Abraham Shaver (1754-1820)
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This white person has 7 related events in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.
- Identifier
- NJS-PER-02280
- Given Name
- Abraham
- Family Name
- Shaver
- Alternate Name
- Abraham Shafer
- Birth Date
- 1754
- Death Date
- 1820
- Sex
- Male
- Biographical Description
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Abraham Shaver (1754-1820) was an enslaver who resided in Stillwater, Sussex County, NJ. He was a prosperous mill owner and a prominent civic leader; he served as an assemblyman in the state legislature in the early 1800s.
His family name was variously spelled Shaver, Shafer, or Schaeffer in local histories and archival documents. He was the son of Casper Schaeffer (1712-1784), a German immigrant who was one of the founders of the village of Stillwater, and Maria Catrina Bernhardt. He married Sarah Armstrong (1761-1827).
In 1784, Abraham inherited from his father a property with a mill along Paulins Kill. This property is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is known as the Casper and Abraham Shafer Grist Mill Complex. See the related place record for the Shafer Grist Mill to learn more about the property and the work performed there. Abraham's work force at the mill included enslaved Black people. Enslaved women and children also performed domestic labor for Abraham and his wife Sarah in their home.
Sussex County birth records of enslaved children contain numerous documents related to Abraham Shaver and the enslaved women, Nance and Betty, who lived in his home in the early 19th century. These county records also mention Betty's husband Nun. Nance and a boy named Bob are also mentioned in Abraham's will, written in 1819, shortly before his death.
The oldest son of Abraham Shaver, Rev. Dr. Casper Schaeffer, wrote a historical sketch about Abraham (and other enslavers in Sussex County). These recollections were penned in 1855 and later published by another descendant William M. Johnson in 1907:
"Slavery formerly existed here to a limited extent. The Van Campens over the mountains, my father and his brothers and my uncles Armstrong, all held slaves of the African race, more or less. My father held at one time, eight or ten of them." (p. 75)
The 1881 book History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey, by James P. Snell, notes that as many as a dozen enslaved people worked at Abraham Shaver's mill property:
"In 1816 Abraham Shaver and his sons Nathan and Peter had a store, grist-mill, tannery, blacksmith shop, oil mill, carding machines and distillery, at Stillwater, and were largely engaged in farming. They employed a good many people, and among the rest had, in 1816, as many as a dozen slaves. Samuel J. Squires was their blacksmith, and James Beatty their miller." (p. 387) - Keywords
- white person
- enslaver
- government official
- Enslaver of
- Betty
- Charles (b. 1816) {son of Nance}
- Dinah (b. 1813) {daughter of Nance}
- Ester (b. 1816) {daughter of Betty and Nun}
- Jacob (b. 1807) {son of Nance}
- Name Unrecorded - Female (b. 1818) {daughter of Nance}
- Nance
- Nun
- Robert (b. 1815) {son of Betty and Nun}
- Child of
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Casper Shaver (1712-1784)
- Parent of
- Nathan Armstrong Shafer (1786-1849)
- Spouse of
- Sarah Armstrong Shaver (1761-1827)
- References
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Schaeffer, Casper, and William M. Johnson. Memoirs and Reminiscences Together with Sketches of the Early History of Sussex County, New Jersey, With Notes and Genealogical Records of the Schaeffer, Shaver or Shafer Family. Hackensack, NJ: Privately printed, 1907. https://archive.org/details/memoirsreminisce00scha
Snell, James P. History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1881. http://archive.org/details/historyofsussexw00snel
This person is represented on the following page(s):
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16461648 - Record Contributor
- Saketh Mandayam
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Events
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Additional Participant in:
- 1807-07-01 Birth: Jacob (Role: Enslaver)
- 1813-01-29 Birth: Dinah (Role: Enslaver)
- 1815-05-04 Birth: Robert (Role: Enslaver)
- 1816-07-12 Birth: Charles (Role: Enslaver)
- 1816-07-17 Birth: Ester (Role: Enslaver)
- 1818-11-07 Birth: Name Unrecorded - Female (Role: Enslaver)
- 1819-12-29 Will (of Abraham Shaver): Nance, Robert (Role: Enslaver, Testator)
