Born: March 11, 1808
Where: Montgomery County. Virginia
Died: March 30, 1880
Where: Salem, Marion County, Oregon

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Harriet and Samuel lived in Illinois about 10 years and then they moved to Bonaparte, Van Buren County, Iowa. They had nine children, five of whom were born in Illinois, Mary, Catherine, Julia Ann, Liza Jane and Logan, and four born in Iowa, Christina, Margaret Ellen, Harriet and Henry.

In May 1859 the Schaeffer Family left Iowa and headed west. They arrived in California in September 1859 and then moved on to Oregon in 1860. They lived near Salem and in Umatilla County.

Daughter Mary died in infancy, Margaret Ellen died in 1861 in Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada at the age of 17. Her sister Julia Ann was living in Virginia City at the time. Julia married Thomas Waller Osborn in Iowa and they spent a couple of years in Virginia City before moving on to California spending most of their lives in Modoc County. Julia Ann died in Covelo, Mendocino County, California and is buried there. Catherine, who it appears never married, died in Marion County, Oregon. Eliza Jane married John Wesley Lawyer. They also migrated west living in Multnomah County, Oregon at one time then moving to Woodland, Cowlitz County, Washington. Christina married David R. Campbell in Oregon; she later lived in California, Washington and finally Wisconsin. Harriet married Daniel Clark in Oregon and is buried in Salem, Oregon. Son Logan died in Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon and is buried in the National Cemetery there. When son, Henry, married Sarah Viola Powers in 1873 it was the first recorded marriage in Wallowa County. Henry is buried in the Bramlet Cemetery near Wallowa, Oregon. Henry and Logan are listed on the “pioneer” arch on the Wallowa County courthouse lawn in Enterprise.

Two of Harriet’s brothers, Andrew Emerick and George Jacob Emerick, Jr. also migrated west to Oregon. Andrew is buried in the Emerick Cemetery in Benton County, Oregon and George is buried in the Pioneer cemetery in Wasco County, Oregon.

Harriet died of cancer and is buried in the Columbian Cemetery Portland Oregon sharing a memorial stone with Benjamin and Maria Elizabeth Schaeffer Sunderland. Oregon Land record 1288 has Benjamin Sunderland married to Maria Elizabeth Schaeffer daughter of Samuel and Harriet Schaeffer. Maria Elizabeth was born 16 April 1819 in Ohio and was married on 23 December 1836 in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. The time line suggests that she was not Samuel and Harriet’s daughter, more likely Samuel’s sister. Samuel died in 1893 in Wallowa and is buried in the Bramlet cemetery near Wallowa.


Bio submitted by: Bob Wheeler, great-great-grandson of Harriet, bwheel6 @ comcast.net, October, 2005