a Miss Blackburn. Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer have had seven children and several grandchildren. Their son Alonzo Victor lives in Garrett County, Maryland, and by his marriage to Floe Rider has three children, named Lillian, Ora May and John. William Newton, the second son, died in infancy. Edna D. is the wife of C. R. Haines, of Gor- mania, and their children are Winfred Wilson Randolph and Virginia Gertrude Dare. Miss Gustava M., the fourth child, is a nurse in the Washington Hospital at Washington, D. C. The other children are Charles Wesley, of Gormania, Paul E. and Ola Theresa Pettit.