Biography of Oliver E. Shaffer, pages 894/895/896.  History 
of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 
Indianapolis, 1914.



The gentleman whose name initiates this sketch is numbered 
among the successful and representative agriculturists of 
DeKalb county, his farm property being located in 
Smithfield township. In all the relations of life he has 
ever been found faithful and true, performing his duty at 
all times unflinchingly, and while advancing his own 
interest, he as also had the good of the entire community 
at heart.  Oliver E. Shaffer was born on May 7, 1857, at 
Bethany, Harrison county, Missouri, and is the son of 
William and Rebecca (Francis) Shaffer. William Shaffer was 
born on July 26, 1827, in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, and was a son of Simon and Margaret (Kinnard) 
Shaffer, the father being a good old Pennsylvania Dutch 
stock and a wagon-maker by trade. His son, William also 
learned the trade and in young manhood accompanied his 
parents on their removal to Ohio. On August 15, 1850, 
William Shaffer married Rebecca A. Francis, who was born on 
December 27, 1833, in Madison county, Ohio, and in 1853, 
the young couple moved to Harrison county, Missouri. There 
they lived until 1860, when they moved to Centerville, 
Marion county, Iowa, where Mr. Shaffer continued at his 
trade as a wagon-maker. On January 27, 1864, he suffered 
the loss of his wife by death, leaving him with five small 
children to care for. In March, 1864, he brought his little 
family to DeKalb county, where his parents were then 
residing about a half mile south of Sedan, and here he 
engaged in the operation of eighty acres of land belonging 
to his mother in Richland township,  in connection with 
which he also operated a threshing outfit. For about two 
years prior to his death he was employed in a carriage 
factory at Auburn, spending his last days with his son, 
Oliver, the subject of this sketch, in whose home his death 
occurred on February 3, 1890. On February 26, 1874, he had 
married Mary Ann Rohm, to which union were born two 
children, namely: Nettie and John, both of whom are 
deceased, their mother dying on August 20, 1876. By his 
first marriage he was the father of five children: Isaac 
N., deceased; Oliver E., the subject of this sketch: Emma 
R., Mrs. Clara I. Dilgard and Mrs. Ida Lehmbeck. The 
subject of this sketch was about three years old when his 
father moved to Iowa, and was about five or six years old 
when his mother died. In March before he had attained his 
seventh birthday his father brought the family to DeKalb 
county, locating four miles west of Waterloo, and there the 
subject of this sketch grew to manhood,  receiving his 
education in the public schools. After attaining his 
majority he spent about two years in farm work between 
Auburn and Waterloo, and after his marriage, in 1883, he 
farmed two years on the Husselman place. He then bought the 
land where he now lives comprising eighty acres in section 
36, Smithfield township, on which he has made many 
permanent and substantial improvements, including a 
comfortable and attractive residence, a large, commodious 
and well arranged barn and other conveniences 
characteristic of a modern and up-to-date farm.  He has 
devoted most of his attention to his farm, but he has also 
during the past eight years given some attention to 
threshing and previous to his marriage had been employed 
some at carpenter work. In every effort to which he has 
applied himself he has exhibited good judgment and 
discriminating sagacity, so that he has been enabled to 
attain a definite success all along the line.  On October 
2, 1883, Mr. Shaffer married Vesta Husselman, the daughter 
of George and Frances (Bachtel) Husselman, the father a 
native of Ohio and the mother born in Stark county, that 
state, and a sister of Henry Bachtel, whose sketch appears 
elsewhere in this volume. George Husselman was a brother of 
Henry Husselman and Samuel Husselman, who also are 
represented in this work, George Husselman came to DeKalb 
county with his parents, with whom he lived until his 
marriage to Frances Bachtel, after which he made his home 
one and one-half miles south of Waterloo, having bought 
land there from the government in an early day, the same 
being in the same condition it was when left by the 
Indians. The local conveniences were more conspicuous by 
their absence than otherwise, it being necessary to receive 
mail from Fort Wayne, and other accommodations were 
proportionately lacking. Mr. Husselman entered one hundred 
and sixty acres of land, the most of which he cleared. He 
and his wife were faithful member of the Evangelical 
church, and were respected citizens of their community. 
Mrs. Shaffer is one of six children born to their parents, 
of whom three died in infancy, the others being Mrs. 
Shaffer, Cornelius, who lived on the old Husselman farm in 
Grant township, and Laura, the wife of Fred Kruger, of 
Auburn. Mrs. Shaffer’s father died in the fall of 1873, and 
his wife after ward became the wife of Levi Stoner and 
lived on the home farm until her death in the fall of 1909. 
Mr. Stoner died in 1910. Mrs. Shaffer was born and reared 
on the paternal homestead, two and one-half miles south of 
Waterloo, where she lived until her marriage. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Shaffer was born a son, Arthur, who died on August 21, 
1887, at the age of two years and ten months.  Mr. Shaffer 
is progressive and enterprising in his farming methods, 
raising all the crops common to this section of the 
country, and also giving some attention to the raising of 
live stock. Practical and progressive in his methods and 
energetic and industrious in his habits, he has allowed 
nothing to swerve him from his chosen work and his labors 
have been rewarded with a due meed of success. Personally, 
he is a man of splendid qualities of character and has 
earned the warm regard of all who know him and  is 
deservedly popular among his acquaintances.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com