Debra Barnhart and other researchers of SHAFER or variants: ==>> SHAFER may be "common" somewhere.... but Pennsylvania is =not= it. ==>> Among a given group of SHAFER males, the first name "Jacob" may indeed be quite common -- as it was in many families with surnames of Germanic origin. This "research" memo provides: (1) List of SHAFER/SHAFFER and other variant spellings (2) Comments on the variants (3) Statistics on the variants (incl URLs of www sources) (a) in the US in total (b) in PA only (SHAFER is =not= common!) (4) Surname migration patterns - see them on a US map The memo provides some factual information that may increase awareness of the likelihood of encountering problems in tracing people with these surnames. The number of variants to be checked can certainly add to the work/time involved in searching some on-line databases, especially those that do not permit partial surname searches nor soundex searches. (1) VARIANT SPELLINGS I have found in my researching the following SHAFFER/SHAFER variants. These might be of help to some: SHAFER SHAFFER SHAEFER SHAEFFER SCHAFER SCHAFFER SCHAEFER/SCHAEFERS SCHAEFFER SHEFFER and SHAVER/SHAVERS. (see occurence frequency table below for 1990 census) There might be a few others but I have not come across them in the 5 months I've been researching www databases. (2) COMMENTS ON THE VARIANTS NOTE: Some might dispute including SHAVER in this list. It is mainly a British surname (but could still have Germanic origins). However, it is also fact that SHAVER appears on some German Passenger Lists, and I have seen it as a name change in at least one SHAFER family lineage. The Soundex coding for SHAVER (S160) is the same as for SHAFFER and its variants. I have been researching my "SHAFERs" in PA, elsewhere in northeastern US, in Ontario Canada and on Ships/ Passenger Lists, since Dec 97 (in the period 1700-1850). I can assure you, the SHAFER spelling is more =uncommon= than common, in PA or elsewhere, in relation to the possible variations listed above. In my experience, in the 1700-1850 time frame, the most common variant by far was SHAFFER. This was still true as of the 1990 US Census (see tables below). It is quite rare to see a change to SHAFER within SHAFFER families and rarer to see a line of SHAFER become SHAFFER. When the former happens, subsequent descendants seem to reinsert the "F" quite quickly (at most two generations later -- and this usually occurs in only one line of a group of siblings). The group of variants starting with "SCH" are, in total, about as common as the SHAFFER variant. When spelling changes or "errors" occur in the "SCH" group, they tend to drop the "C" occasionally only to have subsequent descendants or recordtakers/keepers reinsert the "C". When a spelling change DOES happen in a lineage, it is most frequently only a single letter that is dropped or added - namely the middle "F<=>FF" or "A<=>AE" or "C" in "SH<=>SCH". (3) STATISTICS (a) USA TOTAL To get a sense of the SHAFFER/SHAFER etc variations in the population, here is the frequency and rank position information taken from the 1990 US Census Variant (Sdx#) Rank(a) %-age(b) Relative %-age (c) ------------ ------- -------- ------------- SHAFFER S160 592 0.021 29.2 (1 person in 3) SCHAEFER S160 1043 0.012 16.7 (1 person in 6) SHAFER S160 1192 0.010 13.9 (1 person in 7) SCHAFER S160 1620 0.008 11.1 (1 person in 9) SHAVER S160 1742 0.007 9.7 (1 person in 10) SCHAFFER S160 1956 0.006 8.3 (1 person in 12) SCHAEFFER S160 2451 0.005 6.9 (1 person in 14) SHAVERS S162 8531 0.001 1.4 SHEFFER S160 10025 0.001 1.4 SHAEFER S160 29666 <0.001 <1.4 SCHAEFERS S162 49569 <0.0005 <0.7 SHAEFFER S160 no occurrences 0 SHEFER S160 no occurrences 0 SHEVER S160 no occurrences 0 Total 0.072 100.0 11 occurring variants + 3 non-occurring NOTES to the table above: # Soundex from NARA Soundex Machine found at: http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/soundex/soundex.html (a) Rank is that in the sample total of 88799 surnames* (b) Percentage represents the proportion of all persons in the sample with the surname. The database sample totalled 6.3 million persons with 88799 surnames*. * For a full description of the surname database or to get other surnames, visit the US Gov't census site http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/freqnames.html Surname and first name files from the 1990 census can be downloaded to your PC at ftp://ftp.census.gov/pub/genealogy/www/namesearch.html (c) Relative percentage is the proportion of persons with a specific SHAFFER variant to the total of all persons with all SHAFFER variants. It is calculated based on the %-ages in column (b): e.g. 29.2 = 0.021/0.072 The "person ratio" is calculated, by example, as 100/29.2 = 3.4 and rounded to the nearest whole number (3) STATISTICS (b) Some PA Statistics for SHAFFER variants: (i) There are only 61 "Local Surnames" in the state of Pennsylvania that occur with a frequency of more than one person in 3000 in 1990. In this group, here is the SHAFFER entry (none of the other SHAFFER variants make this list) between the first and last: Rank Name Rarity* ---- -------------- ------ 1 MOYER 6.72 6 SHAFFER 4.19 61 HENRY 1.50 *Rarity: That is, you're 4.19 times more likely to meet somebody named SHAFFER in PA than in the United States as a whole. source: http://www.hamrick.com/names/localnam.txt (ii) In the list of the top 100 surnames in PA in 1990, only the SHAFFER variant appears: Rank Name one person in ---- -------------- ------ 1 SMITH 153 43 SHAFFER 921 100 GORDON 1662 source: http://www.hamrick.com/names/top100.txt NOTE: Ed Hamrick's various surname files can be downloaded from the web pages above. His "names" homepage is http://www.hamrick.com/names -- there are =no= linked connections to these "names" pages from his "hamrick" homepage. (4) SURNAME MIGRATION PATTERNS (1850-1990) One clue in where to look for ancestors or descendants is to examine their surname migration pattern over time. It is also simply interesting to trace the migration of your SHAFFER or variant surnames from 1850-1990. You can do this graphically using the surname distribution maps that can be obtained at http://www.hamrick.com/names These Surname Distribution maps are based on the 1850, 1880, 1920 and 1990 censuses and are also downloadable to your PC. They make interesting additions to one's family history personal (i.e. not for sale) documentation (make sure you cite your map source!). I hope some SHAFER/SHAFFER rooters will find something of interest or value in the foregoing material. // Regards, Gord HINES (Regina SK Canada) On Mon 27 April, 1998, Debra Barnhart wrote: > > Shafer's from Clearfield County, Penna. Jacob Shafer > and his wife Elizabeth lived in the Lurthersburg, > Pa area.(Clearfield County) Jacob was born around 1792. > His son Samuel was born in 1840. Sam married Comfort > Prucilla Parker. Both are buried in Luthersburg, Pa. > I am hoping someone can help me find who Jacobs parents > are. Jacob Shafer is a very common name in Penna. > Thanks, Debra Barnhart