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| Jacob Philip Schaffer and his wife Nellie H. Schaffer Oakwood Cemetery (Source: Photo by Larry & Linda Kopet USGENWebArchiveWisconsin)  Oakwood Cemetery (Source: Photo by Larry & Linda Kopet USGENWebArchiveWisconsin) |
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| (Source: Plat Book for Racine and Kenosha County, Hennessey & Co., Delavan, Wis. 1908) |
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| 1887 Partial Map of somers Township, Kenosha County Section 18. J. Schaeffer parcel and Peter Schaeffer parcel Click on map for closer view |
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| Katherine Louise Schaffer Passport (Source: U.S. Passport Applications) Click on Passport for closer view |
Jacob Philip Schaeffer, whose well cultivated and highly productive property is situated in Section 7 (west), Somers Township, is one of Kenosha County's most enterprising agriculturists. Mr. Schaeffer was born in Somers Township, on an adjoining farm, June 3, 1861, and is the son of Jacob and Wilhelmina (Volkman) Schaeffer, natives of Germany.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was Nicholas Schaeffer, a native of Germany, where he died at the age of eighty-five years. His wife also attained advanced age and they had a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters, two of the sons, Adam and John now living in Germany. The maternal grandfather of Jacob P. Schaeffer was also a native of Germany, where he died at an advanced age. He was taken prisoner by pirates off the coast of Algiers. The ship's crew was held for a ransom of $200 but while this was being sent he died. He married Sophia Schulz and they had two daughters and one son, the later still surviving and now living in Modoc County, California.
Jacob Schaeffer, father of our subject, followed farming in his native country. On coming to this country some time in the early fifties, he went to work in New York State, remaining under the same employer for four years. He then came to Wisconsin and purchased a farm of forty acres in Somers Township, to which he added fifty acres and later added forty-five acres more. This farm he improved, and upon it spent the remainder of his life, dying in 1874, aged forty-nine years and eleven months. His wife had passed away in 1871, aged thirty-five years. Both were Lutherans. They had these children: Jacob Philip; Elizabeth, the wife of August Bohm of Somers, and Miss Katherine, a Presbyterian Missionary in China.
Jacob P. Schaeffer was reared in Kenosha County and was brought up on the farm on which he was born. He attended the district schools, and lived at home until twelve years of age, and then, his parents having died, he worked on neighboring farms for some time. He then returned to his father's farm, which he operated until the heirs of the property sold it. He then purchased his present farm of 160 acres, which he has improved finely. He also works fifty acres of land, which belongs to the Schaeffer estate.
On February 1, 1900, Mr. Schaeffer married Miss Nellie Hamilton, daughter of Robert and Ida (Foster) Hamilton, and two sons have been born to this union: Ralph Eugene and Russell Sage. Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer are members of the Presbyterian Church in which Mr. Schaeffer is an elder. Politically he is a Republican, and served as Town Constable for a number of years.
The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Schaeffer was Robert Hamilton, a native of Scotland. He came to America, settling near Union Grove, Wis., where he carried on farming. There he died at a very old age: his wife, Sarah, also attained advanced years. They had a family of six children: Robert; John; William; Sarah who is the wife of John Baker of Ives Grove, Wis.; Alice who is the widow of William Jamieson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Mary, the wife of Charles Robertson of Williams, Iowa. On the maternal side, Mrs. Schaeffer's grandfather was Thomas Foster, a native of New York State, and a farmer. He was an early settler near Franksville, Wis. where he died at an old age. He married Sarah Parker, who lived to be nearly seventy years of age. They had one daughter and two sons. Ida; Thomas of Milwaukee, Wis.; and Charles of Denver, Colorado.
Robert Hamilton, father of Mrs. Jacob P. Schaeffer, was a native of Scotland, while his wife was born in the state of Wisconsin. Mr. Hamilton came to America settling near Union Grove, in Racine County where he engaged extensively in agricultural operations. He now makes his home in Mason City, Iowa. Mr. Hamilton was married in Franksville, and to him and his wife a family of four children, two sons and two daughters, were born as follows: William, who resides in Mason City, Iowa; Alice, the widow of William Buttrick, who resides in Bristol; Nellie, the wife of our subject; and George, a mail carrier of Somers, Wisconsin.
(Source: Biographical Record of Prominent and Representative Men of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin, J.H. Beers & Co., Chicago 1906)
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| (Source: Plat Book for Racine and Kenosha County, Hennessey & Co., Delavan, Wis. 1908) |
About Peter Schaeffer
When death called Peter Schaeffer he was a resident of Somers Township and was laid to rest in Paris Township. For a third of a century he had been a resident of Kenosha County where he worked at farm labor for several years and then engaged in agricultural pursuits on his own account. He was born in Germany in 1838, and acquired a common school education there. When thirty-two years of age he crossed the Atlantic and made his way at once to Kenosha county where he was employed in the fields for a time. he afterward went on a prospecting trip to Colorado, where he remained for a year and a half. On the expiration of that period he returned and again was employed by other for two or three years, but during that period carefully saved his earnings until his frugality and industry enabled him to purchased eighty acres of land in Somers Township upon which he continued to make his home until his death. During that period he converted his land into a rich and productive farm, supplied with modern equipments, while from the fields he annually fathered rich harvests.
In 1878 Mr. Schaeffer was married to Miss Elizabeth Henn, and to them were born four children: Peter G.; Jacob P. a resident of Montana; Louise the wife of Gust Palomer of Wheaton, Illinois, by whom she has two children; and Katherine, the wife of Otto Paphop by whom she has one child.
In his political views Peter Schaeffer was a Republican. He belonged to the German Lutheran church, and his life was upright and honorable, commending him to the confidence and goodwill of all with whom he came in contact.
His son, Peter G. Schaeffer, was born in Somers Township on the 10th of January 1875, and at the usual age became a public school pupil. he began working with his father when quite young, being early trained to the best methods of tilling the soil and cultivating the fields. Since that time he has now lived upon the old home place on Section 18 in Somers Township where he now owns eighty acres of land that is rich and productive. The farm presents a neat and thrifty appearance, and it is evident to the passerby that the owner is both practical and progrressive in his methods.
On the 20th of April 1904, Peter G. Schaeffer wedded Miss Rose Hetzler, a daughter of William Hetzler and they have two children, Alma and Stanley, both in school.
(Source: City and County of Kenosha Record of Settlement by Frank H. Lyman, Vol. II, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1916)
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