My Great Grandfathers

When I was a little girl there were two portraits hiding around the corner at Great Grandma's house. One was of Great Grandpa and the other was his father. Both these men were complete strangers to me, their photographs a curiosity.

My great grandfather, Joseph Shafer, was born on August 9, 1862. His mother, Mittie Jennings, died on Christmas day when Joseph was just four months old. Her parents eventually petitioned the court for custody of their two young grandchildren, my grandpa and his sister Hattie. By the time Joseph married Great Grandma, he was already 39 years old, she was almost 19. Together they had eleven children, 7 girls and 4 boys. Joseph was a farmer in the hills above Angelica, NY and raised horses. He taught my father to play the harmonica and loved to work in his garden. When he died in 1950, he left behind and old autograph book that found a home in Great Grandma's living room. When Dad took us to visit I would find the little book and read it.

I know very little of my great great grandfather, Garret Fred Shafer. According to my father's cousin, Janice, he was born in September of 1832 in Thomkins County, NY. Garret's own father disappeared when he was young and his mother was not well. The children were farmed out to other families and Garret was said to have been raised by the Van Campens. Garret married Mittie Jennings and they had two children, a girl and a boy. After his first wife died, Garret remarried and had other children. According to Great Grandma, the second wife was not kind to Joseph and Hattie. Garret eventually traveled west and died in April of 1905 in Altoona, Missouri.

Several years back my father was given the portrait of his great grandfather, Garret. The photo hangs in my parent's dining room and bears an uncanny resemblance to Dad. When Mom was still doing daycare the children often remarked on the picture of "Uncle Al."