Stories from Keith Schaar

Thanks everyone for all the posts on the Goshen Website. Some of my earliest memories are going to visit Mom and Dad Schaar (Lawrence and Kate) as my mother called them. She was Catherine Hansen, who around 1929, became a foster child of Lawrence and Kate. My mother attended Goshen School in the 1930’s. She eventually ended up marrying Sidney Schaar, a nephew to Lawrence.

My great, great Grandfather Joseph Schlafley settled in Goshen, in the 1840’s. He married Barbara Schweitzer who grew up just down from Goshen going towards the York area. They raised many children in the Goshen area. One of them, Roseanna ended up marrying my Great Grandfather Rudolph Schaar.

Joseph Schlafley’s older brother Moritz, followed him to Goshen many years later but didn’t have the good fortune that Joseph had. Moritz is buried in the Goshen Cemetery near the far fence.

Rudolph came to this country from Switzerland, in 1857. He settled in the New Philadlephia area and at the outbreak of the Civil War, joined the 107th OVI, a German speaking regimen for the most part. There is evidence that he was jilted during the war. The Seargent in his company was a Schlafley from the Goshen area. He came back from the war and met Roseanna. They raised four sons, Joseph, John, Lawrence and Walter Schaar and a stepson Henry Romig III from an earlier relationship Roseanna had. They spent part of their later years in Goshen and part in New Philadelphia. Rosey’s house stood for many years at the end of Schaar Lane near the entrance to the Lawrence Schaar place.

Rudy, as he went by, helped run the Schaar and Schlafley Coal and Ice Company, of Goshen and was later known as Schaar Coal. There are many entries in early Goshen noted in the county papers of Rudy having plenty of coal to sell.

Another Great Grandfather, Edward Wilson came to Goshen from England, in the 1880’s. He was also a coal miner. His daughter Elizabeth married my grandfather Walter and lived in the Goshen area for awhile. Their first child was stillborn and a boy. He is buried near the entrance to the Goshen Hill Cemetery with a simple painted stone that reads Schaar boy. Walter left the area soon after and went to work for the railroad and later settled in Dover. For many years a large reunion was held on Goshen Hill called the Schlafely, Moore, Schweitzer Reunion. I have several photos of those gatherings and hope to post a few soon.