SILAS S. SHAFFER, section 23, Lauramie Township, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, April 11, 1819, of German ancestry.  His father, JACOB SHAFFER, and his grandfather, JACOB SHAFFER, SR., were natives of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, his great-grandfather, SHAFFER, being a native of Germany.  The mother of our subject, ANNA (THATCHER) SHAFFER, was born in the State of New Jersey, a daughter of SAMUEL and SUSAN THATCHER, her grandfather, THATCHER, being a native of England.  When the subject of this sketch was a lad of eight years his parents removed to Columbus, Ohio, where he was reared and educated.  He learned the bakery and confectionery trade in that city, which he followed for more than thirty years, and was an unusually good workman.   In the spring of 1844 he came to La Fayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and became associated in business with HIRAM BRUNSON.  This partnership was dissolved in 1849, when his brother, JACOB SHAFFER, came from Columbus, Ohio, and became his partner. In January, 1866, he left La Fayette, removing to his farm on section 23, Lauramie Township, which contains fifty acres of well improved land, and there he has since devoted his attention to farming and stock-raising.

MR. SHAFFER was married May 28, 1846, to MISS CHARLOTTE OYLER, a daughter of SAMUEL OYLER, who is now deceased.  MR. OYLER came from London, England, to America, in 1837, and the same year entered the land now occupied by the subject of this sketch.  Of seven children born to MR. and MRS. SHAFFER, but four are living--CHARLES, HARRY, ADA and GEORGE.  CHARLES, who is an inventor and a practical machinist, married NETTIE SLY, and has two children, named HARRY and AMY.  He makes his home in Rockford, Illinois.  HARRY has been twice married, the maiden name of his first wife being ELVA LUCAS.  One child, a girl, ELVA GENEVIEVE, was born to them.  ELVA died December 23, 1879, her child surviving her but seven months.  He was married a second time to MATTIE THOMPSON, and to this union three children have been born, named--LOTTIE, CHARLES and OLIVER RONALD.    HARRY SHAFFER is the present principal of the Clark's Hill schools.  ADA is the wife of BOURBON THOMPSON, of Lauramie Township, and they are the parents of two children, named--BLANCHE and GEORGE. GEORGE SHAFFER, who lives in Lauramie Township, married MINNIE DAUGHERTY, and they have one child named GLENN.  In religion the SHAFFER family are Universalists.  In politics MR. SHAFFER affiliates with the Republican party.  JACOB SHAFFER, the father of our subject, was a doctor by profession, and practiced medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, when that city was a mere hamlet.  He was one of the first eclectic physicians in the United States, and was a very skillful practitioner, who during the cholera scourge in 1832, was more successful in that disease than any other physician of his time.

Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, pg. 524
Lewis Publishing Company, 113 Adams Street, Chicago, 1888

Volunteer: Charlene Saunders