The Shaver family of Williamsburg Township,Dundas county,Ontario are  descendants of Johannes and Maria Elisabeth Schaeffer.They fled religious  persecution in the Palatinate area of Germany at the beginning of the 18th  century.They went to England first,then on to the America's,arriving in New  York in 1710.They couldn't have imagined that 294 
 years later their descendants would be spread across North America and number  in the thousands.This was also a family divided by a viciously fought  revolution that literally pitted brother against brother and father against  son.My ancestor,Johannes was a Loyalist to the British crown and subsequently  settled in what became Ontario,while his father and brothers fought against  Britain.Thankfully,the passage of time has healed the schism that  tore apart the family in the mid 18th century.Today,I know that the family on  both sides of the border are justly proud of this tremendous pioneering  heritage.I certainly am.