Harshbarger line: Johan Jacob Schaeffer died 1789

 The first thing I know about Jacob Schaeffer is that I don't know much, and what I think I know is confusing and conflicting.  However, we know enough to know that he belongs in the line of the Harshbarger family, and by writing this down, perhaps someone will see this and answer the questions I will present.  Mostly, I suspect that the many, many spellings of his last name are causing some of the confusion.

Jacob is reported to have been born on February 7, 1709 in Reisberg, Kusel, Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany.  I have not come up with a definitive location for Reisberg.  Kusel, however, is a small town in the Palatinate area, near the southwest border of Germany.  It is an ancient town with a current population of about 5200, and buildings in the "Old Town" date from long before the time of Jacob.  Jacob's parents are thought to be Johan Niclaus and Maria Catherina Suder Schaffer. (Note the spelling: Shafer, Shaver, Shaeffer, Schaeffer, Sheffer all seem to be variant spellings of the name, and there may well be more ways to spell this name and thus confuse us!)

His father, and most likely the whole family, including Jacob, arrived in New York in 1710, undoubtedly as part of the group sent over by Queen Anne, to colonize areas on the upper Hudson River that were taken from the Dutch.  This land was owned by Robert Livingston.  When the family had either worked off their indentureship, or just plain escaped the settlement, they were likely among those who made their way through the wilderness, perhaps on paths created by native Americans, and then settled in the Tulpehocken valley of Pennsylvania.  These settlers came to American with nothing and that's what they arrived with in Pennsylvania.  

There is a fly in the ointment for this story.  I have a copy of a map that says it is the Tulpehocken Valley as it appeared in 1723, which shows Jacob Shaeffer as owning a rather large tract of land then.  If Jacob was born in 1709, this would not have been possible.  However, I don't know when the map was actually created, and if it was after Niclaus's death in 1758, it could well have been Jacob's land at that time.  

Jacob married Maria Barbara Kobel, daughter of Jacob and Anna Maria Egli Kobel on June 10, 1735 in Tulpehocken, Berks County.  The records are in the Moravian Archives, which makes us wonder whether these were Moravians, or whether they were simply married by one of their members, perhaps because no one else was available.  The Kobels were another family that had been first in New York and then traveled to Pennsylvania.  

Jacob and Barbara had at least 10 children together.  We know very little of their life, except that he is referred to in church records as "baumeister".  The current meaning of the word seems to be architect, but at the time it probably meant "master builder".  Jacob had a means to support himself, other than the farming he undoubtedly did.  

Jacob would have been of the right age to have been a part of the militia guarding borders and perhaps battling native Americans in the French and Indian War.  There are at least two Jacob Shaffers from Berks County who were in the militia in 1780-1782, but likely our Jacob was too old by that time to have been active in the military.  He did, however, take the oath of allegiance in 1778 and served on the committee of safety, which served as an executive would have, from the time independence was declared until state and local governments were put in place.  

There are reports of a will but I have not yet located it.  The will is the basis for the names of his children.  It is believed that he is buried in the "Zion Cemetery", which possibly is now the "Zion Moselem Church".  This congregation was founded about seven years after the marriage of Jacob and Barbara, and records of most of their children are found there.  

Of course I'd love to know more about Jacob.  What sorts of buildings did he construct?  Are any still standing? Did he serve in the French and Indian War? What were his duties as a member of the committee of safety?  What German traditions did his family keep?  We may never know the answers to these questions, but it's good to think of them.  

The line of descent is

Johan Jacob Schaeffer-Anna Barbara Kobel

Anna Maria Schaeffer-Jacob Whetstone

John Whetstone-Mary Magdalena

Catherine Whetstone-Henry Cook

William Cook-Elizabeth Brown

Barbara Ellen Cook-William A Withers

William H Withers-Della Kemery

Goldie Withers-Grover Harshbarger

Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks

Their descendants