Schaaf Family
Adolph K. Schaaf, farmer and notary public in Smithville, Wayne Co., Ohio, is a native of that county, born in Canaan Township, April 5, 1836, his parents being Adam and Anna Maria (Mullar) Schaaf, natives of Zweibricken, province of Alsace, now a part of the German Empire, but then belonging to France.
Adam Schaaf was born April 25, 1804, and lived in his native place until he was eighteen years of age, when, to escape conscription, he left home and came to America. He settled in Somerset County, Penn., where he learned the trade of wagon-making, having in his native land worked in a grist-mill owned by his father. He lived in Somerset until after his marriage and the birth of his first child, and then removed to Ohio, settling a mile north of the site of smithville, which had then but one house, owned by a Mr. Smith, from whom the town derives its name. Here he established a shop, which he carried on for a year or two, when he removed to the adjoining township of Canaan, where he carried on his business until 1842, when he sold to Peter Nachtsinger, and bought an adjoining farm, where he made his home for five years, selling it in 1847 to John McClellan, and buying a forty-acre farm in Wayne Township. On this place he built a shop, which for five years he conducted in connection with his farm. In 1852 he again sold out, and bought a place of eighty-three acres three-fourths of a mile south, to which he added by subsequent purchase, in 1874, twenty acres. On this latter place he erected a new dwelling, where he lived a retired life until his death, which occurred July 19, 1886. Mr. Schaaf was an excellent member of society, and universally liked. Of a kind and peaceable disposition, he never quarreled with his neighbors, and never in his life sued any person. He avoided public office, but was compelled by his neighbors to serve two or three terms in township offices. He joined the Lutheran Church when but fourteen years old, and was always a consistent Christian. For many years before his death he was deacon and elder. He was married in Somerset County, Penn., to Anna Maria Mullar, a cousin, born in 1805. Her parents first located in Somerset, but afterward removed to Greene Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, where both died. Mrs. Schaaf died March 13, 1873, in her sixty-ninth year. She was kind, sympathetic and charitable, never turning the poor or needy empty handed from her door. Like her husband, she was all her life a member of the church, and was a good Christian woman. Mr. and Mrs. Schaaf were parents of eight children: Rosanna, widow of Jeremiah Stutsman, of Wayne County; Caroline, wife of Jacob Walters, of Mansfield, Ohio; Mary, wife of Victor Gallagher, of Wayne County; Adolph K.; Edward C., also of Wayne County; Elizabeth, wife of Allen Schaafer, of Orrville; Michael M., in Wayne County, and one who died in infancy.
Adolph K. Schaaf, the subject of this sketch, has been a resident of Wayne County all his life. In his youth he helped his father in the shop, and had charge of the forty-acre farm when they lived there. At the age of twenty-two he entered Fredericksburgh Academy, which he attended for three terms, subsequently attending for a term the school of James R. Taylor, in Smithville. Then he began teaching, following that profession for eleven winters. On giving up teaching he gave his entire attention for a year or two to farming, but his wife, to whom the property belonged, subsquently sold it, buying the place of about twelve acres in the corporation of Smithville, where they now live in a comforatable and commodious home. January 22, 1868, Mr. Schaaf was married to Mrs. Mary Greiner, widow of Jacob Greiner. Her maiden name was Bollinger, and she was born in Ashland County, Ohio, December 10, 1827. Her parents emigrated from Dauphin County, Penn., to Ohio in 1827, removing thence to Huntington County, Ind., where they died. Her father was a distiller in the East, but after coming West he gave his entire attention to farming. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church, of which for many years he was a deacon and elder. He bore an unblemished reputation, and was highly esteemed for his charity and other estimable qualities. Among both whites and Indians, who were numerous then, he was universally known as "Uncle Bollinger."
In politics Mr. Schaaf is a Democrat. He has held the office of justice of the peace for three years, and has been notary public for the past three years, and is now in his second term. He is a member of the Knights of Maccabees, and is held in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran Church.
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio, J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1889