Adair County, Missouri Genealogy Trails

The Jacob Shafer Family

This was written by their grandson Donald Shafer who has passed away since then.
It was in a book called The First Hundred Yrs.of Novinger, Mo.

Contributed by: Debra Athon Mckim

Jacob and Philippena (Blunt) Shafer came to the United States in 1866 from Germany; Jacob was a shoemaker by trade in Thalichonburg near Kusal.
They were of the Lutheran faith. They had three children at the time they immigrated to this country: Charles, Josephine and Caroline; after arriving here they had six more children- Minnie, Mary, Emma, Jacob, Fred and Cora.

They landed at Hannibal then came by train to Macon and from there by wagon to Kirksville, Missouri. After moving to various places in and about Kirksville, they finally settled west of Youngstown, Missouri, five miles south of Novinger, Missouri.

Jacob bought some land in 1869 and later bought an adjoining farm from Pete Darr in 1870; this same land has been in the Shafer family since that time.

Aunt Caroline "Lena" helped Grandpa Jacob saw logs they hauled to Solomon Otto's Saw Mill and later built the house that belongs to Dee.

Cora often told about moving to the new house that was across Billy's Creek from where they lived.
He was only five years old and carried the cat across the foot log.

Grandpa Jacob always raised lots of potatoes; an old German custom that helped feed a large family.

One time when Dee was quite small, Grandpa Jacob brought him a coat he had made himself.

Dee remembers Curt Pope, a cousin, telling him Grandpa Jacob cut down a big walnut tree, which took him all day to cut; this was on the old Shafer farm and the stump is still there. Most of the older Shafers were farmers and raised a lot cattle and hogs.

Aunt Nedra was telling about her Uncle Orville going to chore one cold morning; Uncle Orville complained about how cold it was, but Aunt Nedra didn't notice the cold, because she had left her flannel pajamas on under all her chore clothes.

Not all the Shafer holdings were destined for farming; bituminous coal deposits lay beneath the surface of the farm and parcels were sold to an already thriving coal industry. Although only Charlie, the son of Cora, was the only Shafer to work in the mine for a short time, the Shafers have been closely linked with Novinger's coal mining heritage.

Jacob had four sons: Charley, Fred, Jacob and Cora. Fred had one son Lloyd and Jacob had one sone Warner. It was only through Cora, his youngest son, that the family name has continued.

Cora married Henrietta Vanlaningham and to this marriage six children were born; Nettie Young, Dee, Charlie, Neilson Houghtaling, Nedra James and Orville.

Charlie was married to Rosa Hoerrmann and they had three children - Patricia, Charlene and Leon. Leon was married to Kathryn Baldridge and had three sons,
Roger, Randall and Bret.

Orville was married to Evalea Myers and to this marriage two sons were born: Ronald and Randall. Ronald is married to Deann Taylor and has one son Justin.

Dee was married to Nadine Schneider and they had three children - Donald, Robert and Deanna. Donald was married to Maxine Snyder and to this marriage five sons were born:
Daryl, Daran, Devan, Donovan, and Daniel. Daran has one son Slade.

Donald purchased the original Vanlaningham farm, which has been in the Shafer family over 100 years, from his Grandfather Cora in 1962.

In 1978 Donald and Maine made a trip to Germany to visit their son Daniel, who was stationed with the United States army near Thalichonburg, near Kusal, where his great, great grandfather had lived. They visited all around this area and found the records in the town where he had lived.

Note from: Debra Athon Mckim, rlmckim@nemr.net

Other info on Jesse is he is buried in Mills Cem. in Douglas Co.,Mo. along with his wife Susan C. Spradlin.
Jesse-Oct 13, 1818-May 8, 1905. Susan C.-Oct 13, 1828-Dec 21, 1909.
They are my GGG Grandparents.They were once in Sullivan Co.,Mo. in 1880 census.

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