Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

• The Artist: Vital statistics


Previous section: Schafer's background and training

Note: Primary sources have been located for only a few facts and secondary sources frequently disagree. Choosing the sources most likely to be reliable leads to the following biographical profile of the artist. The sources are identified by number in the right-hand column.


Vitals

name: Frederick Ferdinand Schäfer (German; from signatures)
Frederick Ferdinand Schafer (anglicized) 1
parents: May be Gottfried and Joh[anna] Erdemüthe Schafer 2,
both born in Prussia 3
born: Braunschweig, 4 Prussia 3
16 August 5 1839 1, 5
married: Sophie Braun (1838-1924) 6, 7
in 1860 4
children: Otto Max (1867-1911) 8
Eda (1882-1935) 4, 7, 14
moved to U.S.: Probably in 1871 (age 32) 9
moved to California: by 1876, possibly as early as 1873 5, 10, 11
studio: San Francisco, California, 1880-1886 12
presumably in his residence from 1887 onwards
residence: Oakland, California, 1880-1882
Alameda, California, 1883-1904
Oakland, California, 1905-1927 3, 13
naturalized: San Francisco, California, October 24, 1884 1
died: Oakland, California, July 18, 1927 (age 87) 5, 14

Sources

1. 1886 Great Register of Alameda County, California.

2. Possible parish birth record of the artist.

3. 1880 United States Census for Frederick Schafer family, Oakland, California.

4. William K. Dick notes (undated, c. 1975) of a conversation with the artist's grandson Frederick O. Hughes.

5. Death certificate of Frederick Ferdinand Schafer, informed by Eda Schafer Freitas.

6. Death certificate of Sophie Braun Schafer, informed by "Fredrick" Schafer.

7. Obituary of Sophie Schafer, Oakland Tribune, 1 July 1924.

8. 1906 Alameda County Voter Registration, Fourth Ward, Precinct No. 6., entry 242.

9. S. S. Thuringia departure from Hamburg.
S. S. Thuringia arrival at New York City.

10. A 1976 advertisement of a San Francisco sale including paintings by Schafer.

11. Departure of a Frederick Schafer and family from New York. Itinerary via Panama. Arrival in San Francisco in April 1873.

12. Langley's San Francisco Directory, 1880-1886.

13. Husted's Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley Directory, 1879-1927.

14. Obituary of Frederick F. Schafer, Oakland Tribune, 19 July 1927.

Next section: Travels of the artist


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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility