[p. 1006] general farmer and well known citizen of North Beaver Township, resides on his well cultivated farm of forty acres, which is favorably situated for agricultural purposes and a pleasant residence, on the Moravia Road, on an eminence just out of Mahoningtown. Mr. Shaffer was born October 10, 1841, in North Beaver Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Andrew and Nancy (Pitcher) Shaffer.
Andrew Shaffer was born in Martinsburg, Virginia, and in boyhood accompanied his parents to North Beaver Township, where he grew to manhood on a farm. He married Naney Pitcher, who was born and reared on the farm on the hill just out of Mahoningtown, known as Pitcher Hill. Andrew Shaffer and wife had ten children, of whom six are still living. The parents were people of prominence in this section, standing high in public esteem as long as they lived, and are remembered with feelings of friendly recollection.
Mathias Shaffer was reared in his native township and obtained his education in the neighborhood schools. Both he and his brother, Asel Shaffer, served as soldiers in the Civil War, the latter giving three years to the service of his country. Mathias served through the closing year of the war, being a member of Company H, Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. When he returned to North Beaver Township he engaged in farming and after his marriage he settled on the farm on which he now lives, which was the old Bashore farm. For two years subsequently he lived on another farm, during which time his first wife died, and afterward he returned to his present property. For fourteen years he followed threshing, but in the fall of 1906 he sold his outfit and since then has devoted himself entirely to general farming. In 1888 he erected his substantial barn and in 1898 the handsome residence, which in its tastefulness and convenience shows that his judgment was assisted by that of Mrs. Shaffer.
In 1866 Mr. Shaffer was married to Helen Bashore, who died in 1885. The four children born to this marriage were: Elmer; Grant, who is a conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroad; Ivy, who is the wife of William Taylor, and has two children—Bradford and Mabel—and Euwilda, who married Frank Fisher and has three children—Howard, Mary and Baby. Mr. Shaffer was married (secondly) to Mahala Bashore, a sister of his first wife, both being daughters of Andrew Bashore, an old and prominent farmer of this section.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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