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Schaeffer Genealogy and Schaeffer Family History Information

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Profiles

  • Alexander Mayer Schaeffer (1712 - 1786)
    Schaefferstown was founded in June 1758 by German immigrant, Alexander Schaeffer. He called his new village Heidelberg, but it was not long before people began referring to it simply as “Schaeffer’s ...
  • Anna Maria Ries (1654 - 1718)
  • Anna Angelica Schaeffer (1708 - 1772)
    "Here in these Gruftte Rues rest under this stone by Christi blood of sins purely Anna angel Scheferin died and rest herein the 22ten November 1772; their age 64; born 1708." My grandmother Sarah ...

About the Schaeffer surname

origin

Arguably originated in the German-French Elzas. Schaeffer means shepherd. Although a discussion is going on if it derives from the German 'Schafter' which would mean something like 'steward', but that could be a wish for ancestors of higher stature. The combination 'ae' (which derives from ä) and the double 'f' is a bit extra-ordinary, because the usually a single vowel precedes a 'ff' (or a single 'f' would follow 'ae').

brief history

In the Netherlands there are supposed to be to big 'clans', the catholic in the South and the protestant in the North.

other versions of this surname