BLOOMING GROVE COLONY

BLOOMING GROVE COLONY

Frederick Schaffer


Frederick Schaffer lies buried at the Dunker church. He was born November 19, 1788, died May 25, 1842. In 1823 he married Elizabeth Stroble, born April 5, 1794, died November 4, 1883. She walked to Philadelphia to meet her sister when she came from Germany in 1817.
Their children were: John, married Elizabeth Heim; Frederick, married Dora Heim; Salome, married Isaac Ulmer; Elizabeth, single; Barbara, married George Beidelspacher; Margaret, married Henry Solomon; Catharine, married Martin Ulmer; Christina, married David Ulmer; Mary, married Jacob Heim.
Frederick Schaffer was a weaver. He and his wife came from Moeringen, but were not acquainted until they came to the colony, although they came over in the same ship. In the course of time there came to them seven daughters and three sons, some of whom are still with us. The children were sent to school to Michael Biehl(Buehl) at the Klump school house, where they were taught in German. They sat around the room with their faces to the wall, and studied the alphabet, primer, the New Testament, and completed their schooling when able to read the Bible. The boys then worked at farming and the girls at spinning. They occupied one large room, with a dining table in one corner, leaving the space clear for the spinning wheels. Each one was tuned to a tone different from the others, and when all were in motion the music was decidedly original. They were often accompanied by an old aunt (Barbara Guinter) with her distaff and spindle, never having learned to use the wheel. She died in February, 1900, aged 90 years. The father had his weaving house where he had two looms, and wove the linen cloth for summer wear, sheets, etc., the woolen cloth for winter clothing, and counterpanes, coverlets, etc., for ornaments to their bedroom furnishing.
The Schaffer girls were famous. They would wash and shear sheep, work the wool, spin it, carry the cloth to Ball's Mills to be fulled, and make it up into garments. They would pull the flax, and under the guidance of their mother, put it through the entire process of manufacture.
One morning a very short and very stout old lady said to her daughter that she felt so sleepy she thought she would not get up. So her daughter brought her a biscuit and cup of coffee, which she relished. As people went by, some one said "grandmother Schaffer is in bed." As she had never known a sick day, they called in to talk to her and so it passed on until in the afternoon, when she fell into that sleep that knows no earthly awakening, - aged almost 90 years, - the fulness of days awarded for a temperate, industrious and peaceful life; a typical death in Blooming Grove.
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