History & Folklore Memories of L.B.L. Mary Louise Berfield Larrabee Father: Benjamin Franklin Berfield Mother: Adeline Althea Wilber Married: Leon Eugene Larrabee I noticed a reference to Wash SHAFFER in a recent "Way Back When" article. He was a circuit rider and many stories are told of his powers of prayer and singing. One story goes that as he approached the village where he was to preach he would begin to sing, and they do say that he could be heard a mile away. He was noted for long and loud prayers. I suppose he thought that if they reached the Throne of Grace he would give them a good start. It is said that he could pray for an hour, and as Tom LOGUE would say, "He could holler to the end." He was an uncle of my father, Benjamin F. BERFIELD. My father told one story that while the reverend gentleman had a "passion for souls" he did not have a passion for work. In order to save himself the labor of chopping wood, he would bring the long logs into the house and as the fire consumed one end of a log he would keep pushing it into the fireplace until the log was completely burned. My grandfather, John BERFIELD, was an early settler in Wharton township. He and his wife, Rebecca SHAFFER BERFIELD raised a family of eighteen children. The oldest son, Josiah, told that when he was 12 years of age he and his father paddled a canoe down the First Fork to the Sinnemahoning and then on to Lock Haven. There they bought a fanning mill and other supplies. They loaded the mill at the center and across the canoe and paddled all the way back to the farm. This was the first fanning mill in that section. People came from all around to see it. Uncle Josiah said, "It was painted red and the folks talked more about the paint than they did about the mill." For years the old fanning mill stood on the floor of the old barn and I think the grandchildren, and there were many, looked upon it as something sacred. Upon this barn, the granary and the wood shed, atop the roofs, were great antlers taken from deer which had been killed by my grandfather. And only a "many-pronged" buck could hope to have an honored place atop that barn. L.B.L [Mary Louise Berfield Larrabee] Washington SHAFFER Father: James Shaffer Sr. Mother: Margaret Brooks Married: Amanda Logue (d/o Thomas & Amanda Mead Logue) John (Franklin) BERFIELD Father: Stephen Barefield Mother: Susannah Sterling Married: Rebecca Shaffer (d/o James & Margaret Brooks Shaffer) "Tom" LOGUE: Probably Thomas Henderson LOGUE Father: Thomas Logue Mother: Nancy E. Jordan