Creator: Shaffer, William A., 1797-1887.
Collection number: 657
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Abstract: Shaffer family of Terrebonne Parish, La., included William A. Shaffer, sugar planter; his sons Thomas J. (1843-1915) and John J. (fl. 1876-1906), sugar planters and Confederate veterans; and John Dalton Shaffer (fl. 1875-1919), sugar planter, lawyer, and state senator. The Shaffers’ plantations, all in Terrebonne Parish, were Crescent Farm, Magnolia, Anna, and Ardoyne. The collection includes plantation journals, account books, scrapbooks, and financial and legal papers, chiefly documenting Shaffer family sugar plantations. The journals contain brief daily records of agricultural activities, business transactions, and personal events, 1825-1846 and 1876-1918 (with occasional gaps). A diary of John Dalton Shaffer includes records of treatment of sick Italian workers in 1905. The scrapbooks provide some information on family members, particularly on John Dalton Shaffer’s career as a state senator and Democratic Party leader, 1906-1918, and on Thomas J. and John J. Shaffer’s involvement in Confederate veterans associations, 1905-1911. The financial and legal papers date chiefly from the 1830s to the 1850s and include bills of sale for land and slaves.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: The financial and legal papers contain slave bills of sale from 1818-1857 (See Folders 1-4). There is also a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings relating to sugar legislation and race relations between 1884- 1919 (See Folder 44)