Grafton Veteran Seeks Century." Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW: 1915 - 1954) 8 Dec 1954 [1]
Grafton Veteran Seeks Century
Mr. Jacob Schafer, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday on Monday is confident of attaining his ambition of 100.
Mr. Schafer, still very active and able to read without glasses, has lived and worked in the Grafton district all his life. Until he was 20 years old, he worked with his 12 brothers and sisters on his father's farm, "from seven till seven the whole week for £2/5/ a week."
When he was a lad, a man named Ward asked permission to sleep in the family's barn for the night. It was not until the police arrived the next morning that the family realised their guest had been the notorious Captain Thunderbolt. "When the police came, he simply got on his horse and cleared off," Mr. Schafer said.
At the age of 20, Mr. Schafer went to work for the store which later became Blood's store. Three days each week he rowed a dealing boat to the head of Carr's Creek delivering stores and returning loaded with produce.
Service:
Mr. Schafer recalls that when he started his service he asked his employer what prices he was to give for the produce and was told, "fourpence a dozen for eggs, fivepence a pound for bacon, sixpence a pound for butter and three shillings a pair for fowls."
He also ran a dealing boat service, from Chatsworth to Iluka and Maclean, then called Rocky Mouth, delivering lemonade from one of the local factories. When the store changed hands in 1909 and it seemed the service might be discontinued, the people of Carr's Creek presented Mr. Schafer with a watch to show their respect and esteem for him.
However, the service was continued and Mr. Schafer worked for the store until he retired at the age of 65. He had then worked for the same firm for 45 years, believed at the time to be a record for the district.
Just "Freshes":
Although he rowed in anything but a major flood, he never learned to swim. Mr. Schafer was rather scornful of the Clarence floods of the last 10 years. "In my day we'd call them 'freshes,' " he said, recalling the floods of 1876, 1887 and 1890, when the water was only three Inches from the ground floor of the Crown Hotel.
Longevity is the accepted thing in the Schafer family. Mr. Schafer is the only one of the family of 12 still alive, but his brother Frank died at 91 and Jack at 90. His sister Katherine also lived to the age of 90. His sons Frank and Ernie, daughter Ivy (Mrs. Shackley) and their families gathered at Mr. E. E. Schafer's home in Fry street for a family party to celebrate the birthday and to cut a cake bearing the words "Happy Nintieth Birthday to Grandad." Mr. Schafer's comment was: "This is worth waiting 90 years for."
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Jacob is 19 degrees from Herbert Adair, 19 degrees from Richard Adams, 27 degrees from Mel Blanc, 26 degrees from Dick Bruna, 25 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 28 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 26 degrees from Sam Edwards, 23 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 27 degrees from Marty Krofft, 22 degrees from Junius Matthews, 24 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 22 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.