Introduction

Biography

Charles was the son of Fred­er­ick So­lo­mon Schaef­fer and Ca­the­rine Eliz­abeth Schaef­fer.

His fa­ther died when he was one year old, and his mo­ther then mar­ried Rev­er­end Ben­ja­min Kell­er in Car­lisle, Penn­syl­van­ia. When Charles grew up, he mar­ried Eli­za­beth F. Ash­mead.

In 1829, Charles’ fa­mi­ly moved to Ger­man­town, Penn­syl­van­ia, where Charles at­tend­ed the lo­cal aca­de­my.

He went on to gra­du­ate from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­van­ia in 1832, and at­tend­ed the Get­tys­burg Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry.

In 1835, Schaef­fer be­came pas­tor of two con­gre­ga­tions: St. Pe­ter’s, Bar­ren Hill, Penn­syl­van­ia, and Un­ion Church in White Marsh. He lat­er served the Lu­ther­an church in Har­ris­burg, Penn­syl­van­ia (1840–49), and at St. Mi­chael’s Church, Ger­man­town, for a quar­ter cen­tu­ry.

He re­ceived his Do­ctor of Di­vi­ni­ty de­gree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­van­ia, and be­came a pro­fes­sor at the Phi­la­del­phia Sem­in­ary in 1864, re­tir­ing as pro­fes­sor eme­ri­tus in 1894.

He al­so served as a uni­ver­si­ty trus­tee (1859–96), trea­sur­er and pre­si­dent of the Penn­syl­van­ia Syn­od, and pre­si­dent of the Lu­ther­an Ge­ne­ral Coun­cil and Ge­ne­ral Syn­od.

Works

• History of the Lu­ther­an Church in Har­ris­burg
• Early His­to­ry of the Lu­ther­an Church in Am­eri­ca