Henry Fries Shaffner

Henry Fries Shaffner

Henry Fries Shaffner is vice president of the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company of Winston-Salem, the largest and strongest bank in North Carolina and one of the largest in the South. He has been active in business affairs in Winston-Salem for thirty years.

His own career is only part of the honorable record sustained by the Shaffner family in this section of North Carolina for over eighty years. Mr. Shaffner's grandfather, Henry Shaffner, was born in Canton Basle, Switzerland, March 28, 1798, was reared and educated in his native land, served an apprenticeship at the trade of potter, and in 1833 immigrated to America, making the voyage on a sailing vessel. He soon located at Salem, North Carolina, where he became a manufacturer of earthen ware, pipes and other similar materials. He was a substantial business man in old Salem and lived there until his death. He bought and owned for many years the first house ever erected on the site of Salem, and his business was conducted in that location. This house stood on Liberty Street, and a tablet has been placed on its site commemorating its historic importance in the annals of the town. Henry Shaffner married Lavina Hauser. She was born in what is now Forsyth County, and her ancestors were among the pioneers there. After her death Henry Shaffner married Amelia Meinung. By the first marriage there were two children: Maria Elizabeth and John Francis. By the second marriage there were two daughters: Louisa Caroline and Sarah Elizabeth, both teachers in Salem Academy and College.

The late Dr. John Francis Shaffner, father of the Winston-Salem banker, was a man whose personal character and activities entitled him to numerous distinctions, and his name was always associated with the best in the civic and commercial affairs of Winston-Salem. From a memorial tribute found in the records of the Salem congregation of the Moravian Church it is possible to give all the more important details of his life and experience.

He was born at Salem July 14, 1838, and died there September 18, 1908, at the age of seventy years, two months and four days. He was baptized July 20, 1838, and on April 1, 1855, became a full member of the Moravian Church by the rite of confirmation, and four days later partook of the Holy Communion. His education was acquired in the Moravian schools in Salem and under private teachers, notably Mr. William Meinung, and his medical education at Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia was completed with his graduation March 14, 1860. After graduating in Medicine he settled at Salem and took up practice.

In 1861 Dr. Shaffner volunteered as a private in Company A, afterward Company D, Capt. A. H. Belo, Twenty-first Regiment North Carolina Troops. For a limited period he served as assistant surgeon with the Seventh, Twenty-first and Thirty-third regiments. He was promoted to surgeon in the Confederate Army in March, 1862, and served in the field with the Fourth and Fifth regiments, North Carolina Troops, and as brigade surgeon of Branch's and Ramseur's brigades until the surrender of General Lee's army at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. Thus for four years he was in the vortex of that mighty conflict.

The chronicler of the Fourth Regiment said:

“Chief Surgeon J. F. Shaffner was a young man of splendid ability; a man of education and fine attainments and always faithful to the important tasks committed to him.”

The historian of the Thirty-third Regiment has this to say of him:

“Our surgeons, Dr. J. F. Shaffner and John A. Vigal, were the kindest and best of men. They were ideal surgeons — capable, honest, firm, sympathetic, self sacrificing, courageous and unremitting in their attention to the sick and wounded, oftentimes exposing themselves to imminent peril in the discharge of their official duties. By such unflinching heroism and devotion to duty they won the undying gratitude of the entire command.”

Dr. Shaffner was once captured while attending some wounded men who had necessarily been left behind. He always cherished friendships formed during the four years of his army life and especially in his last years showed the deepest interest and sympathy in matters relating to the Confederate Veterans. He was a charter member of Norfleet Camp, U. C. V.

After the war Dr. Shaffner resumed the practice of medicine in his native town, and in 1867 established a drug store there. He was a member of the North Carolina Medical Society, in 1872 was sent as a delegate to the American Medical Association by the state society, and was the society's orator in 1877 and its president in 1880. For four years he was one of the seven members constituting the Medical Examining Board for the State of North Carolina.

Active in the movement which resulted in the building of the Northwestern North Carolina Railway, he was elected a director of that company in 1870. At the time of his death he was vice president and director in the Winston-Salem Building & Loan Association, having been connected with it since its organization. In various ways he was identified with business interests and his judgment was highly prized by his associates. He was the first president of the Salem Water Supply Company, and was officially connected therewith when its plant was transferred to the Town of Salem. He served the Town of Salem as commissioner and later as mayor from 1878 to 1884. He served several terms as a. member of the school board of the Salem Boys' School, and was a trustee of Salem congregation from 1878 to 1890, and for several years a member of the financial board of the province. He was, as this record shows, a gifted man, endowed with rare traits of mind and heart, lived an exemplary life in which he wronged no one and helped hundreds, and he numbered his personal friends by the score.

On February 16, 1865, Dr. Shaffner married Caroline Louisa Fries. She was born in Salem, daughter of Francis and Lisetta (Vogler) Fries. Her mother was a daughter of John and Christina (Spach) Vogler. For many years John Vogler operated the only jewelry store in Salem. Dr. Shaffner was survived by his widow and four of their five children, and at the time of his death he also had seven living, grandchildren, one grandson having died before him. The four children who grew up were Henry Fries, William Francis, C. Lisetta and J. Francis, Jr.

Mr. Henry Fries Shaffner was born in Salem, September 19, 1867, and as a boy attended Mrs. Welfare's select school and the Salem Boys' School. In 1884 he entered the sophomore class of the University of North Carolina, and was graduated in 1887. From university, Mr. Shaffner returned home, had a brief experience as clerk in his father's drug store, and then took up the operation of the pottery originally established by his grandfather.

In 1893 Mr. Shaffner became secretary and treasurer of the Wachovia Loan & Trust Company. When this company was consolidated with the Wachovia National Bank in 1911, becoming the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company, he was chosen vice president of the new institution and has filled that office to the present time. While he gives all his time to the affairs of the bank, he has interests in various manufacturing enterprises. For several years he was secretary and treasurer of the Salem Water Supply Company, and served several terms as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Salem, and was a member of the first board of aldermen of the consolidated City of Winston-Salem. He and his wife are active members of the Home Moravian Church, and he is a member and president of the central board of trustees of the Salem congregation.

Mr. Shaffner was married in 1901 to Agnes Gertrude Siewers. She was born in Salem, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel and Eleanor Elizabeth (De Schweinitz) Siewers. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffner have four living children: Eleanor Caroline, Anna Paulina, Emil Nathaniel and Louis De Schweinitz. A fifth child, Henry Siewers, died in infancy.

Source: History of North Carolina, Volume VI. ©1919 The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York