Matthias Haëffer

     Matthias Haëffer was born on 28 February 1739 at Germany. He married Julia Schmid circa 1776. Matthias Haëffer died on 21 March 1791 at Alsace Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, at age 52 years and 21 days.
     Matthias's surname has also been spelled as Heaffer. Matthias's surname has also been spelled as Hafer. German Immigrant of 1773. (Data from Pamela Shenk, Archive Director, Tri-County Heritage Society, Morgantown, PA)

MATTHIAS HAFER. Emigrated in 1773 from Alsace, on the borders of the Rhine River in Germany, and settled in Alsace Township, Berks county, one mile east of Reading where he carried on farming until his decease. During the early history of America, Matthias Hafer, the founder of the extensive Hafer family in America, emigrated from Germany and settled in Ruscombmanor township, Berks county, PA., where he purchased a farm and lived the remainder of his life. (Information source: Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania. Morton L. Montgomery, 1909, pp. 839, 1176.)

'The Hafer family is one of the oldest in Berks county and its members are all respected, honorable and successful residents of the several communities where they are to be found, possessing the sterling virtues that made their founder, Mattias Hafer, so welcome a settler in the new country more than a century ago.'

Unconfirmed death date from Index of Berks, Co., PA Wills and Administration Records, 1752-1850.