Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 703 - 704 

CHRISTIAN P. SHUFELBERGER. The subject of this sketch stands second to none among the well-to-do farmers of Afton Township, whose record it has been deemed wise to preserve in this manner for the perusal of the coming generation. As a judicious tiller of the soil he has met with success, and as a man and a citizen holds a good position among his neighbors. His life has been one of unabated industry, and his politics combine those sentiments which are most nearly in sympathy with the laboring classes. Religiously, he holds to the faith of the Methodist Church, of which be and his wife are members, and possesses a huge share of the benevolence which induces him to take an active interest in that which is going on around him, and which most nearly affects the welfare of his community.

            The first recollections of our subject are of a modest home in Franklin County, Pa., where he first opened his eyes to the light on the 5th of November, 1848. His parents, John A. and Mary Jane (Bowman) Shufelberger, were also natives of the Keystone State, where the father followed farming, and by his honest life and sound religious principles, gained the good-will and esteem of all who knew him. He was an active member of the Methodist Church, and accumulated a good property. The mother was also a Methodist in religious belief. When their son, our subject, was a youth of sixteen years, his parents determined upon a removal to Ohio, and repaired to that State with a portion of their family. Christian P., however, remained in his native county until the year following, when he joined his parents in the Buckeye State. There the father, as before, carried on farming, and with his estimable wife, spent the remainder of his days.

            The children of John A. and Mary Jane Shufelberger, eight in number, are recorded as follows: Jacob, the eldest, is a boatman, and a resident of New York City; Isabelle is the wife of Benjamin Layman, of Ohio, and the mother of several children; John Wesley married Miss Sylvia Mothersill, and is farming in Iowa; they have three children. Christian P. was the fourth child of the parental family; Rebecca died young; Margaret is the wife of Edward Plummer, a printer by trade, and the mother of two children; they reside in Wichita. Ida was married to Delarm Thorp, a carpenter by trade, and they with their three children are residents of Richland County, Ohio; Elmer is unmarried, and makes his home with his brother in Iowa, where he is engaged in farming and stock-raising. The children all received a good common-school education, and as citizens, are as solid and reliable as were their parents before them.

            After joining his father's family in Ohio, our subject continued working his father's land until reaching his majority, and soon afterward started out for himself. One of the first important steps toward the establishment of a home of his own was his marriage, which took place on the 12th of August, 1873, his bride being Miss Mary Mouser, who was born in Indiana, Aug. 7, 1856, and at the time of their wedding was a resident of Tazewell County, Ill. Mr. Shufelberger had made the acquaintance of his wife before leaving Ohio. She was the daughter of Daniel and Mary (Buracre) Mouser, natives of Virginia, but now residents of California. Mr. Mouser is a very intelligent man, a member in good standing of the Baptist Church, a Republican in politics, and stood high in the order of Sons of Temperance. Their family consisted of ten children, three now being deceased and the others mostly married, with families of their own. Jane Elizabeth is the wife of John A. Bowman, a well-to-do farmer of Viola Township, and the mother of five children; Sarah, Mrs. Edward O'Brien, resides in Hanford, Cal., where her husband carries on a bakery, and they have a family of seven children; Silas married Miss Annie Martin, and carries on a farm near Los Angeles, Cal.; they have one child. Nancy married, lives in California, and has one child; Lydia is the widow of William Drennan; she lives in Hanford, Cal., and has three children. Mary, the wife of our subject, was the sixth in order of birth; Christina is married, and lives in California; Samuel is unmarried, and carrying on farming for himself on the Pacific Slope; Amanda and John died in Indiana when young children.

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