1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Oscar Weimer Schaeffer, cashier of the Bank of Girard, is a citizen of long and honorable standing in Girard and Crawford county, and is one of the best known business men of the city. His connection for nearly a quarter of a century with one influential financial institution would mark him as one in whom his fellow associates imposed the utmost confidence both in his integrity and his administrative ability, and in all other relations of a busy and successful career he has borne the same reputation. He began business life in an unimportant capacity and when only a boy, and his own diligent and persevering efforts have been the means by which he has reached a position of influence and esteem in this city. His personal popularity is also very great, and he has made friends everywhere and with all classes of people.

Mr. Schaeffer was born in Lisbon, Linn county, Iowa, February 17, 1860, being a son of Josiah and Nancy B. (Weimer) Schaeffer, natives of Holland and descendants of the old Saxe-Weimers of that country. His parents came to America and located first in Pennsylvania and then in New York. Josiah Schaeffer came to Lisbon, Iowa, at an early day, and conducted a newspaper there and was also pastor of the Congregational church. He later moved to Sharon, Wisconsin, where his wife died in 1867. From there he went to Whitehall, Michigan, where he was also in charge of a newspaper and pastor of a church. He was later engaged in the same occupations at Coffeyville, Kansas, and in 1870 came to Girard, where he was pastor of the First Presbyterian church. He was later called to Ohio because of the illness of his father, and afterward had charge of several churches in the east. He died in 1890, at the home of his son in Rochester, New York. He had four other children besides Oscar, as follows: Maggie, the wife of L. M. Mores, of Curtis, Nebraska; Benjamin K., of Curtis, Nebraska; C. T., now of New York city; and Irving, who was drowned in White Bay, near Whitehall, Michigan.

Mr. Oscar W. Schaeffer was educated in Sharon, Wisconsin, and began helping in his father's newspaper office when a small boy. He worked for his father and also went to school after moving to Coffeyville, but on coming to Girard in 1870 he became a clerk in the store of Mr. Seabury. Shortly after, he made his start in the banking career as a clerk in the bank of Mr. Frank Playter, and, although the bank has many times changed hands since that time, he has been steadily in its service to the present time, having risen through the grades to the position of cashier, which he has held for the past twenty-four years. No small degree of the prosperity of the Bank of Girard is due to his constant and faithful work in its behalf. He also owns two good farms in the county, and has some city property that he rents.

Mr. Schaeffer has also been honored with other places of trust. He was city treasurer of Girard for twenty-four years, and for twenty-one years held the office of treasurer in the Mystic Council No. 12, Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias, in which order he stands high and is a member of the grand lodge. He likewise has faternal[sic] affiliations with the Independent Order of Red Men, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is vice-president of the A. H. T. A. He is treasurer of the Girard Business Men's Club, and is a member of the American Bankers' Association and the Kansas Bankers' Association.